The controversy surrounding the sign-stealing scandal involving Michigan’s football program continues to unfold, with the university preparing to challenge the NCAA’s allegations.
This saga first erupted during the 2023 season, and now, as Michigan receives a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA, the school is set to fight back, according to a new Yahoo Sports report.
“In a 137-page response to the NCAA obtained by @YahooSports, Michigan intends to fight allegations of the Stalions scheme, accuses NCAA of overreaching, defends Sherrone Moore’s deleted texts & reveals that the original NCAA tip came from its own campus,” reporter Ross Dellenger posted on X.
The report dives deep into the sign-stealing investigation and addresses several key figures within the Michigan football program.
The most prominent takeaway from the report is Michigan’s firm belief that the NCAA has failed to present sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims.
The university argues that the case should be classified as a Level II violation, a less serious designation compared to the more severe Level I infractions.
“In its response, Michigan believes that the notice of allegations, sent to the school in August, makes ‘numerous factually unsupported infractions, exaggerates aggravating factors and ignores mitigating facts,’ the document says. The school requests that the NCAA apply ‘common sense and commitment to fairness” and treat the case not as a serious Level I infractions case but a ‘Level II standard case,’” the report states.
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who was the offensive coordinator during the sign-stealing incident, has become a focal point of the investigation due to his deleted text messages with Connor Stalions.
Of course, Stalions is the former Michigan staffer at the center of the whole scandal.
In Michigan’s response, Moore defended his actions, explaining that the deletions were done out of anger, not an attempt to conceal information.
“So, (I) deleted all the information — all Connor, on my personal phone,” Moore said in Michigan’s response. “And it wasn’t to hide anything, it was just that — I was just extremely angry of, you know, the type of person that would do that to this program and these kids.”
Moore fully cooperated with the investigation, handing over his phone, and the deleted messages were recovered.
While some texts discussed sign-stealing, Michigan asserts that there is no evidence to suggest any illegal actions took place.
Perhaps the most surprising element of the report is the revelation that the original tip-off to the NCAA came from someone within the University of Michigan itself, potentially an individual with past ties to the school.
“According to the document, the tipster derived from Michigan’s own campus,” the report says. “The unnamed source, which the NCAA has not disclosed, appears to have worked at the school, at least at one point. Michigan believes the confidential leaker was used by the NCAA to produce at least some of the charges in the notice of allegations, something in which it expresses ‘concern.’”
Former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who was in charge when the alleged sign-stealing occurred, has also been drawn into the investigation.
The NCAA claims Harbaugh failed to fully cooperate, specifically by not providing imaging of his phones and computers. Michigan, however, maintains that the allegations against Harbaugh are “without merit.”
“Imaging of Harbaugh’s phones — his personal and work — were part of a large initial collection of data that included imaging of phones and other devices from 10 individuals, the school says, including two computers assigned to Stalions and an external hard drive owned by Stalions,” the report says.
“However, there were ‘legitimate concerns’ that the data being imaged contained personal and sensitive information and/or attorney-client communications, so images were withheld. The NCAA did not receive Harbaugh’s images by the deadline and deemed him to have failed to comply.”
In summary, Michigan is positioning itself to fight the NCAA’s charges, arguing that the evidence does not warrant such severe allegations.
While the NCAA has discovered signs of sign-stealing, Michigan contends that sign-stealing itself is a common and legal practice in college football.
Michigan’s defense centers on the assertion that the NCAA lacks credible evidence to support classifying this as a Level I case.
What are your thoughts on the situation? … What punishment (if any) does Michigan deserve???
