Michigan Football: Five things to know about latest sign-stealing report

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Once again, the never-ending sign-stealing scandal has become the top story in Ann Arbor. On Tuesday, Yahoo Sports published a report detailing Michigan's 130-page response to the NCAA regarding the scandal, and it's clear that U-M is intending to fight the NCAA every step of the way in this process. For its part, U-M accuses the NCAA of overreaching in many of its claims. And although U-M acknowledges some wrongdoing in its response, there is no indication that Michigan intends to accept full responsibility for what allegedly occurred as a result of the sign-stealing scandal.

Here are the four most noteworthy aspects from Michigan's response to the NCAA, via Yahoo Sports:

1. Michigan intends on fighting the NCAA

As mentioned in the opening, Michigan pushed back strongly against the NCAA accusations in its response. And although U-M acknowledged that some mistakes were made, it also accuses the NCAA of failing to substantiate many of its claims.

In its response to the association sent earlier this month, the university refutes many of the alleged rules violations and accuses the NCAA of “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” the program without credible evidence that other staff members knew ofStalions’ illegal in-person scouting system.

2. Other Michigan coaches knew that something was going on

Prior to the report from Yahoo Sports, most of us were led to believe that Connor Stalions was a rouge actor - a guy who was off on his own, doing his own thing. We now know, according to Michigan's own response, that other coaches were aware that something was going on. While Michigan disputes that members of the staff had full knowledge of Stalions' sign-stealing scheme, it's clear that seveal members of the staff were made aware that something was going on.

One of those members was then-running backs coach Mike Hart, who told NCAA investigators he received a call in September 2023 from a Rutgers staff member who told him that Michigan was stealing signals and “going further” than most do. Hart brought attention to this call to then-defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. The Rutgers staff member mentioned Stalions specifically.

Another low-level Michigan staff member raised concerns about Stalions’ sign-stealing system and refused to be a part of it when Stalions wanted him to rent a car to scout a football game at Georgia — a team Michigan could have eventually played in the playoff but a team not on the program’s schedule, making it permissible to scout them, according to UM’s response.

The staffer approached assistant coach Chris Partridge to inform him that he did not want to be part of Stalions’ scheme. Partridge went to Stalions directly and said he told him, “You’re not using this kid in your signal organization stupid thing, so, like, just have him be a manager.”

3. Michigan acknowledged that Stalions and other staffers had attended games

For the first time during this entire saga, we finally see Michigan admitting to Stalions attending at least one game with the apparent goal of recording sideline signals. Additionally, U-M acknowledges that other former staff members - at the direction of Stalions - attended eight more games with the goal of presumably recording signals.

In its response, the university contends that Stalions attended just one of those games and that only eight more were attended by a then-Michigan staff member — lower-level managers that Stalions assigned to attend and presumably record sideline footage for his signal system.

4. Michigan believes NCAA was tipped off by former U-M employee

While there were some within media circles who pushed a narrative that Ryan Day was somehow responsible for initiating the investigation into the Michigan Football program, it appears that U-M believes the NCAA was tipped off by a former U-M employee.

According to the document, the tipster derived from Michigan’s own campus. 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.”

5. Sherrone Moore explains why he deleted texts with Stalions

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the NOA that was released months back was that Sherrone Moore, then an assistant coach at Michigan, deleted his text messages with Connor Stalions shortly after the sign-stealing scandal came to light. While Moore maintains that there was nothing nefarious included in those messages, Yahoo Sports' latest report provides more insight from Moore as to why he claims he deleted those messages.

“So, [I] deleted all the information — all Connor, on my personal phone,” he 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.”

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Chris Breiler
CHRIS BREILER

Christopher Breiler launched Winged Helmet Media and began covering the Michigan Football program in an unofficial capacity in 2017. He then joined Wolverine Digest as part of the FanNation network in 2021 as a contributing writer, where he served as both a writer and a photographer on game days. In 2024, he took over as the Managing Editor for Michigan Wolverines On SI. His love for Michigan Football brought him into the industry, and his passion for being a content creator has led to some amazing experiences along the way.