Someone should teach a clinic on the fall of Sherrone Moore. Or at least shoot a Netflix limited series. The magnitude of the University of Michigan former head football coach’s descent feels unprecedented: From prepping for a bowl game with one of the most prestigious college football programs in the country to jobless and locked up in white scrubs on suicide watch inside of 12 hours’ time.
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A cherry eight-figure contract gone and a nearly $14 million buyout likely nixed because he was fired for cause. All because Moore became the Patron Saint of Clichés by allegedly cheating on his wife with his assistant.
Many on our timelines point out Moore’s affinity for white women – his wife and alleged mistress – as the reason for his downfall…as if playing in the snow clouded his field of vision. Some say his mistress set him up for the fall because, y’know, that’s what white women do to prominent Black men! “That’s what happens when you go skiing with snowbunnies.”
Everyone is misguided in blaming white women for this mess – especially because they do so at the expense of Black women.
To paraphrase Rico from “Paid in Full,” muthaf****as cheat every day, B. But Moore apparently did so with the last woman on the planet he should’ve. Had he lost his job and quietly went home to grovel in front of his wife and three daughters, Moore would’ve quietly schlepped off to coach at a junior college somewhere and we would’ve all moved on quickly.
But after getting fired, Moore allegedly motored to his mistress’ crib (with, I picture, angry snot bubbles coming out of his nose), broke in and blew his whole world up by way of…butter knives(?!?)…ensuring that he’ll be trying to sell you a Hyundai by sometime next quarter. You don’t need a cartographer to map out that degree of stupidity.
None of this atrocious decision making is about Moore’s affinity for pink toes; he wasn’t the first and damn sure won’t be the last to buckle under the pleasures of any color of flesh. It’s just that some Black folks get emotional when they see a prominent successful brother with a wife who looks plucked from the model pool of the Lululemon Winter Collection.
We knew Moore was Not Like Us™ when he said “Really, I don’t see color” while being interviewed about the plight of Black quarterbacks in 2023. So no one should be surprised that the executive assistant he’s alleged to have carried on with looks like she asked to speak to the manager at birth.
But I don’t think these white women imbued Moore with the hubris to think he could have such a high profile and get away with screwing around on a wife who just gave birth to his youngest child. Also, a Black mistress wouldn’t have stood idly by, arms folded, if Moore tried to fire her only to keep his house clean, as rumors suggest he did. Nothing is more universal than a woman’s scorn…Moore is lucky if all his mistress does is spill the beans about their affair.
“He shouldn’t have been messin’ with the white women” suggests Black women are stronger and better situated to “straighten” a damaged Black man…or that they alone should be required to do so. It also suggests, unconsciously or otherwise, that Black women are deserving of such behavior – which is scary when you consider this mindset is often perpetuated by other Black women.
We witnessed a similar narrative when Jonathan Majors fumbled his Marvel bag in a toxic situation with his white girlfriend. Folks skipped past his alleged actions (and his reputation) and bee-lined to the notion that this white woman sought to destroy an innocent Black man as he was catching fire in Hollywood.
Look, Black women can’t necessarily save a man from himself, and it’s not their job to do so. Jada couldn’t prevent Will Smith from ensuring white folks never look at him the same way again, and she was sitting right next to him when he jacked up his reputation.
Moore’s actions are likely to cause an insidious ripple effect that will negatively impact other would-be Black coaches, as William C. Rhoden writes about in Andscape. Swap out any color palette for his wife and mistress and it’ll all come back down to what he chose to do.
As long as Black folks stay Blacking, we’ll have plenty of valid reasons to gripe about white folks. But this one isn’t on them.
Straight From 
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