Pete Thamel questions who funded Michigan sign-stealing scheme
The NCAA is apparently close to formally delivering a Notice of Allegations to Michigan in regards to the impermissible scouting scandal that revolved around former staffer Connor Stalions. But some key questions have not been fully answered.
One, which ESPN’s Pete Thamel would like to see explored more, is how Stalions paid for the operation. At the low end of the pay grade on staff, it’s not realistic that Stalions could’ve paid for the scheme on his own.
“The thing that’s missing from here, that I think is really interesting, is who funded this?” Thamel said on the ESPN College GameDay podcast. “Like there’s mileage, there’s tickets, there’s — you buy tickets to 53 college football games. This was not something, I think Connor Stalions made 50 grand, if I remember right, looking it up last year from the public Michigan website. So that’s not — the capability to do that wasn’t there.”
The question has gone mostly unanswered to this point, though some reports indicated a Michigan booster may have helped bankroll the operation.
Either way, the reported draft NOA doesn’t including anything about Michigan potentially funding Stalions and his efforts directly — at least beyond whatever salary he was drawing.
“So I think that is part of the interesting thing and I think obviously important to point out, there’s no direct link to Jim Harbaugh,” Thamel said. “There’s one football staff member mentioned here, they don’t mention that person by name. I would insinuate that was not an on-field, full-time coaching staff member.”
And for most, learning how Stalions paid for his plans will be a question of great interest, especially if the NCAA doesn’t provide clear answers.
“There’s no mention of payment, actually, which is interesting. Because if the NCAA was going to advance what was handed to them, that would’ve been one of the places where maybe they could’ve gone and done some leg work,” Thamel said.
The NCAA hit Harbaugh with a show cause, suspension on Wednesday
An NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions panel has ruled on a case involving Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, issuing a four-year show-cause order and a one-season suspension to the ex-Wolverines coach.
The case is not related to the alleged sign-stealing investigation that is ongoing and for which the Wolverines expect to formally receive a Notice of Allegations soon.
Instead, this case involves Michigan and five individuals who currently or previously worked for the football program who earlier reached an agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on violations concerning both recruiting and coaching activities by non-coaching staff members that occurred within the football program.
As part of the agreement, Michigan agreed that it failed to properly monitor the football program.
However, Jim Harbaugh was not part of an earlier agreement that allowed some parties to the case to immediately begin serving their penalties. Harbaugh’s part and consequence were revealed on Wednesday.
The violations Harbaugh is now being penalized for had to do with impermissible recruiting contacts and inducements during the COVID-19 dead period. An NCAA report indicated that Harbaugh’s violations are Level II violations, but “his unethical conduct and failure to cooperate with the membership’s infraction process” rose to a Level I violation.
The NCAA specifically noted that Harbaugh provided “false or misleading information.”
Due to the nature of Harbaugh’s “intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct,” the severity of the case was amplified and the Division I Committee on Infractions elevated Harbaugh’s case to a Level I-Aggravated status.
As a part of his show-cause order, Jim Harbaugh has also been suspended for one full season of competition, meaning if he is hired during the show-cause order he would have to sit out a full season as penalty. Even after that, Harbaugh would be “barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings” for the length of the show-cause order.