Connor Stalions aspired to be the head coach at Michigan. He got just close enough to potentially take out the program’s head coach, unintentionally.
The Wall Street Journal takes a close look at the former Wolverines staffer, who worked under Jim Harbaugh and who resigned (possibly under threat of termination) last week as part of an ongoing sign-stealing investigation. Multiple reports make him the mastermind of the alleged scheme aimed at figuring out the hand signals of opponents by attending games and recording sideline signals in violation of NCAA rules.
Stalions, per the article, saw two paths to becoming a college football coach: (1) play college football and become a graduate assistant; (2) join the military. Lacking the skills to play, he quit his high school team as a junior and started coaching a middle-school team with his father.
Stalions landed at the Naval Academy, where he worked with the football program. He reportedly began cracking the code on play signals while at Annapolis.
He was, according to Michigan, officially hired in May 2022. The school claims that, before 2022, anything he did was done as a volunteer.
Per the article, Stalions bought a house for $485,000 near campus in March 2022. He was sued by the homeowners association for having “dozens of old vacuum cleaners” on the front porch. The association alleged that he was operating an appliance refurbishing business out of his home in violation of its bylaws.
Stalions represented himself. In response to a formal summons, he claimed that “whoever has chosen to sue me either 1. doesn’t like the fact that I am a veteran; or 2. is a Michigan State fan and knows I am a Michigan football coach and wants to draw my attention away.” (He specifically mentioned “someone named Jeff” who lived down the street and had a son at Michigan State.)
Stalions admitted that he sold restored items on Amazon. He claimed that he kept his inventory in a storage unit. A judge ordered him to stop whatever business he was running out of his home.
Now, Stalions might have to dust off his dustbuster repair business, now that whatever he might have been doing to give Michigan an edge has gotten him out of a job.
