In 2023, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) opened an investigation into sign stealing accusations against staff members of the Michigan Wolverines football team. The investigation is ongoing and has not been closed.
The Michigan investigation specifically centers on NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states "Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited, except as provided in Bylaws 11.6.1.1 and 11.6.1.2", with neither exception applying in Michigan's situation.[1] Sign stealing generally refers to the practice of covertly identifying the hand signals used by opposition coaches to instruct their players during a game. For most of the history of college football, sign stealing was not an issue. Traditionally, teams would huddle between snaps, with plays frequently sent in by player substitution. However, with the increasing emphasis on no-huddle offenses in the 21st century, signaling plays from the sideline became necessary, prompting teams to attempt to steal opponents' signs.[2]
The NCAA does not directly ban sign stealing in football, but does ban teams from using electronic equipment to record opponents' signals. This rule was adopted in 1994 due to dramatic differences in athletic program resources among NCAA members. In 2023, according to Associated Press journalist Ralph D. Russo, Visible signals are necessary because until the 2024 season, the NCAA prohibited the use of coach-to-player audio technology (except in bowl games[2]), also due to differing program resources.[3]
The scope of the University of Michigan's alleged sign-stealing operation included both video evidence of electronics prohibited by the NCAA to steal signs and a significant paper trail, per sources. Michigan staffer Connor Stalions purchased tickets in his own name for more than 30 games over three years at 11 different Big Ten schools.[4] On November 3, 2023, Stalions, who was at the center of the scandal, resigned.[5] However, the investigation continued.[6] Business ties between Connor Stalions and a UM player were also questioned.[7] [8] That week, Central Michigan University, a Mid-American Conference program, became a party to the investigation against the Wolverines, as evidence emerged supporting potential off-campus scouting violations, as Stalions appeared to be present in disguise on the sidelines for a game Central Michigan played against Michigan State on September 1, 2023.[9] [10] This was confirmed in the Netflix documentary by Dave Portnoy: “I know the answer to that because he told me,” says Portnoy, a Michigan graduate. “… Yeah, that was Connor on the sidelines.” When asked by NCAA investigators if he attended the MSU-CMU game, Connor stated that he "did not recall" attending a specific game.[11] Central Michigan removed their QB coach, a former Harbaugh assistant, and continues to cooperate with the NCAA investigation without comment.[12] In the interview with NCAA officials in the Netflix documentary, Stalions’ lawyer Brad Beckworth believes that Stalions’ personal and private data was breached by hackers, stating “If that's true, it's certainly a violation of civil law and it's maybe a bigger crime.” When Beckworth asked how the NCAA obtained the information about Stalions, the investigators provided no comment.[13]
Michigan has received the official Notice of Allegations from the NCAA. Stalions, Denard Robinson, former assistant coach Chris Partridge and former head coach Jim Harbaugh were alleged to have committed Level I violations in the sign-stealing case. Even though the NOA did not provide any evidence that Harbaugh knew of or was involved with Stalions’ operation, it stated that Harbaugh failed to monitor for “red flags”, and faces a potential punishment regardless.[14] The school also faces Level I charges for a "pattern of noncompliance," according to the previously leaked draft notice. [15]
On November 6, 2023, a former employee of a rival Big Ten team, linked multiple college football teams to the sign-stealing scandal as well and claimed to the Associated Press that it was his job to steal signs and that he was given details from multiple league schools, allowing him to compile a spreadsheet of play-calling signals used by Michigan.[16] The employee, speaking anonymously, provided documented evidence to back his claim. On November 7, a University of Michigan source alleged to The Athletic that Rutgers, Ohio State and Purdue had stolen Wolverine sign signals and shared them as well, with documented evidence backing this claim. Michigan says Purdue, Ohio State, and Rutgers decoded and shared signs used by Michigan. Evidence was also submitted by Michigan showing that prior to Michigan's victory over Purdue in the 2022 Big Ten championship game, Rutgers shared defensive signals with Purdue, while Ohio State shared offensive signals.[17] Documents also showed evidence of sign stealing for a game one of the teams played against the Wolverines in 2020 as well.[18] A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Detroit Free Press revealed that Stalions filed no expense reports while employed by the University.[19]
On November 6, 2023, the NCAA reported that they found no connection between head coach Jim Harbaugh and the illegal sign-stealing done by Stalions.[20] Despite this, the Big Ten Conference suspended Harbaugh for the final three games of the 2023 season, starting with the game against Penn State on November 11.[21] [22] On November 16, 2023, Harbaugh decided to cancel a planned court hearing and accept his three-game suspension.[23] The same day, it was also revealed that the Big Ten had agreed to end its role in the sign stealing investigation.[24]
On November 17, 2023, Wolverines linebackers coach Chris Partridge was fired for allegedly instructing current members of the football team how to respond to questions relating to the sign-stealing scheme.[25] Partridge later released a statement on Twitter saying that his termination was due to a failure “to abide by the University directive not to discuss an ongoing NCAA investigation with anyone associated with the Michigan Football Program.”[26] It was also revealed that the NCAA investigation was still ongoing.[27]
After Michigan defeated Washington in the CFP National Championship Game, NCAA president Charlie Baker issued a statement that Michigan won the national championship "fair and square." Baker defended his decision to inform the university and the Big Ten during the season that the NCAA was investigating the allegations due to his concern that it may have been impacting the outcome of games. He concluded that "I don't believe at the end of the season it did. And I think that's important. We do have a series of discussions going on with the infractions folks about whether or not we can't do something to speed up the pace of our investigations," Baker said. "Certainly in a case like this, we'd like to be able to move a lot more quickly."[28] [29]
Reactions to the scandal from opposing fanbases and reporters were mixed. Detroit sports talk radio host Mike Valenti of 97.1 The Ticket’s The Valenti Show With Rico bashed Michigan and considered the scandal to be one of the worst in sports history.[30] Former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops heavily criticized Michigan, stating that "If it’s true, oh, absolutely (it is a big deal). That’s ridiculous. Everyone (saying), 'Oh, it happens all the time!' No, it doesn’t. I’ve never heard of that. In all my years of football and every team I’ve ever been on, sure, do we look across the field and if you can see it, that’s your job to do. You know what I’m saying, if I’m able to just in my plain eye look over there and know what they’re doing, I should be doing that. But to video people and to send people to scout and marry up a signal with the play … No, no, no. That’s terrible. It goes against everything we’re about. That’s wrong, if it happened."[31] The Athletic published an article where they surveyed 50 anonymous college football coaches regarding how serious they felt Stalions' actions were, and revealed that on a scale of 1 to 5, almost half of the coaches polled rated it a 5 in terms of seriousness.[32]
Alternatively, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports called the scandal overblown, stating that "So for the record, everybody — just like cannabis and sports gambling — everybody’s stealing signs, they just do it differently; I do not believe that guy in the TV picture is the difference between Michigan and Ohio State. I think it was a better coach, better planning, and more physicality."[33] Joel Klatt of Fox Sports also defended Michigan, stating that, "I’m not saying that there weren’t rules broken. I’m not saying that it didn’t happen. I think that the more you really know about the sport, the more you know about football, I think you realize the less of an impact this actually had on the games. But the less you know about football (you likely think it had) more (of an) impact. Do you think it had an impact on every single play? Do you think that it had an impact on every single game and that they don’t win unless that’s not necessarily the case? Not necessarily the case."[34] ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, one of Michigan’s harshest critics, did not believe that what Stalions did had a significant impact on the game, saying "I would need evidence to say, 'Okay, because of Connor Stalions and all this, where was the advantage?' I just never saw it. If it was so obvious in one game or two games that they turned? But most of their games were pretty convincing."[35]
On July 22, 2024, ESPN reported that Netflix would be airing an episode featuring Connor Stalions in its ongoing Untold series called "Sign Stealer", where Stalions plans to reveal more information regarding the scandal. The episode was released on August 27, 2024.[36]