Ex-Coach Attended Big Ten Games to Record Sideline Signals for Michigan, per Report

A former Division III coach claims he was part of Michigan’s sign-stealing scheme.

A former Division III football player and head coach claims he scouted Big Ten teams as part of Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing scheme, ESPN’s Dan Murphy reported Friday.

The former coach, who spoke to ESPN on the condition of anonymity, said suspended Michigan staffer Connor Stalions paid him “a couple hundred dollars” for his work. The source said he attended three Big Ten games over the past two years to record the sideline signals of future Michigan opponents and uploaded his work to a shared iPhone photo album with Stalions and potentially others.

“I didn’t like it, but it’s a gray line,” the ex-coach said. “You can call me naive, but no one is reading the bylaws. I’m not a contractual lawyer. … I just felt like if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying to get ahead.”

The NCAA began investigating Michigan last week amid allegations of illicit sign-stealing, with Stalions at the center of the scandal. The staffer is a former Marine captain who has volunteered with the Wolverines program since 2015 and was hired as an off-field analyst in 2022.

The former head coach told ESPN he attended games to scout Rutgers and Penn State last year and Penn State again this season. At the games, the former coach said he sat 15 to 20 rows above the field and tried to capture both game footage and sideline signals in his recordings.

“A lot of people may say you can just rip that from the all-22 [wide-shot game film]. Well, it’s not that easy,” he told ESPN. “This makes it easier to mirror things up and get those tendencies.”

Michigan suspended Stalions amid the investigation, and head coach Jim Harbaugh has claimed he had no knowledge of sign-stealing in his program. The NCAA sent investigators this week to Ann Arbor to interview Wolverines coaches and inspect coaches’ electronic devices.