Can you handle one more devotional that is sports related? I hope so. This time, let’s start with TTUN (that team up north).
“Michigan football fired coach Sherrone Moore for cause on Wednesday, Dec. 10, the school announced. Following a University investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel wrote in a statement. “This conduct constitutes a clear violation of University policy, and U-M maintains zero tolerance for such behavior.”1
“According to UofM guidelines, a supervisor cannot pursue a relationship with a supervisee. This relationship had been going on for two years. The situation has escalated, though.
“The staffer filed a report with the university and then headed home to pack her belongings to leave town. “As she carried her belongings upstairs and was about to leave, the staffer heard “footsteps outside” and rushed to lock the door, Welker said. The staffer told police that by the time she made it to the front door, Moore had allegedly entered her home without permission and refused to leave.
“Moore then allegedly grabbed two knives and started to approach the staffer, while saying, “You ruined my life. You ruined my life.” The staffer managed to get her lawyer on the phone, at which point Moore allegedly threatened to take his own life before fleeing from the scene, Welker said in court.
“The staffer’s lawyer called 911. An hour later, officers tracked down Moore and booked him into custody. Shortly after leaving the staffer’s home, Moore was arrested by police and booked into the county jail.”2
Stories like this abound. On January 14, 2001, former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer was hired to coach the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. By December 16, 2021, Meyers was fired from the job. Granted, the team’s record was far from impressive: 3-14. But Meyers was fired for “a video that appeared to show Meyer inappropriately touching a woman who was not his wife while he was at his Columbus-area restaurant, Urban Meyer’s Pint House”3 and at least two accusations of abusing players during practice. A July accusation cost Meyers $100,000 and an October accusation cost him his job.
One more example takes us to Ohio University. “Ohio University announced the firing of head football coach Brian Smith for cause on Wednesday (December 17), claiming he violated his contract by “engaging in serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University” in a statement shard on the school’s athletics website.”4 The exact allegations are unknown at the time of writing this devotional.
I do not sit in judgment of these men. That’s not my job. I share their stories because 1) it shows that one sin can ruin a person’s life and career and 2) this scares me. I mean, this really scares me. Christians can get as hyper-critical and sanctimonious as they would like but I have something in common with Coach Moore, Coach Meyer, and Coach Smith.
The flesh.
And that is terrifying to me! My flesh is capable of expressing sin in any way imaginable, even in ways I can’t imagine. Be careful, though. If you are thinking ill of me for this admission, look in a mirror. You have the same problem, too.
Paul cried out in Romans 7:18, 23-24, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not… I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. (24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
Moses had the same problem. He led the children of Israel through 40 years of wandering in the desert as they were headed to the Promised Land. He had endured their incessant complaints and gripes, interceding to God on their behalf and praying that God wouldn’t destroy them. However, Moses had a bit of temper tantrum. By all human reckoning, we would say it was understandable.
On a day when Israel had complained for water again, God gave instruction to Moses in Numbers 20:8. “Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.”
How does Moses respond? Remember, this isn’t the first time Israel has acted this way, and Moses allows his exasperation to shine through. “And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? (11) And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.” (Numbers 20:10-11) The only thing Moses did right was to gather the people. After that, he has a meltdown. Now, read what this cost him.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12) One sin, one moment of weak flesh, and Moses and Aaron are denied entrance to Canaan.
Galatians 6:1 gives a valuable warning. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” We have absolutely no right or business taking a haughty attitude laced with disgust towards either of these coaches or anyone else caught in “sin’s dread sway.” Instead, remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 26:41.
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
1https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2025/12/10/michigan-football-sherrone-moore-scandal-fired-for-cause-violation-university/87707335007/
2https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/sherrone-moore-allegedly-confronted-michigan-staffer-as-she-packed-to-leave-town-after-filing-formal-report-police/ar-AA1Sueph?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=6942afe92add40c2bbce6870ca287e06&ei=27
3https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Meyer
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