Report: Big Ten coaches pushing for Michigan punishment from conference
The Michigan Wolverines‘ alleged illegal scouting investigation prompted Big Ten coaches to push for swift punishment from the conference on a league call Wednesday night, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
The call, which ESPN says went 90 minutes, included Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who left the call after regular-scheduled business was tended to. After Harbaugh hung up, conference commissioner Tony Petitti allowed the rest of the league to speak for almost an hour with several pushing the Big Ten to take action against Michigan.
The ESPN report says that Petitti did not reveal one way or another which way the league was leaning and instead spent the majority of the call listening to what league coaches had to say.
“The coaches in the Big Ten laid out to Petitti, who was hired in April, just how distinct of a schematic advantage Michigan has held the last three years by illegally obtaining the opposition’s signals ahead of time, as has been alleged,” Thamel wrote.
“Coaches used words like ‘tainted,’ ‘fraudulent’ and ‘unprecedented’ on the call to describe Michigan’s signal-stealing scheme, as has been alleged. Much of the call, according to sources, was coaches explaining to Petitti both how it worked and how it impacted them and their programs. Both in-person opponent scouting and using electronic equipment to steal signals are not allowed by NCAA rules.”
The investigation into Michigan’s sign-stealing operation was opened two weeks ago on Oct. 19. U-M analyst Connor Stalions, who has been suspended with pay since Oct. 20, was named as the person of interest in the case due in large part to evidence that he purchased tickets to games of 12 of 13 Big Ten opponents over the last three seasons and other potential postseason opponents. The tickets were purchased in his own name and then transferred to others.
This week, Central Michigan University also opened up an investigation on a man resembling Stalions appearing on the sideline with a victors pass and team-issued gear for the Sept. 1 opener at Michigan State.
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The Big Ten has the authority to punish Michigan or members of the staff under its Sportsmanship policy, but that is considered unlikely given the investigation is still unfolding in real-time.
On Tuesday night, Michigan was ranked No. 3 in the initial reveal of the College Football Playoff rankings for 2023. Given the allegations surrounding the Michigan football program over an illegal sign-stealing/scouting operation, some had wondered how the committee would respond in their initial ranking. Harbaugh and Michigan are focused on taking care of their business on the field. CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan shared what went into the decision-making on U-M on Tuesday night.
“Our job as we look at it is to rank the teams and to follow our protocols,” Corrigan said. “As we went through it, that wasn’t part of any of the discussions that occurred during our time together.
“We really view it as an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue. At this point in time, as we’re looking at this, we want to make sure we get — not just the top four teams but the top 25 teams, right?”
This story is developing.
