The University of Michigan has been involved in several controversies over the last few years. There’s a new controversy brewing, which involves over $11 million spent to investigate its athletic department.
The investigations were regarding almost 6 years of scandals, several NCAA violation cases, an illegal in-person scouting scandal, and more. A lawyer named Tom Mars on X has raised concerns over the amount of money paid to Jenner & Block to conduct these investigations.
“Michigan’s $11,000,000 legal bill from Jenner & Block divided by an average hourly rate of $1,200 equals 9,166 hours. At a whopping hypothetical average of 120 billed hours per week, 9,166 would be 76.3 weeks of legal work. Yet, Jenner & Block was reportedly hired by Michigan’s Board of Regents in mid-December 2025 – only 30 weeks ago. Now that’s something that ought to be investigated,” he wrote on X.
Trey Wallace, senior national college sports reporter for Fox, revealed that the same firm was hired to investigate the Sherrone Moore situation. Moore is a former Michigan head coach who was fired for cause due to his inappropriate relationship with a staff member.
Wallace believes that since the $11 million payment to the Chicago law firm is gaining traction, a data dump from the University of Michigan is on the horizon.
The billed hours per week in this situation are astonishing to say the least, but there’s another way to look at it. A big law firm often puts several attorneys and other staff members on a matter, and all of their combined billable hours are taken into account.
The $11 million payment might seem a lot, but Michigan may have the proper breakdown of the payments, and if the pressure rises on this matter, they will end up releasing the information.
Michigan Regents Will Decide The Future Of Their AD
As per a recent ESPN report by Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, Michigan’s regents are expected to meet this Thursday to discuss the culture of their athletic department. The meeting and review will also decide the future of Warde Manuel as Michigan’s AD.
“The incident [Sherrone Moore’s] was the latest controversy for the high-profile athletic department, including numerous NCAA violation cases, an illegal in-person scouting scandal involving staff member Connor Stalions, and federal charges against former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss for felony aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to computers,” ESPN’s report said.
All this has happened since Manuel became the AD in 2016, but it has put him in the crosshairs, according to the report.
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