Former Michigan Wolverines assistant football coach Chris Partridge believes he was used as a scapegoat.
The Wolverines fired him as they were dealing with the 2023 sign-stealing scandal, focused on former staffer Connor Stalions, who was running an “advanced scouting operation” for Michigan football.
Partridge was fired by Michigan despite never being alleged to have participated in the sign-stealing scheme. He was never even alleged to have known about it.
It was claimed that Partridge, now a linebackers coach for the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, told a Michigan player not to cooperate with the NCAA investigation and that he even destroyed evidence.
Partridge was later cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA, but now he’s suing Michigan, the board of trustees and athletic director Warde Manuel in federal court. He’s seeking “the recovery of lost wages as well as for damages due to the impact the firing had on his professional reputation, career prospects and personal health,” according to Dan Wetzel of ESPN.
Former Michigan assistant coach Chris Partridge is suing the school and athletic director Warde Manuel
“I always believe that the truth will eventually come out,” Partridge said, via Wetzel. “I went all the way through the process with the NCAA and the truth prevailed. And I feel I have to go all the way through the process with Michigan for the truth with Michigan to prevail.”
Partridge is alleging that Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti “presented Manuel with uncorroborated, second-hand, inflammatory information” regarding his role in the scandal.
The complaint alleges that Petitti “threatened to embarrass Michigan by presenting” that information during an injunction hearing regarding the suspension of Jim Harbaugh, who was the Wolverines head coach at the time. That “information” would have also likely led the court to deny Michigan and Harbaugh’s injunction request.
The complaint also alleges that Manuel offered to fire Partridge and to dismiss Michigan’s legal claim against the Big Ten and Petitti, while Petitti had agreed not to “publicly disclose the sensationalized information” he had on Partridge and “to do nothing further regarding the NCAA’s ‘sign-stealing’ investigation.”
Chris Partridge wants to be a college football head coach
Partridge was fired, but in 2025, the NCAA Committee on Infractions cleared him of three separate alleged violations, including the “failure to cooperate” allegation.
The lawsuit states that Manuel told the committee that “he was under immense pressure at the time he fired Partridge” and “because of this pressure, he made hasty decisions.”
Despite being an NFL assistant coach, Partridge believes this whole saga has negatively impacted his ability to one day coach college football again, and that’s his goal.
He wants to be a college football head coach, so he’s suing to continue clearing his name.
“My passion is to be a head college coach,” Partridge told ESPN. “That has always been a dream of mine. I’m not going to give up on that just because other people made bad decisions.”