Ex-Michigan assistant coach Chris Partridge sues university: 'I was a scapegoat'
· Yahoo Sports
Former Michigan football assistant Chris Partridge is suing the University of Michigan for wrongful termination and the “devastation” of his reputation after the university used a “false narrative” to fire him.
Partridge filed the suit Wednesday in US District Court Eastern District of Michigan, because he wants the “truth be told." He fired by Michigan Nov. 17, 2023 stemming from and NCAA investigation into an illegal scouting scheme and currently is on staff with the Seattle Seahawks.
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Michigan informed Partridge in a letter he was terminated by athletic director Warde Manuel, because the university said it received evidence he failed to "abide by the University directive not to discuss an ongoing NCAA investigation with anyone associated with the Michigan Football Program".
Partridge was fired the day Michigan left for a game at Maryland in 2023. He was asked Wednesday if he felt like a scapegoat during the NCAA investigation.
“Yes, 100%,” Partridge told The Detroit News. “I mean, I don't feel like it. I know it. We have some pretty strong knowledge of what happened in the conversations and things that happened. So, yeah. I know I was a scapegoat.”
The lawsuit details Partridge’s coaching career, which included two stops at Michigan. He was hired in 2015 as director of player personnel, then became linebackers coach and special teams coordinator 2016-2017 and then coaches safeties from 2018-2019 while still working with special teams. He returned to Michigan in 2023 as linebackers coach.
“However, despite Partridge’s unwavering commitment and success, the University of Michigan unjustly terminated Partridge’s employment and spread false and damaging information regarding his professional conduct, tarnishing Partridge’s hard-earned reputation and inflicting irreparable harm on to his career and personal well-being,” the lawsuit reads. “In addition to damages, this lawsuit seeks to clear Partridge’s name and restore his otherwise stellar reputation.”
Partridge, who said he wanted to wait until after the NFL season concluded to file, went before the NCAA Committee on Infractions during a two-day hearing in June 2025 and defended himself and shared his story.
“I wasn't even able to talk,” Partridge said. “(Manuel) did what he did and then didn't let me even tell my side of anything. It was like, ‘You're gone. See ya. Here's the door.’ And then the reports that have been out there for two years have been from the Michigan side. My voice has not been heard at all, so, yeah, I just don't think that's right.”
In the lengthy NCAA report highlighting several penalties against Michigan last August, Partridge was exonerated. Michigan was given a fine of approximately $30 million and placed on probation resulting from the investigation into the illegal scouting scheme.
Partridge’s lawyers said in the suit that “contrary to misinformation communicated by the University Athletics Department and at least one member of the Board of Regents," that Partridge was not fired for destroying evidence or interfering with the NCAA’s “sign-stealing” investigation. The suit also said Partridge was not fired for telling a player to be dishonest in an NCAA interview.
There were “unwritten instructions” given to the Michigan football coaching staff, the suit says, “not to communicate with a student-athlete during an investigation. Partridge does not dispute he told the player that he should “get an attorney.” The suit alleges there was never a directive given to the staff to “not to communicate with a student-athlete during an investigation”, and if that had happened, the program would have come to a “screeching halt” if the coaches couldn’t communicate with players until the investigation concluded.
The directive to not discuss the issue with the players was not given, the suit said, was given during a meeting Nov. 13, 2023, three weeks later after the investigation began in mid-October 2023.
“Partridge was a scapegoat who was wrongly fired simply because he told a player he had the right to have counsel — something the University should have told the players themselves if it had been protecting their interests instead of trying to curry favor with the NCAA,” the lawsuit reads.
According to the Partridge’s suit, he was called to a meeting Nov. 17, 2023, with Manuel and Manuel informed Partridge he had been told Partridge advised a certain player to not be forthright with information regarding the investigation. Patridge denied this
“Partridge asked Manuel how his termination would be portrayed to the media and said he did not want to be linked with the “sign-stealing” scheme,” the suit reads. “Manuel stated that there was no evidence that Partridge was involved with the scheme and falsely stated that the University would not be releasing a statement related to Partridge’s termination.”
Now, Partridge is part of the Seattle Seahawks, which recently won the Super Bowl. But clearing his name after being fired by Michigan is now his focus.
“I never in a million years thought that something like this would ever happen, but just the way that I've personally been treated by the university leadership -- it's just so wrong,” Patridge said. “And I just feel like after putting everything I had into that place to be lied to and used like that for their own personal gains, I just think it’s the right thing to do.
“It's like anyone in my position would fight. I'm a fighter, and just the right thing. I just want the truth to come out, and I want my name to be cleared. I feel like this is probably the only way to truly get to the bottom of what really happened. And, shoot, the Michigan fans deserve it too.”
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Ex-Michigan assistant football coach Chris Partridge sues university