News Now: Michigan says Connor Stalions, players staffer in sign-stealing inquiry, resigns

The University of Michigan said on Friday that Connor Stalions, the low-level staff member involved in an NCAA probe into illegal opponent scouting and sign theft, had resigned.

Kurt Svoboda, a spokesman for Michigan sports, informed The Associated Press that Stalions has quit his post as of Friday afternoon. The institution declined to comment further.

Prior to the school announcing Stalions’ resignation, a source with knowledge of the matter informed AP that Stalions, who had been placed on paid leave two weeks prior, had been dismissed.

The individual added that Stalions notified the school through his attorney that he would not take part in any internal or external inquiries and that he did not show up for a planned hearing on Friday.

The speaker requested anonymity because Michigan was not making public any information about its internal personnel changes.

The NCAA is looking into Michigan for sending observers to rival teams’ games in order to get footage that could be utilized to decipher their in-game signals.#

In addition, Michigan President Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel met with Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti on Friday. The conference is debating whether to punish the Wolverines football program for its scouting and sign-stealing plan.

During the Big Ten field hockey championships, Petitti was in Ann Arbor. While acknowledging that Petitti spoke with Ono and Warde, Big Ten spokesperson Diane Dietz gave no further information.

On Saturday night, Michigan’s football team was supposed to play Purdue at home. In search of a third straight Big Ten championship and CFP berth, the second-ranked Wolverines (8-0) were placed third in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, which were made public earlier this week.

Stallion’s LinkedIn profile stated that he was hired by the football program in 2022, and he was classified as a recruitment analyst for Michigan. Stallion attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated.

Records of tickets purchased for Stalions games in their names as well as CCTV footage showing the individuals occupying those seats pointing cell phones toward the field were discovered by several Big Ten universities.

In an interview on his radio show on Thursday, Purdue coach Ryan Walters stated, “We know for a fact that they were at a number of our games.” “We’ve had to teach our guys a new language.”

Online images purport to show Stalions at the Central Michigan sideline during the Sept. 1 game versus Michigan State, donning sunglasses and CMU merchandise.

After the Chippewas game earlier this week, Central Michigan football coach Jim McElwain stated that the Stalions’ name was not on his team’s pass list for sideline access to the game.

Last month, the Wolverines fought and defeated rival Michigan State 49-0.

Coach Jim Harbaugh of Michigan, who was suspended for three games by the university earlier this season due to a separate NCAA violation case involving recruiting that is still pending, has denied any knowledge of or involvement in illegal opponent scouting.

The rigorous NCAA enforcement and investigation process is expected to continue even after the college football season concludes on January 8 with the national championship game in Houston.

The Big Ten regulations give the commissioner a way to take quicker action when it comes to issues of sportsmanship and fair play.

Earlier this week, Petitti had a video conference with athletic directors and coaches from the Big Ten. According to two persons with knowledge of those sessions, coaches voiced their displeasure and indignation at the state of affairs and urged the conference to take Michigan to task.

The ADs—aside from Manuel from Mich.

According to one of the persons, the ADs, excluding Manuel from Michigan, talked about potential sanctions for Petitti to think about, primarily centered around suspending Wolverines coaches, beginning with Harbaugh. However, no decisions were taken.

Because the Big Ten was not disclosing its internal deliberations over the Michigan issue, the individuals talked with The Associated Press under the condition of anonymity.

Following this week’s game against Purdue, Michigan’s remaining Saturday matchups are at No. 11 Penn State, Maryland, and No. 3 Ohio State, which is the regular-season finale. The East Division representative for Michigan will be decided by the team’s games against Penn State and Ohio State on December 2, which is the day of the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.

Having taken over for Kevin Warren when he left to lead the Chicago Bears in May, Petitti told the Big Ten coaches and ADs that he may meet again on Sunday if they needed an update.