The football program at the University of Michigan, among the favorites to play for the national championship, has become embroiled in an alleged sign-stealing scheme that involved impermissible, in-person scouting of opponents going back as long as three seasons.
Both the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference, of which Michigan is a member, have been looking into the claims for nearly three weeks while the second-ranked Wolverines (9-0) continue their season. Coach Jim Harbaugh has denied any knowledge of any kind of improper scouting scheme in his program.
The NCAA investigation is likely to take weeks if not months. The next immediate step belongs to Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, who has had the job for about six months after a career in Major League Baseball and television. Conference bylaws give the commissioner broad powers to punish schools under its sportsmanship policy.
The most likely penalty would be a suspension for Harbaugh, but Michigan has already warned that it may go to court to challenge any discipline. Harbaugh served a three-game, university-imposed suspension earlier this season for an unrelated and still unresolved NCAA violations case tied to recruiting; his team won all three games.
Here is what you need to know about the budding scandal that could hang over the rest of the season.
STEALING SIGNS
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.
Teams go to great lengths to protect their signals, though the exact value of having another team’s signs is hard to peg. Coaches say it has become something of an epidemic in college football as no-huddle offenses became the norm.
There are, however, clear NCAA rules against in-person, advanced scouting of opponents during the season that date to the mid-1990s and were put in place because not every school could afford to do it. Using electronic equipment to record another team’s signals is also banned by the NCAA.
If it seems old school that teams still use signs to signal plays it is because the NCAA does not yet allow coach-to-player audio technology that is a familiar sight in the NFL. That so far remains off limits, also because of concerns that not all schools would end up with equitable systems.
THE MICHIGAN CASE
The allegations against Michigan center on a former low-level staffer, Connor Stalions, purchasing tickets to the games of future opponents and sending people to those games to record video of that team’s signals.
Multiple Big Ten schools say they have found records of tickets purchased in Stalions’ name to their games and surveillance video of the people sitting in those seats pointing their phones toward the field.
Photos on the internet also suggest Stalions was on the Central Michigan sideline during the Sept. 1 game against Michigan State, wearing CMU gear and sunglasses. Central Michigan said it was working with the NCAA to determine who the person was.
Just how elaborate the scheme was has not been detailed by investigators, though media reports suggest it was an organized and well-funded plan. Just who tipped off NCAA investigators is among the unanswered questions.
