Chris Balas details serious nature of allegations against Michigan, biggest questions

Serious allegations have been levied against the Michigan football program, and the story continues to unravel by the day. The Wolverines have been accused of stealing play signs of their opponents, with analyst Connor Stalions, attending several games of opponents to do so.

Stalions has since been suspended as a result, and more information seems to keep coming out at a rapid pace. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the activity was uncovered by an investigative firm that went to the NCAA with its findings.

Among the findings were computer drives accessed by several Michigan coaches that contained a schedule that showed the travel plans, opposing team’s schedules, a budget for travel and tickets, and which games the scouts would attend. The firm also presented the NCAA with photos that appear to show the scouts at games, including current Michigan students who are doing internships with the football team.

Chris Balas of The Wolverine joined On3‘s Andy Staples in a Wednesday podcast to break down the allegations and speculate what’s next.

“We did know that there were allegations that Connor Stalions, the analyst behind all this, might have been at some Michigan opponent games recently,” he said. “All of a sudden, it’s not just people he hired. It’s him. No. 2, where was he? No. 3 though, if you have different coaches accessing this computer allegedly, it indicates more obviously than Conor Stalions and indicates that more people knew about it. So we have to see who.

“I think the article did say that Jim Harbaugh was not one of them and that there was no trail to him. If there’s a saving grace for him, at least for his reputation, maybe that’s it. He can say, ‘I didn’t know any of this was going on. But as the NCAA has said and as you know, it comes back down to you need to know what’s going on at your program.”

Now the next step is for the NCAA to decide what action to take. It’s been speculated that it would be difficult to come up with any sort of punishment this season, though Balas had an interesting update.

The NCAA is reportedly set to speak with Michigan about the allegations on Thursday, so more may be known about how serious it will be the the Wolverines then.

“It’ll be fascinating to see where this goes from here,” Balas said. “We will see if the NCAA does make it in tomorrow. I did confirm with two different sources that that was the initial date. What (do) they approach Michigan with and what (do) they do about it?”

Perhaps then we’ll find out the answers to a few more pressing questions regarding this scandal. It’s still unclear how the investigating firm was hired, or by whom. At this point it’s only just the tip of the iceberg, it seems, with much more to discover.

“How did they access these computers?” Balas said. “Who hired the private investigating firm? What proof do they have that these coaches were accessing it? That’s the funny part to me. How are you getting this from a private investigating firm and what lengths are they going to bust your operation?