The Atlanta Falcons have dismissed assistant defensive line coach LaTroy Lewis less than three weeks after hiring him, following social media posts accusing the former University of Michigan staff member of sexual assault and confirmation from Ann Arbor police that they had opened an investigation, the team and authorities said Friday. NFL.com and ESPN report that the club announced Mr. Lewis’ dismissal hours after saying it was “aware of allegations” and gathering information.
The case has returned Michigan’s football program to the spotlight, as Ann Arbor police investigate a reported sexual assault from Dec. 5, 2024, involving a former staffer, and the university confirms it is reviewing whether internal policies were followed. A police spokesman told ESPN and NFL.com that detectives were “just recently made aware” of the allegation and that the department’s investigative bureau launched an “active and ongoing” probe. Under department policy, officials do not name suspects unless they are formally charged.
According to ESPN, an attorney for the woman says her client met Mr. Lewis on a dating app in 2024 and accuses him of raping and battering her at an Ann Arbor hotel that December, then later abusing her during a January 2025 dispute at her apartment in Milford, Michigan. Police responded to that Milford incident after neighbors called 911 but took no action at the time after both parties described the encounter as a verbal argument, the outlet reported. The woman has since filed a police report in Ann Arbor and applied for a personal-protection order in Washtenaw County; a related petition is on the court docket but the documents are sealed or not yet available because the request is pending, according to a Reuters report.
Some of the allegations first surfaced in a lengthy and highly graphic thread on X by Detroit-area podcaster Justin Spiro, who published screenshots and documents he said came from the woman and her attorney. In that material, the accuser says she informed then-head coach Sherrone Moore of the hotel incident the day after it allegedly occurred and later told him police had responded to the Milford dispute. She and her lawyer contend that Mr. Moore was obligated under university policy and Title IX to report what she told him and failed to do so, a characterization Michigan has not addressed publicly. Those claims have not been tested in court, and Mr. Moore has not commented on the specific allegations.
Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore, …
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Michigan, in a statement reported by On3, called the accusations “deeply concerning” and said it had already launched “an investigation of the circumstances and conduct leading to Sherrone Moore’s firing, as well as a broader culture review of the Athletic Department.” The university says that work is ongoing and that it is cooperating with law enforcement, but it has not identified Mr. Lewis or Mr. Moore by name in connection with the new allegations.
Separately, and in a matter unrelated to the accusations involving Mr. Lewis, Mr. Moore is facing his own legal trouble. Michigan fired him for cause in December 2025, citing what it called an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. He was later charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking and breaking and entering in a case involving a different woman, according to The Washington Post and People.
Mr. Lewis, 30, is a former Tennessee defensive lineman who had brief stints with the Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans before going into coaching. He joined Michigan’s staff in 2022, worked with the Wolverines’ defensive line during their 2023 national championship run, then spent the 2025 season coaching the defensive line at Toledo before briefly accepting a job at UConn in January. He left that post for the Falcons, who announced him as assistant defensive line coach on Feb. 10. ESPN and NFL.com report that his time in Atlanta ended Friday, less than three weeks later.
As of Friday evening, Ann Arbor police had not announced criminal charges in the case, and prosecutors have not indicated when they might decide whether to file counts. Mr. Lewis has not spoken publicly about the allegations, and neither he, Mr. Moore, the Falcons nor Michigan athletic officials have responded to detailed questions from multiple outlets about the woman’s claims.
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