Michigan sign-stealing punishment: NCAA hammers Wolverines with massive fine, stops short of postseason ban despite saying ban is ‘required in this case’. The Full details…
At long last, nearly two years after its initial discovery, the Michigan sign-stealing decision is in. The Wolverines avoided a postseason ban, but were hit with a series of fines that could exceed $35 million, plus an additional game suspension for head coach Sherrone Moore.
In a document sent to the school Friday, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions sanctioned the Wolverines with the following penalties:
• A fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of all postseason competition revenue sharing associated with the 2025 and 2026 football seasons
• 10-year show-cause penalty for former head coach Jim Harbaugh
• 8-year show-cause penalty for former staffer Connor Stalions
• Additional game suspension + 2-year show-cause penalty for head coach Sherrone Moore • Four years probation
• 3-year show-cause penalty for former assistant Denard Robinson
• $50,000 fine, plus 10% of the budget for the football program
• A fine equivalent to the cost of 10% of the scholarships awarded in Michigan’s football program for the 2025-26 academic year
• A 25% reduction in football official visits during the 2025-26 season
• 14-week prohibition on recruiting communications in the football program during the probation period
The committee, a group independent of the NCAA but charged with prescribing penalties for violations, did not include in its sanctions a ban from the postseason or any vacated victories or championships despite asserting in its findings that “a postseason ban is required in this case.” The Wolverines won the Big Ten and College Football Playoff titles in the months after the NCAA’s investigation began in October of 2023.
The committee’s explanation reads as follows:
“Aligning penalties with the current landscape required deviating in some areas — namely, postseason ban and scholarship reductions. Importantly, the fact that the current landscape of college athletics has evolved faster than potential changes to the Figure 19-1 Penalty Guidelines does not absolve Michigan from required core penalties. The panel remained true, where possible, to the Figure 19-1 Penalty Guidelines. In areas where it could not, it prescribed appropriate equivalent penalties. For instance, the panel converted the required postseason ban and scholarship reductions to equivalent financial penalties.
A postseason ban is required in this case. Michigan’s case is Level I-Aggravated. See Bylaw 19.12.7.1 (establishing that postseason bans are reserved for Level I cases that lack exemplary cooperation and shall be prescribed in Level I-Aggravated cases). Michigan is also a repeat violator. See Bylaw 19.12.6.2 (identifying that repeat violator status is sufficient grounds to prescribe a postseason ban, even in cases where the institution earned exemplary cooperation). Given those facts, a multi-year postseason ban would be appropriate. That said, the NCAA Constitution states, ‘Division and, as appropriate, conference regulations must ensure to the greatest extent possible that penalties imposed for infractions do not punish programs and student-athletes not involved nor implicated in the infractions.’ See NCAA Constitution 4-B-4. The panel determines that a postseason ban would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program. Thus, a more appropriate penalty is an offsetting financial penalty.”
Though the committee did not impose a postseason ban, the fines — including the “anticipated loss of all postseason competition revenue” for the 2025 and 2026 seasons — will be massive. This season, each Big Ten team will receive a $6 million distribution from its College Football Playoff share. Next season, that number is projected to balloon to $21 million, pushing the total fines and CFP distribution loss for Michigan toward the $35 million mark:
• $7.2 million (10% of football budget)
• $27 million ($6 million CFP in 2025 + $21 million CFP in 2026)
• $700,000+ (10% of all football scholarships awarded)
A show-cause requires a school to justify hiring a coach who has committed NCAA violations and can prevent a person from coaching in college for the duration of the penalty.
Former assistant coach Chris Partridge did not receive any penalty.
Friday afternoon, Michigan announced it will appeal the ruling.
“We appreciate the work of the Committee on Infractions,” a statement read. “But, respectfully, in a number of instances the decision makes fundamental errors in interpreting NCAA bylaws; and it includes a number of conclusions that are directly contrary to the evidence — or lack of evidence — in the record. We will appeal this decision to ensure a fair result, and we will consider all other options.”
The Big Ten, alerted by the NCAA of its active investigation in the midst of the 2023 season, suspended Harbaugh for the final three games of that regular season. Michigan announced this spring a two-game suspension for Moore. It is suspending him for the third and fourth games of the season against Central Michigan (Sept. 13) and at Nebraska (Sept. 20). The third additional game suspension, handed down by the NCAA on Friday, will be served in the first game of the 2026 season.
Moore and the Wolverines begin the season ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press preseason poll. They kick off the season against New Mexico before traveling to Oklahoma for a Big Ten-SEC showdown on Sept. 9.
Meanwhile, Harbaugh is beginning his second season as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. Stalions has spent time coaching on the high school level.
Stalions appeared at Michigan’s hearing before the NCAA Committee on Infractions in June. He provided witness testimony during the two-day hearing, even growing emotional to the point of tears while speaking about the impact of the investigation on his potential coaching career. Those present at the hearing spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity.
According to the NCAA’s investigation, Stalions, a lifelong Michigan fan and graduate of Navy, operated an elaborate, multiyear system in which he bought tickets to games involving future Michigan opponents and then had associates — as many as 65 — attend games to video a team’s play-call signals.
Last summer, after a 10-month investigation, the NCAA formally charged Michigan with 11 allegations, six of those deemed Level I. Most notably, Moore deleted 52 texts from Stalions the same day that Yahoo Sports first unearthed news of the scandal. In a response to the NCAA in January, obtained by Yahoo Sports, the school vigorously defended its coach, describing the texts as “innocuous and not material to the investigation.”
In fact, in that 137-page response, the university refuted many of the alleged rules violations and accused the NCAA of “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” the program without credible evidence that other staff members knew of Stalions’ illegal in-person scouting system — the central question in a case that gripped all of the college sports world as it unfolded in 2023.
All sign stealing is not against NCAA rules. For instance, staff members can steal an opponent’s signals during games and from television or replay video. However, in a longtime NCAA cost-containment rule, schools are not permitted to scout opponents in advance.
The NCAA accused Stalions of engaging in in-person scouting of 52 games over the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, many of them involving scheduled opponents of Michigan. He used Michigan staff members, family and friends to record sideline signals, according to the NCAA’s investigation, which features video and photograph evidence of people videoing from seats that Stalions or accomplices purchased.
Over the three-year stretch, UM went 40-3 with three consecutive conference championships and the 2023 national title. However, in its response, the school purports that the sign-stealing system offered “minimal relevance to competition,” was not credibly proven by NCAA investigators and should be treated as a minor violation.
The university and several of its coaches were considered repeat offenders. Two years ago, a separate investigation found both Harbaugh and Moore guilty of COVID-era recruiting violations. In that case, Michigan was placed on three years probation, and Harbaugh received a four-year show-cause order.
Most interesting, perhaps, in Michigan’s response to the NCAA was a note about the tipster. The person who originally provided information to the NCAA about the Stalions’ scheme derived from its own campus. The unnamed source, which the NCAA has not disclosed, appears to have worked at Michigan, at least at one point, according to the response.
In another twist that unfolded in the fall of 2023, the NCAA presented Michigan with evidence that an athletics donor — “Uncle T” — funded Stalions’ venture. Michigan athletics donor Tim Smith said fans and university associates targeted him as the infamous Uncle T. In an interview with Yahoo Sports in November of 2023, Smith denied any involvement.
He released a statement on Friday through his attorneys after the NCAA’s report did not identify him as the source of funding for the scheme.
“As expected, the NCAA Committee on Infractions’ findings and conclusions fully and unequivocally exonerate Mr. Smith,” the statement reads, in part. “As he has consistently stated, he is not — and never was — ‘Uncle T,’ and was neither involved in nor had any knowledge of any alleged rules violations.”
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