Michigan AD announces suspension for Wolverines staffer Connor Stalions implicated in NCAA investigation

The staffer at the center of the Michigan football sign-stealing case — Connor Stalions — has been suspended with pay until the conclusion of the investigation, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel announced on Friday. Stalions was reported to be a main figure in the case in the early morning hours on Friday.

News broke on Thursday that Michigan was under NCAA investigation for allegedly illicitly stealing opponents’ signals ahead of games against them. Now Michigan has moved Stalions out of the picture until the matter is settled.

“Michigan Athletics suspended Connor Stalions today, with pay, pending the conclusion of the NCAA investigation,” Manuel said in a statement announcing the suspension.

Stealing signs or signals for plays on its own isn’t against NCAA rules. Michigan is under scrutiny specifically for allegedly sending personnel to games of upcoming opponents and/or using electronic equipment to record signals. Scouting opponents in-person has been forbidden by NCAA rules since 1994 and rules against electronic surveillance have been in place for decades.

Opposing coaches have been aware of the sign stealing from Michigan for months

According to additional reporting from Yahoo! Sports, which originally broke the story, shed light on how Michigan’s sign stealing was known around the Big Ten for months.

Stalions was not an unknown, either. The new report from Yahoo! Sports outlined how several coaching staffs, including Ohio State ahead of the 2022 edition of The Game, were aware their signs might be known on the opposite sideline.

‘He spearheads the operation. I once told (Stalions), ‘We know what kind of sh** you are doing and it’s f***** up,’” a Big Ten coach said to Yahoo! Sports.

Stalions has scrubbed his social media accounts since the story broke on Thursday, at which point they were still active. ESPN first reported that Stalions, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, was at the center of the investigation and that investigators intend to search his computer.

And according to the Yahoo! Sports report, a number of Big Ten coaches were aware of the sign-stealing operation well before the Wolverines were under the specter of NCAA investigation.

“We were told to be careful because they had a guy who could pick plays,” a Big Ten head coach said to Yahoo! Sports. “It was too late in the week to change our signals, but another staff did tell us about (Stalions).”

This included the Ohio State staff ahead of a major rivalry matchup in 2022.

“We heard they had a guy pick plays pretty good and had all this information from not your typical ways of getting the signals,” an Ohio State staff member said. “We get into the game and it’s the second quarter. I see him across the field and he’s checking his 11×17 sheet.”