Bret Bielema on Michigan sign-stealing allegations: ‘That’s sickening, it’s disgusting'

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema recently shared his thoughts on the Michigan sign-stealing allegations, calling them “sickening” and “disgusting.”

This season, Illinois doesn’t play Michigan. So, Bielema hasn’t gone back and looked at any games skeptically. However, he is clearly taking the allegations against Michigan and head coach Jim Harbaugh very seriously.

“If something’s been going on off-campus like it’s been noted they were going to our games before we played that game last year, that’s sickening. It’s disgusting,” Bielema said. “But I’ll let them figure that part out.”

Recently, there was a call with Big Ten coaches and Commissioner Tony Petitti. During that call, it was reported that the coaches made it clear that they want the conference to punish Michigan and Jim Harbaugh quickly over these allegations. 

“I think, as coaches, we need to hold the integrity of the league. Everybody’s got to feel that everybody’s playing by the same rules and kind of go forward from there. Just kind of focused on Indiana. But everybody’s gonna be talking about it.”

For Bret Bielema, this is an incredibly unique situation compared to what he has seen before in the conference. He pointed at a specific example when Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern purposefully didn’t take signs from his team when they had the chance. 

“When the point in time comes when I can say something, I’ll have a lot to say,” Bielema said. “I went to this conference, I played in this conference, I coached in this conference at two different schools. I remember being in this league at another place where I literally got a call from a coach the day after we played them, they called our people during the course of the game. It was Fitz at Northwestern. He called me and said, ‘Yesterday, we had a chance, your signals were coming over to our headsets.'”

Illinois and Michigan don’t play in 2023. The Wolverines did beat the Illini 19-17 in Ann Arbor last season, during the period the sign stealing was alleged to occur.

Bret Bielema on legal sign stealing

There is legal sign stealing that goes on in college football. Bret Bielema knows about it well. After all, it was part of one of his earliest jobs in college coaching, as a GA at Iowa.

“These stories are obviously so much better when you’re not in them because we obviously don’t play them, but in 1992 when I became a GA, I remember my mission in 1992 was to find out when they signaled personnel to go on the field,” Bielema said.

“So, that’s how I started as a young assistant GA. You gather information every week, that way and it’s just totally legal, right? We shared. We’ve got buddies that played at other teams or conferences.”

The difference between what Bielema was doing and what Michigan is accused of doing is key. Staffer Connor Stalions is accused of buying tickets and having people film sidelines from those spots in the crowd ahead of games against Michigan. That’s against the rules, whereas other forms of sign stealing during games and communication with opposing coaches about signs are not.