Why The Michigan Sign Stealing Investigation Will Lead To Better Technology Across College Football

Huddle Up is a 3x weekly newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up and join 100,000+ others who receive it directly in their inbox each week.

---

Friends,

Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines football team are 8-0. They have the No. 1 scoring defense and No. 10 scoring offense in the country. They are outscoring opponents 325-47 through eight games. They haven’t played a game closer than 24 points, and they currently have the best odds to win the CFP National Championship (+225) — ahead of Georgia (+275), Florida State (+700), and Ohio State (+700).

But there is a black cloud hanging over their season because Michigan is now being investigated for running an illegal sign-stealing operation that dates back to 2021.

So today’s newsletter will run through the details, including what the allegations actually entail, how much evidence has already been compiled, the potential penalties from the NCAA, Jim Harbaugh’s future at Michigan and the NFL, and more.

This newsletter is also available via podcast on Apple and Spotify. Enjoy!

The easiest way to explain the Michigan sign-stealing scandal is that a low-level Michigan coach traveled to games around the country to scout future opponents.

This coach (Connor Stalions) joined the Michigan football coaching staff in 2022 after graduating from the Naval Academy (2017) and serving in the U.S. Marine Corps (2017-2022). Stalions was a low-level recruiting analyst at Michigan that specialized in analytics with an annual salary of $55,000 — but his job ended up being more complex.

For example, Stalions reportedly spearheaded a program that saw Michigan’s football staff spend more than $15,000 to send scouts to 40+ college football games over the last few years. This included games against Big Ten opponents like Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State, Maryland, Minnesota, and Nebraska.And Michigan scouts were seen recording the signals of future opponents on the sideline.

Stalions spent weeks deciphering future opponents’ hand signals. He would then stand next to Michigan’s offensive and defensive coordinator during games, alerting them when he knew (or thought he knew) the play the other team was going to run.

One Big Ten coach even told TCU before their matchup with Michigan that the school was running “the most elaborate signal-stealing in the history of the world.”

Connor Stalions also reportedly kept a 600-page manifesto detailing how he would run the Michigan program as head coach, and allegations against Michigan include Stalions reportedly paying people to attend and record future opponent’s games.

Hiring scouts and attempting to steal signs isn’t illegal. In fact, many coaches and programs across the country, big and small, actively talk about it in the open.

There is a reason why everyone uses three signal callers (two fake and one real).

But the accusations against Michigan are more serious primarily because of two reasons: 1) off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited, and 2) any attempt to record, either through audio or video means, any signals given by an opposing player, coach or other team personnel is prohibited.

Now, I want to be super clear about this. If these accusations turn out to be accurate, it’s a big deal. There is no way (in my mind) that Jim Harbaugh didn’t know about an elaborate sign-stealing operation going on in his program — Stallions made $55,000 but was reportedly spending thousands on tickets and communicating directly with the offensive and defensive coordinator during games. And if Harbaugh really didn’t know, it was because he didn’t want to know, which is just as bad.

And this sign-stealing process might have even backfired at times, with Ross Dellenger at Yahoo! Sports reporting that TCU knew about Michigan’s sign-stealing operation before their College Football Playoff matchup last year. TCU then used dummy signals throughout the game — old play calls that had since been switched — to score 51 points on Michigan and advance to the CFP National Championship game.

But the other thing to remember is that these NCAA rules are somewhat outdated.

For example, sign-stealing started in the early 2000s when teams began ditching the huddle for up-tempo offenses. But the rule that prohibits teams from off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents in the same season was initially implemented in 1994 because teams had wildly different budgets and not every team could afford to send scouts on the road, creating an unfair advantage.

"When I worked for Jimmy Johnson at Oklahoma State, when they had a game Saturday, I was at the next (opponent). I was scouting the next game," recalled Houston Nutt, the former Arkansas and Mississippi coach who worked under Johnson with the Cowboys in the early 1980s, to CBS News Detroit

And while this rule was probably established with good intent, I’d argue that it doesn’t do much when teams like Georgia have $80 million facilities but still kick off their season with games against weaker opponents like UT Martin and Ball State.

So maybe the NCAA throws the book at Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines. Ultimately, it’s illegal to do precisely what they are accused of doing.

But the better question is, what can the NCAA actually do?

Jim Harbaugh had success in the NFL and would be scooped up by a team if he was punished/banned/suspended. Furthermore, NIL has essentially emptied the NCAA’s toolkit, as scholarship and recruitment reduction punishments are now much less meaningful when boosters can just offer players a huge NIL package instead.

Add in the fact that Michigan could easily pay any fine — the school has a $17.9 billion endowment — and the NCAA suddenly feels much less scary than before.

Oh, and don’t forget that the NCAA notoriously takes *forever* to complete investigations, with Jim Harbaugh’s low-level recruiting violation from years prior still being investigated and an expectation that it won’t be finalized until 2024.

Still, this scandal could have a direct impact on sideline technology in college football.

It’s no secret that football has changed a lot over the last 25+ years, and virtually every level has implemented more technology, except college football.

Take the NFL, for instance. Not only do players get handed tablets when leaving the film to immediately watch film of the previous drive, but there is a player on each side of the ball (one on offense and one on defense) that wears a radio inside their helmet.

This radio system allows coaches to communicate directly with that player, dictating play calls (no signals can be stolen!) and even occasionally giving them advice.

“I know what that feels like to not just call the play, but to also say, ‘Watch out for the corner blitz,’ and then call the play,” said David Shaw, who was Stanford’s coach from 2011 to 2022 and coached for the Baltimore Ravens from 2002 to ‘05. “It’s invaluable.”

So why hasn’t this trickled down into college football? Well, the excuse has always been that not every university can afford it, which might have been true in the past.

But with the average FBS football program now bringing in $20 million annually, this Michigan investigation might end up getting the radio rule passed after all.

If you enjoyed this breakdown, please consider sharing it with your friends.

I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll talk later this week.

Book a 1:1 call with Joe on Intro.

Join my sports business community on Microsoft Teams.

Interested in advertising with Huddle Up? Email me.

Your feedback helps me improve Huddle Up. How did you like today’s post?

Loved | Great | Good | Meh | Bad

---

Huddle Up is a 3x weekly newsletter that breaks down the business and money behind sports. If you are not already a subscriber, sign up and join 100,000+ others who receive it directly in their inbox each week.

---