I am a casual sports watcher. I keep up with the important wins and losses of the teams I support, but I am not up to date on all the happenings in the sports’ world. Regardless, I was disappointed to learn about the cheating allegations levied against University of Michigan throughout the later half of the 2023 season. A recent Netflix documentary, titled “Sign Stealer,” and the start of the new college football season have brought the scandal back under public scrutiny.
What even is “sign stealing,” the specific brand of cheating Michigan was accused of? It involves sending someone out to observe a future opponent’s games with the intention of decoding the signals they use to communicate which play to run. This is illegal in the NCAA, because it gives one team the unfair advantage of planning how to counter against a play that would otherwise be a surprise.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for a total of six games, according to the Associated Press. Harbaugh maintains he never knew of the alleged scouting. Connor Stalions is the staffer who has primarily been accused of running the sign stealing operation. Stalions resigned, reportedly refusing to cooperate with internal investigations.
The NCAA sent the University of Michigan their full report of allegations in late August, and Michigan now has 90 days to respond. This is the second NCAA investigation into Michigan from last year; the first was related to Harbaugh’s recruitment violations and handed him a four-year show-cause order. He essentially cannot participate in college athletics for the duration.
Some argue that sign stealing is not technically illegal in the NCAA. Deciphering the signs on the playing field has been a part of college football for its entire history, and Stalion argues that his military background and knowledge of the game make him particularly adept at this skill. Whether or not this is true, photographic evidence indicates he was scouting games illegally, potentially even paying others to record coaches for him.
If this is true, it would imply that the allegations against Stalion are correct. There is far less evidence that Stalion was acting based on orders from above, though there is not really a way to know for sure with public information.
Luckily, sign stealing may be an issue of the past in light of new rules. Head coaches will now be allowed to communicate directly with players through receivers in their helmets, according to ESPN. The communications will shut off with 15 seconds left on the clock. Many teams will probably continue to rely on hand signals, but sign stealing should be an overall less effective way to guarantee an unfair advantage.
The evidence indicates that some cheating happened at UofM last year, but the extent and impact of it is not completely measurable. Did Stalion single-handedly bring Michigan to the championship? It seems unlikely, but possible. This is an ongoing story, and we will have to wait for Michigan’s response to learn more.