Chris Partridge, former North Jersey football coach, sues University of Michigan

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, a Hackensack native and former Paramus Catholic football coach, filed the suit Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan because he wants the “truth be told." He was fired by Michigan Nov. 17, 2023, stemming from an NCAA investigation into an illegal scouting scheme and currently is on the staff of the Seattle Seahawks.

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, who rose to fame during his coaching tenure at Paramus Catholic, 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 university, when reached by The Detroit News, had no comment.

The lawsuit details Partridge’s coaching career, which included two stops at Michigan. He was hired in 2015 as the director of player personnel, then became linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for 2016-2017 and then coached safeties in 2018-2019 while still working with special teams. He returned to Michigan in 2023 as the 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."

“For me, it's, let's get the story out there,” Partridge said about clearing his name. “Let's let the truth be told. Yeah, it’s about my reputation, of course, but also, you can't treat people like this, and they have a pattern of it. You can't just throw people out when you feel like it because it benefits you. It's not how life works. And if you do it, you should have to pay for it, right? So that's what it's, that's what it's about at the end of the day.”

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 not to speak with the players was not given, the suit said, was given during a Nov. 13, 2023 meeting, three weeks 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.”

Chris Partridge's North Jersey coaching legacy

Partridge led Paramus Catholic football to consecutive Non-Public Group 4 state titles in 2012 and 2013. He gave the school an image and a motto “Livin” that has carried on to this day.

He made headlines in 2015, leaving Paramus Catholic for an assistant coaching position at the University of Michigan, following North Jersey star Jabrill Peppers, and joining then-coach Jim Harbaugh.

At Michigan, he helped create the Wolverines' “NJ to AA” pipeline, recruiting multiple top New Jersey football stars, including Rashan Gary, Juwann Bushell-Beatty and Drew Singleton (who then transferred to Rutgers). Partridge left Michigan in 2020 to join Lane Kiffin's staff at Ole Miss and rose to become the Rebels' co-defensive coordinator.

This article contains information from The Record and NorthJersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Chris Partridge, former Paramus Catholic coach, sues University of Michigan