Suspended Michigan assistant Connor Stalions continues to be at the center of the NCAA’s sign-stealing probe.
Eleven schools in the Big Ten said they had found evidence that Stalions purchased tickets to at least one of their games over the past three seasons, ESPN reported Monday. Officials at three Big Ten schools that they had found electronic purchases of game tickets in Stalions’ name. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
In a long text thread from 2021, Connor Stalions reportedly boasted about successfully stealing signs and informed the offensive coordinator about the coverage and pressure he would be facing, according to Sports Illustrated.
“I’m close with the whole staff,” he once wrote.
“Pre-covid, stole opponent signals during the week watching tv copies then flew to the game and stood next to (then-Michigan offensive coordinator Josh) Gattis and told him what coverage/pressure he was gettin…”
The most strange thing about this story might be that Stalions reportedly has a 550–600 page Google document outlining his future intentions for the Wolverines. Some called it “the Michigan Manifesto.”
“I think it’s pretty rare to find the right type of people who can grasp a vision of the future and want to team up and run s—. And we all got our own stuff goin on, but we all got some pretty unique approaches,” Stalions wrote. “Basically the way I see it, there’s a future Ohio State head coach and staff out there somewhere preparing for it whether they know it or not. And we have a group of a half dozen actively planning s— 15 or so years out. And another dozen or two on board. So by the time it’s ready to rock, we’re all on the same page and we quickly make Michigan the ultimate standard.”
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NCAA rules do not directly ban the stealing of signs, but there are rules against using electronic equipment to record an opponent’s signals.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh has denied having any involvement or knowledge of Stalions’ alleged operation.
Michigan announced last week that Stalions had been suspended with pay, pending the conclusion of the investigation.
