Someone has come forward, sort of, to admit that he was paid by Michigan staffer Connor Stalions to record the signals of an upcoming Wolverines opponent.
According to Dan Murphy of ESPN.com, a man who spoke on condition of anonymity said he was paid by Stalions to participate in the effort to steal the signals of future teams that Michigan would be facing. The man, a former Division III player and coach, said that he received “a couple hundred dollars” and a ticket to a Michigan home game.
The unnamed man told Murphy that he attended three Big Ten games over the past two years, and that he recorded the sidelines of future Michigan opponents. He then uploaded the videos to a shared iPhone photo album.
The man said he was “wary,” but that he decided it fell into a “gray area” of the rules.
“I didn’t like it, but it’s a gray line,” the man told Murphy. “You can call me naive, but no one is reading the bylaws. I’m not a contractual lawyer. . . . I just felt like if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying to get ahead.”
The news comes after several days of ongoing developments in the story that threatens to cause significant harm to the Michigan program generally, and to coach Jim Harbaugh specifically. The Washington Post reported that the NCAA’s investigation was sparked by information from “an outside investigative firm” that produced “documents and videos the firm said it had obtained from computer drives maintained and accessed by multiple Michigan coaches.”
In all, the operation reportedly expected to expend $15,000 on sending scouts to more than 40 games played by 10 opponents in 2023. Although only Stalions has been linked to the situation by published reports, the Post added that Stalions made $55,000 from the school in 2022. This suggests that the money was likely not coming from Stalions’s take-home pay, which obviously would be less than the $55,000 once taxes were paid.
“I wasn’t doing it for personal gain or hoping to get my foot in the door if Conor becomes a head coach someday,” the unnamed person told Murphy. “It was just I got to go to some Big Ten games, alright sweet. And everyone else I felt was doing it to some degree. It’s a billion-dollar industry. You’re going to work in the gray areas as best you can.”
Harbaugh has denied any knowledge of the sign-stealing operation. NCAA bylaws provide him with no defense based on lack of knowledge, given his status as the head coach of the program.
The situation clouds his future at Michigan. Harbaugh coached the 49ers from 2011 through 2014. He interviewed for the Vikings’ head-coaching job in 2022, and for the Broncos’ head-coaching position in 2023.
Will Harbaugh find an opening in the NFL for 2024, if he wants to return to the professional level? Much of that likely depends on where the ongoing investigation leads, and on the evidence it eventually uncovers.