A little more than two months after the Committee on Infractions (COI) hearing in Indianapolis — a hearing in which NCAA President Charlie Baker did not attend — and two weeks before the start of the season, the NCAA’s official ruling on the Michigan Football-Connor Stalions advanced scouting investigation that rocked the college football world in 2023 has been announced.
If you’re an Ohio State fan, Michigan State fan, a fan of any other rival school, you might want to look away.
This all got started in Oct. 2023, when the first report came out regarding Stalions’ sign-stealing scheme. That led to Stalions eventually resigning, linebackers coach Chris Partridge getting fired for allegedly trying to advise players what to tell NCAA investigators regarding their interaction with Stallions, and the Big Ten making the unprecedented decision to suspend Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season.
Of course, Michigan went onto win those three games — at Penn State, at Maryland, vs. Ohio State — under the interim leadership of Sherrone Moore. The Wolverines then defeated Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, Alabama in the Rose Bowl, and Washington in the National Championship Game.
This story came back around earlier this summer when members of the Michigan Football program — and even Stalions himself — and the NCAA’s COI met in Indianapolis for two days, where the COI reviewed all available evidence and allegations. Since then, they have been determining whether violations occurred or not, the exact level of the potential violations, and the penalties that would be handed down, if any.
Baker stated shortly after the 2023 season that the Wolverines won the National Championship fair and square. Former head coach Jim Harbaugh said just as much in his postgame press conference following the 34-13 win over Washington, saying, “We’re innocent, and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent — I’d like to point that out. These guys are innocent. To overcome that, it wasn’t that hard because we knew we were innocent.”
With this now officially in the rearview mirror — for now at least — Michigan can turn all of its attention to the upcoming football season, which kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m. (NBC) against New Mexico.
