On Friday, November 10, 2023, The Big Ten Football Conference announced that the University of Michigan Wolverines had been found in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy for conducting a prohibited, in-person scouting operation over multiple years. This resulted in an unfair competitive advantage that made up the fairness of the NCAA football competition.
The Michigan Wolverines have been involved with a sign-stealing scheme that involved impermissible, in-person scouting of opponents going back as long as three seasons according to the Big Ten Conference. The Big Ten Conference Agreement 10.01 states in part that “The Big Ten Conference expects all contests involving a member institution to be conducted without compromise to any fundamental element of sportsmanship. Such fundamental elements include integrity of the competition, civility toward all, and respect, particularly toward opponents and officials.”
The University of Michigan Wolverines will face the penalty of immediately competing without their head football coach, Jim Harbaugh, for the games remaining in the 2023 regular season. Harbaugh can not be present at the game venue on the dates of the games where the disciplinary action applies. This is not the only time Harbaugh has been suspended. Earlier this season he served a three-game, university-imposed suspension for an unrelated/unresolved NCAA violations case tied to recruiting.
There are clear NCAA rules against in-person, advanced scouting of opponents during the season. Many sources such as CBS News, state that “there are no NCAA or Big Ten rules against football teams trying to decipher each other’s play-calling signs. It’s understood when teams square off, there will be eyes on the sidelines looking for clues. However, using electronic equipment to record another team’s signals is also banned by the NCAA”.
The allegations against Michigan focus on a former low-level staffer, Connor Stalions, purchasing tickets to the games of future opponents and sending people to those games to record film of that opponent’s signals. Stallions, a longtime Michigan football fan, has been employed by Michigan since 2022 as a recruiting analyst.
He was suspended by the university after the NCAA and Big Ten acknowledged the school was being investigated. Two weeks later, he resigned, saying he wasn’t aware of improper conduct regarding the recent allegations of advanced scouting.
through his lawyer that neither Harbaugh nor any member of his coaching staff told anyone to break any rules or were aware of improper conduct regarding the recent allegations of advanced scouting.
The Big Ten called it “an organized, extensive, years-long in-person advance scouting scheme.” Additionally, Multiple Big Ten schools say they found records of tickets purchased in Stallions’ name to their games and surveillance video of the people sitting in those seats pointing their phones toward the field. For example, during the game against Michigan State on September 1, 2023, where photos on the internet showed that Stallions was on the Central Michigan sideline, wearing CMU gear and sunglasses. Central Michigan said it was working with the NCAA.
