Connor Stalions, a low-level Michigan football staffer at the center of an NCAA investigation into illegal scouting of opponents and sign stealing, resigned Friday, the school announced.
Michigan athletics spokesman Kurt Svoboda confirmed to The Associated Press that Stalions resigned on Friday afternoon. There was no further comment from the school.
A source familiar with the situation initially told AP that Stalions, who was suspended with pay two weeks ago, had been fired, but the school soon announced that he had resigned.
According to the source, Stalions also failed to appear for a scheduled hearing on Friday and informed the school via his attorney that he would not participate in any internal or external investigations.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because Michigan does not publicly discuss internal personnel moves.
Michigan is being investigated by the NCAA for sending people to opponents’ games to record video that would be used to decode their in-game signals.
Also on Friday, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti met with Michigan President Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel to discuss whether the conference should discipline the Wolverines football team for the scouting and sign-stealing scheme.
Petitti attended the Big Ten field hockey championships in Ann Arbor. Diane Dietz, a Big Ten spokeswoman, confirmed Petitti met with Ono and Warde but gave no further details.
Michigan’s football team was scheduled to play Purdue at home on Saturday night. The second-ranked Wolverines (8-0) were ranked third in the first College Football Playoff rankings released earlier this week, as they seek a third consecutive Big Ten title and a spot in the CFP.
Stallion was listed as a recruiting analyst for Michigan, and his LinkedIn profile stated that he was hired by the football program in 2022. Stallion is a United States Naval Academy graduate.
Several Big Ten schools discovered records of tickets purchased in the Stallion’s name to their games, as well as surveillance video of people sitting in those seats pointing cell phones toward the field.
“We know for a fact that they were present at a number of our games,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said on his radio show Thursday. “We’ve had to teach our guys a new language.”
According to photos on the internet, Stalions was on the Central Michigan sideline during the Sept. 1 game against Michigan State, wearing CMU gear and sunglasses.
After the Chippewas’ game earlier this week, Central Michigan football coach Jim McElwain stated that the Stalions’ name was not on his team’s pass list for sideline access for the game.
Last month, the Wolverines defeated rival Michigan State 49-0.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who was suspended for three games earlier this season for an unrelated and still unresolved NCAA violations case involving recruiting, has denied any knowledge or involvement in illegal scouting of opponents.
The NCAA’s investigation and enforcement process is meticulous and will most likely extend beyond the college football season, which concludes on Jan. 8 with the national championship game in Houston.
The Big Ten bylaws allow the commissioner to act more quickly in cases of sportsmanship and competitive integrity.
Petitti met with Big Ten coaches and athletic directors via video call earlier this week. Coaches expressed their outrage and frustration with the situation, and they urged the conference to take action.
According to one of the people, the ADs discussed possible punishments for Petitti to consider, primarily suspending Wolverines coaches, beginning with Harbaugh, but no decisions were made.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72827230/usa_today_21696681.0.jpg)
The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Big Ten was not disclosing its internal discussions about the Michigan case.
Following this week’s game against Purdue, Michigan travels to No. 11 Penn State on Saturday, then to Maryland before wrapping up the regular season against No. 3 Ohio State on Nov. 25. The Big Ten championship game will be held on December 2 in Indianapolis, and Michigan’s games against Penn State and Ohio State will determine who will represent the East Division.
Petitti, who has been in charge since May after taking over when Kevin Warren left to run the Chicago Bears, told Big Ten coaches and ADs that he might meet with them again on Sunday if an update was needed.
Leave a Reply