Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News
The NCAA said Michigan gained a “substantial competitive advantage,” made an “elaborate effort” to obstruct the investigation into an illegal scouting/sign-stealing scheme and failed to “create a culture of compliance,” but also believes the penalties issued are “significant” and fitting.
Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore has been penalized three games, including a two-game self-imposed suspension this season as well as the first game game of the 2026 season, and the Michigan athletic department has been slapped with enormous fines, including losses of postseason revenue for the next two seasons, the NCAA announced Friday in its decision on the illegal scouting/sign-stealing case that focused on former staffer Connor Stalions.
In a statement Friday afternoon, the University of Michigan said it will appeal the decision.
“We appreciate the work of the Committee on Infractions,” the UM statement reads, “but respectfully, in a number of instances the decision makes fundamental errors in interpreting NCAA bylaws; and it includes a number of conclusions that are directly contrary to the evidence — or lack of evidence — in the record. We will appeal this decision to ensure a fair result, and we will consider all other options.”
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Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement he supports the university’s decision to pursue an appeal and added he and Moore will have no additional comment.
According to the NCAA manual, “filing a notice of intent to appeal does not automatically stay penalties prescribed by a hearing panel of the Committee on Infractions. In its notice of intent to appeal, a party may request the Infractions Appeals Committee stay any penalty subject to appeal. Upon such a request, the Infractions Appeals Committee shall stay any appealed penalty during the pendency of the appeal.”
The NCAA launched an investigation into an alleged illegal scouting/sign stealing scheme orchestrated by Stalions, the former player personnel analyst, on Oct. 19, 2023, in the midst of the Wolverines’ undefeated season. Michigan ultimately won the national championship in Jim Harbaugh’s ninth season as head coach. Harbaugh then left to become the head coach of the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.
In its final report, the NCAA indicated that during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, Michigan committed violations involving an off-campus, in-person scouting scheme and that the head coach responsibility rule was violated by former head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Although the NCAA indicated the program qualified for a multi-year ban, Michigan did not receive that punishment because the organization said it would unfairly penalize current athletes. Michigan also did not have to vacate wins, including from the 2023 undefeated national championship season when the investigation was launched that October.
Norman Bay, the chief hearing officer for the Committee on Infractions panel, was asked during a conference call Friday whether the punishment fit the findings against Michigan.
“Because the NCAA, faced with this truly unprecedented situation, decided to notify the Big Ten and Michigan on October 17, 2023, Michigan was able to respond pretty quickly,” Bay said. “Mr. Stalions was suspended from the football program the next day, and shortly thereafter, in about two weeks or so, he ended up leaving Michigan, and so after October 17, 2023 there’s no evidence that anything that he did affected the outcome of Michigan’s games that season.
“I think the penalty here was very significant. I think it was meaningful, and I think it sends a message to the membership that these rules matter, that having a compliance program and a strong culture of compliance matter, and that schools and individuals that fail to comply will be held accountable.”
Moore, who will miss Games 3 and 4 — at home against Central Michigan and the Big Ten opener at Nebraska — also was given a two-year show-cause order. The order, imposed on a coach who has been found to have committed major rules violatons, can be transferred to another school that hires the coach while the sanctions are in effect. Both the school and coach are required to send letters to the NCAA agreeing to abide by any restrictions imposed. Schools must report to the NCAA every six months until either the end of the coach’s employment or the show-cause penalty, whichever comes first.
“I am glad that this part of the process has been completed,” Moore said in a statement. “I greatly respect the rules governing collegiate athletics and it is my intent to have our program comply with those rules at all times. I will continue to focus my attention on our team and the upcoming 2025 season.”
Michigan faces four years of probation and financial penalties that include a $50,000 fine plus 10% of the football program’s budget, which in 2024 was just more than $72 million, according to Equity in Athletics Data. Michigan also will be fined its postseason competition revenue following the 2025 and 2026 seasons, as well as a fine equivalent to the 10% cost of scholarships given at the end of the 2025-2026 school year. Michigan’s recruiting also took a hit with a 25% reduction in football official visits during the 2025-26 season and a 14-week prohibition on recruiting communications in the football program during the probation period.
Harbaugh has been given a 10-year show cause which begins Aug. 7, 2028, after the conclusion of a previous four-year show cause. Stalions received an eight-year show-cause order with a one-year suspension. Denard Robinson was given a three-year show-cause order. The NCAA wrote that Stalions, Harbaugh, Moore and Robinson, the program’s former director of player personnel, throughout the investigation failed to cooperate appropriately. Stalions seemed to be the most defiant.
“Their conduct ranged from destroying relevant materials to providing false and misleading information during interviews — including Stalions instructing an intern to ‘clear out’ emails, photos, texts and videos related to the scouting scheme,” the NCAA wrote in its decision. “The intern complied and then instructed a friend, who attended and recorded three games as part of the scheme, to do the same. During the hearing, Stalions stated that he did not recall telling them to delete any information.
“Stalions also admitted during the hearing that he disposed of his phone in a pond. In a recorded phone call, Stalions said his film was also at the bottom of a pond. Additionally, throughout the investigation, Stalions violated confidentiality requirements, disclosing information related to the investigation to the public. The panel stated, “In short, Stalions’ multiple and repeated failures to cooperate are some of the worst the COI has ever seen.”
Harbaugh, already punished with a four-year show cause and one-year suspension should he return to college football, violated the NCAA’s head coach responsibility rule. The NCAA said Harbaugh did not provide records or participate in interviews with the enforcement staff.
“Harbaugh did not embrace or enforce a culture of compliance during his tenure, and his program had a contentious relationship with Michigan’s compliance office, leading coaches and staff to disregard NCAA rules,” the NCAA wrote.
Former linebackers coach Chris Partridge, fired before the final regular-season road game because he allegedly told a player to lie to the NCAA and named in the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations for this investigation, does not face punishment. He currently works for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL.
Michigan went before the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions for two days in early June to present its defense. The program faced 11 allegations, six of them Level I, the NCAA’s most severe, including one involving Moore, the current head coach. Sign stealing is not against NCAA rules, but The NCAA does not have rules against stealing signs during games but in-person advanced scouting of opponents and using electronic equipment to record another team’s signals is not permitted.
Moore, then the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach, deleted a string of 52 text messages with Stalions from his personal phone about 30 minutes after news of the investigation broke in October 2023. Moore turned over his phone to the NCAA and has publicly acknowledged deleting the texts, saying last August he “looks forward” to the release of the texts. Moore already had faced NCAA punishment after he negotiated a one-game suspension in 2023 for his involvement in the 2021 NCAA investigation into Michigan’s illegal recruiting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Notably, Moore deleted at least one of the text messages after receiving a preservation notice from the institution,” the NCAA wrote. “Moreover, Moore did not proactively disclose that he deleted the texts, and he attempted to blame the lack of retention on storage space. When Moore eventually admitted to the conduct, he explained that his decision to delete the texts was an emotional reaction to the allegations.”
The investigation was initiated Oct. 17, 2023, when NCAA received a tip from a “confidential source” about impermissible scouting within Michigan’s football program. An investigative firm also provided a report of its findings to the NCAA.
“Because the reported information suggested a potential real-time and ongoing threat to the integrity and fairness of upcoming football contests, the day after receiving that report, the NCAA notified Michigan and the Big Ten Conference about the alleged conduct,” the NCAA wrote.
Harbaugh served a Big Ten-imposed three-game suspension at the end of the 2023 regular season after Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said Harbaugh and Michigan violated the conference’s Sportsmanship Policy. Petitti reportedly sent a letter to the NCAA COI that was shared during the two-day hearing and said the Michigan’s football program should not face more sanctions.
Harbaugh all along has denied any knowledge of Stalions’ alleged scheme. The Detroit News has filed open-records requests with the university for the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations and Michigan’s response, but those requests have not been fulfilled.
In April, former Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale agreed to recruiting violations with the NCAA and received their punishments. Both now work with Harbaugh on his Chargers staff.
Michigan already was in the probationary period having received a three-year probation until April 9, 2027, resulting from the 2021 investigation. Michigan additionally received recruiting limits and a fine. The NCAA dealt with Harbaugh separately and gave him a four-year show cause order and a one-year suspension.
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