The full scope of Michigan football's NCAA violations and punishment from 'signgate'
The Wolverines were charged with 11 infractions, including six Level I violations. Ultimately, they were found to have violated four Level I infractions and four Level II infractions, according to the 'aggravating factor' section in the release.
First, Bylaw 19.12.3.1-(a), Multiple Level I and/or Level II violations, applies because Michiganis responsible for four Level I violations and four Level II violations.
The panel determined that three of the Level I violations were on Stalions and considered his actions to be premeditated. Harbaugh was cited for two Level I violations (these were nested within the same categories, which accounts for the number disparity of four and four). The charges against Chris Partridge were dropped.
Here is what the NCAA determined, with the indented quote falling within the category immediately above.
During the 2021, 2022 and 2023 football seasons, Stalions and members of the Michigan footballprogram violated the principles of honesty and sportsmanship when Stalions conducted and/ordirected and arranged for other individuals to conduct 56 instances of off-campus, in-personscouting of 13 future regular season opponents across 52 contests. This violation is Level I. (...)
In the spring and summer of 2023, Clinkscale and Robinson provided impermissible recruitinginducements to prospect 1 and his parents in the form of gear, transportation and a meal.22Additionally, Clinkscale attempted to assist prospect 2 with verifying his Instagram account anddonated $100 to the charity golf outing of the father of prospect 3. These violations are Level II. (...)
Between January 18 and April 25, 2023, Minter and Partridge sent a total of nearly 100 textmessages to a prospect prior to the permissible date. This violation is Level II. (...)
As a result of the underlying scouting and recruiting violations, Harbaugh violated the principlesof head coach responsibility. This violation is Level I. (...)
At various times throughout this investigation, Stalions, Harbaugh, Moore and Robinson eachfailed to cooperate under Bylaw 19. Each of those violations is Level I, except for Moore's failureto cooperate, which is Level II. (...)
From the fall of 2021 into the fall of 2023, Michigan failed to monitor its football program. Theviolation is Level II. (...)
The NOA alleged additional violations for Partridge, including: (1) arranging and conductingimpermissible tryouts with prospects; (2) providing an impermissible inducement to a prospect;and (3) failing to cooperate during and after his employment at Michigan. The recruitingallegations were presented as Level II. The failure to cooperate allegations were presented asLevel I. Partridge disputed each of the allegations. The panel concludes that the case record doesnot demonstrate that these violations occurred.
With those charges now considered violations, here is what the NCAA is penalizing Michigan with:
The recruiting restrictions and fine are likely what will hit Michigan football the hardest. Sherrone Moore's punishment does not appear to affect game week -- a change from recent NCAA restrictions to suspended coaches, which prohibited them from the entire week. But Moore, like Jim Harbaugh in 2023, will not be able to be in the stadium, though should be able to work with the team during the preparation for said game.
As noted, Harbaugh and Stalions both have one-year suspensions should a team hire them, despite their show-causes. Moore will be able to persist coaching with his two-year show-cause, but it will put added scrutiny on his actions in that time. Of course, the Wolverines will be under a four-year probation anyhow.
Unlike what many had expected, there were no postseason bans (though Michigan is penalized financially in the postseason for the next two years), and there is no vacation of anything that happened from 2021-23.
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Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
NCAA fines Michigan millions, adds game suspension for Moore over sign-stealing scandal
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The NCAA fined Michigan tens of millions of dollars Friday and suspended coach Sherrone Moore for a third game as punishment for a sprawling sign-stealing scandal that has loomed over college football's winningest program for nearly two years, including its national championship season in 2023. The NCAA said it had 'overwhelming' and concerning evidence of a cover-up by Wolverines staff and noted there were 'sufficient grounds for a multiyear postseason ban' against a program now considered a repeat violator. But the governing body stopped short of program-crippling punishments, saying a two-year postseason ban 'would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff' who are no longer there. 'The panel concluded that an elaborate, impermissible scouting scheme was embedded in the Michigan football program over the course of three football seasons, 2021, 2022 and 2023, and this occurred under former head coach Jim Harbaugh's oversight,' said Norman Bay, chief hearing officer for the Division I Committee on Infractions. 'What makes this case even more serious, in addition to the clear intent to impermissibly gain a substantial competitive advantage, is the elaborate effort to obstruct the investigation.' Moore, who is facing a school-imposed two-game suspension this season, will also sit out the first game of the 2026-27 season for a total of three games. Moore received a two-year show-cause order, but will be allowed to fulfill coaching commitments under the NCAA order. The biggest blow came from the financial penalties, which are expected to exceed $20 million. They include a $50,000 fine, a 10% fine on the football program's budget, a 10% fine on Michigan's 2025-26 scholarships and a fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of postseason revenue for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The program also faces a 25% reduction in official recruiting visits during the upcoming season and a 14-week prohibition on recruiting communications during its four-year probation period. Harbaugh, a former Michigan quarterback and now the coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, faces a 10-year show-cause order following the conclusion of his previous four-year order effective Aug. 7, 2028. Connor Stalions, a former low-level staffer who ran the scouting and sign-stealing operation, was issued an eight-year show-cause order, which effectively bans a person from college athletics for the period handed down. Michigan said it would appeal the decision. '(R)espectfully, in a number of instances the decision makes fundamental errors in interpreting NCAA bylaws; and it includes a number of conclusions that are directly contrary to the evidence – or lack of evidence – in the record,' the school said. Athletic director Warde Manuel added that 'a postseason ban should never have been a consideration in this case. I fully support the university's decision to pursue an appeal.' The scheme Harbaugh has always maintained he knew nothing about the scheme. NCAA investigators were clearly skeptical. 'Aspects of the record suggest that there may have been broader acceptance of the scheme throughout the program,' the report says. 'At a minimum, there was a willful intent not to learn more about Stalions' methods. However, the true scope and scale of the scheme -- including the competitive advantage it conferred -- will never be known due to individuals' intentional destruction and withholding of materials and information.' The NCAA does not have rules against stealing signs, but does prohibit schools from sending scouts to the games of in-season opponents and using electronic equipment to record another team's signals. The scheme run by Stalions, the NCAA said, was elaborate and detailed – in fact, the NCAA said, Stalions described it as 'counterintelligence' and his network of helpers was referred to as the 'KGB,' a nod to the Soviet-era spy service. During the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, 'Stalions directed and arranged for individuals to conduct off-campus, in-person scouting of Michigan's future regular season opponents,' the NCAA report said, noting that he bought their tickets and saying he spent some $35,000 in 2022 alone. 'While in attendance, they filmed the signal callers on the future opponents' sidelines and then provided that film to Stalions. Using the footage they collected, Stalions then deciphered their signals. Additionally, on one occasion, Stalions personally attended a future opponent's contest. In total, 56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular season opponents occurred across 52 contests.' When asked about Stalions' devices, accounts and documents, the NCAA said, 'multiple members of the KGB stated that Stalions gave them access to his hard drives and Google drive to review videos and assist in identifying signals.' Stalions, a Naval Academy graduate, was a volunteer for Michigan's football program for years, including when he was stationed in San Diego and slept in his car while renting his house, until Harbaugh hired him 2022. The retired captain in the Marine Corps was an analytics assistant for the Wolverines when he was suspended in October 2023, a day after the school disclosed it was under NCAA investigation. Stalions later resigned. 'If I'm a bad guy, then everyone in football is a bad guy,' Stalions said in a recent Netflix documentary. Stalions, who did not participate in the NCAA investigation, recently said he knew almost every signal opponents used in seven games over two seasons. The NCAA said the efforts to cover up the scheme included Stalions and other Michigan employees. 'Stalions himself described smashing his phone into 1,000 pieces and throwing it into a pond, providing false and misleading information during interviews, telling a potential witness to lie when interviewed, and some staff members, most notably Harbaugh not participating in interviews at all,' Bay said. 'Moore deleted his entire 52 message text thread with Stalions from his personal phone. Harbaugh failed to cooperate by refusing to provide necessary records or participating in interviews with NCAA enforcement staff.' The coaches In a notice sent to the school last year, the NCAA alleged that Moore violated rules as an assistant under Harbaugh. The text messages with Stalions were recovered and provided to the NCAA. Harbaugh, who left the Wolverines after they won the 2023 national championship, served a three-game suspension in exchange for the Big Ten dropping its investigation into the allegations after the two ended up in court. The NCAA also noted unrelated recruiting violations were part of the mix, violations that got Harbaugh that initial show-cause order. The NCAA said those involved lower-level staffers communicating with four recruits. 'The scouting scheme and recruiting violations in the football program demonstrate that Harbaugh violated the principles of head coach responsibility,' the NCAA said. 'Harbaugh did not embrace or enforce a culture of compliance during his tenure, and his program had a contentious relationship with Michigan's compliance office, leading coaches and staff to disregard NCAA rules.' The Wolverines open the season on Aug. 30 at home against New Mexico State and then play at Oklahoma, where Moore was an offensive lineman, on Sept. 6. 'I am glad that this part of the process has been completed,' Moore said in a statement issued by Michigan. 'I greatly respect the rules governing collegiate athletics and it is my intent to have our program comply with those rules at all times.' ___ Carey reported from Tampa, Florida. ___ AP college football: and
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
Big signings, long empty weeks and a happy(ish) ending: The last time Man Utd weren't in Europe
Manchester United's club photographer caught the eye of their new manager Louis van Gaal. United had just defeated European champions Real Madrid 3-1 in front of a 109,318 crowd in Ann Arbor, Michigan — still the largest crowd to watch a soccer game in the United States. 'Thanks for giving us our club back,' said the snapper, who'd been at the club since 1993 and had known almost complete success for two decades until Sir Alex Ferguson retired the previous summer and was replaced with Everton manager David Moyes. Advertisement 'Thanks, but I've done nothing yet,' replied the Dutchman. The moment came during the pre-season of 2014, when United won six and drew one of their matches, scoring 18 goals. New signings Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw looked the business, and it didn't seem to matter that Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand had all left the previous month. Van Gaal seemed to be the solution and all was good to go, despite the lack of European football after a seventh-place finish under Moyes and interim manager Ryan Giggs — the club's worst since 1990. And Manchester City, champions for a second time in three years, needed knocking off their perch. That 2014-15 campaign was the last time United did not play European football — indeed, they only had 44 competitive matches the whole season. Expect a similar number this term — and boy, how those weeks could drag. United played 59 times in 2024-25 but this time could have only one game at Old Trafford between October 4 and November 22. Despite this sobering thought, optimism is high right now. In 2014, those shiny bubbles of optimism burst when Swansea City won both sides' opening Premier League match, 2-1, at Old Trafford. United drew the second league game, 1-1 away to Sunderland, and also the third, 0-0 at Burnley. In between the latter two outings, third-division MK Dons hammered Van Gaal's team 4-0 in the League Cup — a competition which could have filled more than a few gaps in the schedule. Former United captain Bryan Robson's assertion from the June that, 'Everyone keeps saying it needs to be a major rebuild — I just don't see it like that' was being tested. In this increasingly surreal situation, United panicked. Marcos Rojo was signed from Sporting CP on August 20, and his Argentine compatriot Angel Di Maria arrived from Real Madrid six days later for a considerable £59.7million fee. And Van Gaal wanted more. 'The rumours were heavy, so at one point we asked him (Van Gaal) directly if he wanted me,' Dutch defender Daley Blind tells The Athletic. 'He said he was fine with his squad and the season had started — and that was fine as I was at Ajax. Then United lost 4-0 against a third division team, and I got a call asking me to join. I was happy to join and play in the Premier League.' Advertisement When Monaco striker Radamel Falcao signed on a season-long loan on September 1, the mood was euphoric. Van Gaal had given every player he'd inherited a chance, making his assessments before the end of the transfer window so that United had time to act to avoid another disastrous season. Shinji Kagawa departed towards the end of that window, Danny Welbeck too and, after an international break in early September, it felt like United's season would be starting again two weeks later at home to Queens Park Rangers, with the window closed. Darren Fletcher, who in the close-season had said that it would be 'a dangerous mindset' to target fourth place and that United would 'be going out to win the league', wouldn't spend another summer as a United player. 'Drastic action was needed,' tweeted Keith Gillespie, a former player for the club. 'Pursuing the path United was on was death by a 1,000 cuts. Quality of competing clubs was way better. We're back…' 'Radamel Falcao. Angel Di Maria. Marcos Rojo. Daley Blind,' gushed one giddy writer, whose name escapes me, in the United We Stand fanzine. 'Read those names again. You're not playing Football Manager: this is real life. It actually happened. They all play for MUFC.' Such signings helped ease the pain of United's absence from the Champions League group-stage draw late that August and without any continental games to focus on, the Premier League became the focus (and we are shortly due for a repeat). United had enjoyed European football from the middle of September every year since English clubs were readmitted to the UEFA competitions in 1990. Their fans were so used to being in the Champions League, they mocked arch-rivals Liverpool when they were in the inferior, second-tier Europa League. And then there was none. But there was signing-induced euphoria, which felt justified as United won 4-0 against QPR — 'Queens Park Rogers' as Falcao called them on Twitter. The Colombian didn't even start that one, but Ed Woodward, chief orchestrator of the huge summer transfer deals, left his seat in the directors' box smiling. He'd seen Di Maria stand out in United's first decent performance of the season. Advertisement Their next game was at Leicester City, rather than Germany's Bayer Leverkusen at that point of the previous season; £30 tickets for the away end at King Power Stadium were going for £250 and United were two up inside 16 minutes – Robin van Persie and Di Maria. Yet Van Gaal's side were punished for their inability to retain possession and control the game when they twice had a two-goal lead thanks to some sublime attacking football. A four-goal capitulation in 22 second-half minutes smashed the burgeoning confidence that followed the QPR victory. The home fans sang: 'We want six!' Leicester's club secretary claimed it was the best game in the 12-year-old stadium's history, while the walls of the away dressing room were privy to one of the angriest ever post-match managerial rants. 'It's true, we're a team in transition,' one mate messaged. 'From bad to worse.' 'It was a good meeting,' said striker Van Persie of the post-Leicester dressing room summit. 'Everyone spoke up and shared their feelings.' Van Gaal's record after six games read: played six, won one, drawn two, lost three. The previous season, Moyes had seen his team win four, draw one and lose one — against Liverpool. Unlike under the Scot, United were gifted with as easy a start to the league campaign as they could have hoped for, with games against all three promoted sides in the first five matches. Still, the mood was positive as the fans adopted something unfamiliar: a need to be patient. Van Gaal said it would be 100 days before we would see evidence of him in charge. Yeah, three months was doable, and it was correct as Van Gaal's side became more pragmatic. With Blind shielding the defence, United lost one of their next 15. Arsenal were beaten away, Liverpool 3-0 at home, as the team rose from 12th to third by New Year's Day, when attention could finally turn to a non-Premier League competition. The upturn in form helped in those long weeks between games. January 2015 saw Fletcher, Wilfried Zaha and Anderson all leave; a month when the FA Cup became a welcome distraction and draws were favourable: Yeovil Town and Cambridge United away – then at home to the latter, since they got a goalless draw. Preston North End away saw a 5,000-ticket allocation and a 3-1 win. But then, in the quarter-finals, Arsenal inflicted a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford to end the run. Compensation of a sort came as the excellent form continued in the league. Between January 17 and a 4-2 win in the Manchester derby on April 12, United won nine, drew one and lost one, moving to within a point of second-placed Arsenal. Imagine if they had started the season well! Chelsea were eight points ahead. That became 11 when they defeated United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on April 18. A 3-0 defeat at Everton and a 1-0 home loss to West Bromwich Albion made it three losses on the bounce, with seven dreary days between each match to pick over the negatives. United won only one of their final six league games but — something which would be more than acceptable this season — a fourth-place finish got them into a Champions League qualification play-off, which they won to return to the group stage. Advertisement It was a season of mixed feelings. Di Maria only scored three league goals. 'This might surprise you, but Angel Di Maria was one of the best players I've ever seen,' then United centre-back Chris Smalling tells The Athletic. 'It ended sourly, but when he first signed, he looked incredible. He did it on the field at the start, too — he chipped a goal at Leicester and I thought he would take us to the next level. All of us watched him and thought: 'We just need to get him the ball and he'll do something special'. It's a shame it ended for him so quickly at Old Trafford, that he's considered a flop, because he's a great player.' Falcao, who averaged over 30 goals in each of his previous four full seasons with Porto, Atletico Madrid and then Monaco, produced four. Smalling liked him too: 'Radamel Falcao is one of the nicest guys I've ever come across. He spoke good English, he was friendly. He spoke to everyone at the training ground. We all really wanted him to do well and he had a frightening goalscoring record, but he arrived after a big injury (an ACL tear the previous January) and it didn't happen for him. 'Sometimes when things don't work out, the players are largely to blame and you don't feel sorry for them. Falcao was different. He just couldn't deliver because of what had come before. A year later, he was scoring again for Monaco (30 goals in 2016-17).' Van Gaal famously said: 'Together, I'm sure we will make history', when Falcao signed. Time proved him wrong. The guy had a system but came to the worryingly familiar conclusion that he didn't have the players to play it. He lasted two seasons, but United managed to qualify for Europe in both, and in every one since… until the one just gone. That could yet be a blessing in disguise for a United team also in transition — hopefully not from bad to worse. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
CBS News
5 hours ago
- CBS News
Lawsuit against Roblox alleges sexploitation of 10-year-old Michigan girl on platform
A new lawsuit against Roblox alleges that a 10-year-old Oakland County, Michigan, girl was subjected to sexual exploitation due to a lack of safety measures by the website. The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in California, where the company is based, alleging that the platform is a "digital and real-life nightmare for kids" despite its advertising as safe for children. According to the lawsuit, the young girl was targeted by someone posing as a child. The individual allegedly sent the girl graphic messages and explicit photos of himself and convinced her to send him photos. The lawsuit alleges that Roblox "misrepresented and deliberately concealed information about the pervasive predatory conduct that its app enables and facilitates." The lawsuit also claims that the platform has allowed users to create scenarios where their "avatars" can engage in virtual sexual activity, exposing children to the acts. CBS News Detroit contacted Roblox for comment and has not heard back. "For nearly two decades, Roblox has provided a safe 'no questions asked' space for predators to roam freely amongst the very population it was created for… children," said Attorney Matthew Dolman with Dolman Law Group, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family. "Roblox's priority is putting as many users on their platform as possible to substantiate and grow their valuation, not the safety of our children and most vulnerable communities." Roblox has faced multiple lawsuits alleging sexual exploitation of children. A lawsuit in February 2025 alleged that a 13-year-old boy from Spokane, Washington, was targeted by a child predator on Roblox and Discord. Additionally, Roblox is also at the center of an alleged kidnapping, where investigators believe a California man met the young girl on the platform. In the Michigan case, the 10-year-old was an avid user and was given permission by her mother, "assured of Roblox's representations of child safety," the law firm said in a news release. The lawsuit alleges that the company made recent child safety changes, such as removing the ability for users to message others outside of games on the app for children under 13 years old and giving parents a separate dashboard to monitor their child's account. However, the lawsuit alleges that predators still can message children on public chats while playing games. "Roblox has left child predators' blueprint for finding children on the application intact since predators have always found children by playing games they know that children will frequent," read the lawsuit, adding that the platform also "failed to address core issues like the app's lack of age verification and refusal to require parental consent to make an account."
