Chris Partridge, an assistant coach who was fired by Michigan weeks before the Wolverines won the 2023 national championship, is suing the university, its board of regents and athletic director Warde Manuel for violating his right to due process, alleging he was a \u201cscapegoat who was wrongly fired simply because he told a player he had the right to have counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michigan fired Partridge in November 2023 amid an NCAA investigation into Connor Stalions and a sign-stealing operation<\/a> that resulted in significant sanctions for the program. Partridge\u2019s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, states that Partridge\u2019s firing was \u201cbased on pressure from the commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, who used Partridge as a pawn in an eleventh-hour maneuver\u201d to get Michigan and former coach Jim Harbaugh to drop their legal challenge to a three-game suspension imposed on Harbaugh by the Big Ten in connection with the sign-stealing investigation.<\/p>\n Partridge has spent the past two seasons in the NFL, where he won a Super Bowl ring in February as the outside linebackers coach for the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is past time for Chris to have the opportunity to tell the truth about what happened to him and clear his name,\u201d Partridge\u2019s lawyer, Liz Abdnour, said in a statement to The Athletic. \u201cHe is a talented, dedicated coach and advocate for young athletes, and his career in college athletics was cut unjustly short due to the unprincipled and self-interested decisions of an institution that prioritized politics and image over doing what\u2019s right for its students.\u201d<\/p>\n In the lawsuit, Partridge says his only transgression was advising a player to retain a lawyer before the player was interviewed by the NCAA. He recounts a meeting in which Michigan\u2019s assistant general counsel told coaches not to discuss the sign-stealing investigation with anyone, a directive that Partridge describes as confusing and at odds with coaches\u2019 responsibility to provide support to players.<\/p>\n Partridge argues he did nothing wrong by advising a player to talk to his father and retain a lawyer before being interviewed by the NCAA. In its public report, the NCAA Committee on Infractions said it did not find evidence to support the allegation that Partridge interfered with the investigation.<\/p>\n Partridge says athletic director Warde Manuel fired him without due process and accuses university officials of spreading false information about him, including a claim that he destroyed evidence related to the investigation. Partridge argues that his hasty firing was \u201csquarely at odds\u201d with Manuel\u2019s handling of allegations involving other coaches, including former coach Sherrone Moore<\/a>, who was fired amid an outside investigation into allegations that he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.<\/p>\n Michigan declined a request for comment.<\/p>\n Partridge says that, in testimony to the Committee on Infractions, Manuel said the NCAA and the Big Ten were \u201cleading Michigan administrators to believe that there were multiple people involved in the \u2018sign stealing\u2019 operation\u201d and, as a result, Manuel testified that he made \u201chasty decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n