Judgment day coming for Michigan in Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal: What could the punishments be?

Yahoo

2 days ago

Decision day is coming for the University of Michigan. The NCAA will release its findings and issue punishments on Friday related to Michigan's alleged sign-stealing violations. According to Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger, all parties involved in the case have been notified that a decision and punishments are imminent.
Michigan has played under a cloud of suspicion ever since the 2023 season, when Connor Stalions, at that point a defensive analyst, was alleged to have scouted other programs through a variety of in-person means. The NCAA opened an investigation into Stalions and the Michigan program during the 2023 season, and the Big Ten suspended then-head coach Jim Harbaugh for three games. Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore took over for Harbaugh during those games.
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The Wolverines would go on to win the national championship that season. Harbaugh left to coach the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, and Moore took over as head coach. An ESPN report from May indicated that Moore will be suspended for two games this season, Weeks 3 and 4 against Central Michigan and Nebraska, as part of Michigan's self-imposed sanctions.
Stalions, meanwhile, left the program in November of 2023. He has since been interviewed by NCAA investigators, as well as serving as the subject of, and source for, numerous articles and documentaries. While 'sign stealing' per se is not illegal, using a network of in-person sources, as Stalions is alleged to have done, violates NCAA's bylaws forbidding in-person scouting of future opponents.
The NCAA issued a Notice of Allegations to Michigan in August 2024. Stalions, Harbaugh and former assistant coach Chris Partridge and staffer Denard Robinson allegedly committed Level I violations — the NCAA's most serious category — during the scandal, with Michigan as a university facing Level I violations for a 'pattern of noncompliance,' according to a draft version of the NoA leaked earlier in the month. Moore was accused of committing a Level II violation.
What could the punishments be?
Potential punishment remains unclear, though it appears unlikely Michigan will vacate wins or its 2023 national championship. A future ban on postseason participation is also unlikely. Working in Michigan's favor: Stalions was an assistant, not a player, blunting the degree of impact he could have had on a game. Plus, the NCAA has relented somewhat on its longtime practice of punishing current players for misdeeds in the past.
Penalties for coaches, however, are still very much on the table. Moore, whose initial suspension arose from his deletion of 52 text messages from Stalions, could face a harsher punishment than the two games he will already serve. Harbaugh and Stalions will almost certainly face further show-cause penalties and potential suspensions should they return to coach in the college ranks. Harbaugh is already under a four-year show-cause penalty, handed down in August 2024, for impermissible contact with recruits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Also likely: a substantial monetary fine and, potentially, recruiting restrictions as well. Both would serve to punish the Michigan program for allowing Stalions to run his covert scouting operation while not crippling the university's current classes or future prospects. A fine — which, in the current cash-flush environment of college sports, could be substantial — would in theory serve as a strong deterrent to other athletic departments, and a warning to keep enthusiastic coordinators on a tight rein.