Michigan Wolverines face NCAA sanctions for stealing signs

For many Americans, Saturdays in the Fall are kept sacred and set aside for consuming the pure chaos encapsulated within college football. Those days are right around the corner again. You can almost hear your favorite TV network intro theme, almost see the autumn colors change, almost feel the momentum shift on a critical third-quarter play, and almost taste sweet, sweet victory.

But, just in time for the season, an obnoxiously persistent cloud once again hangs over one of the biggest brands in the sport, the Michigan Wolverines. On Friday, the NCAA released its investigation report into a recent sign-stealing scandal revolving around Michigan’s program, as well as punishment for the school’s violations. 

The investigation zeroed in on the football operations during the 2021 to 2023 campaigns under head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Wolverines found great success on the field at the backend of the Harbaugh era, reaching the four-team College Football Playoff in 2021 and 2022 before winning the National Championship in 2023. The brief but historic run of success now appears tainted.

The sign-stealing saga

Connor Stalions, a defensive analyst that the investigation centered around, developed an intelligence network of individuals to go in advance and capture film of other conference opponents and potential threats to Michigan’s championship hopes. He deciphered play-calling signals from the gathered footage so that it could be integrated into the decision-making on gameday. 

Sign-stealing alone is not against the rules, but advanced in-person scouting certainly is. The investigation found that “in total, 56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular-season opponents occurred across 52 contests.” Stalions referred to his network as “the KGB”, and it was costly, amounting to nearly $35,000 in 2022 alone.

In October of the 2023 season, reports first surfaced of the potential cheating scandal, coupled with a viral image of Stalions dressed in Central Michigan coaching gear and sunglasses (at night) on the sideline of a game between CMU and Michigan State, a Michigan conference rival. 

As the season continued to unfold, the plot thickened, and the web, with Stalions at the center, became far-reaching. As a result, Stalions threw his phone and hard drive into a pond to destroy evidence. With the mid-season news, Michigan had lost its advantage, and its toughest stretch of games remained.

A slap on the wrist

As it were, the Wolverines did not need the cheating to succeed, after all. Harbaugh’s squad knocked off the Washington Huskies to complete a perfect 15-0 national championship run, cementing them as one of the great teams in College Football history. Amid the potential fallout, Harbaugh, whose knowledge of the sign-stealing plot remains unclear, took the head coaching role for the NFL’s Los Angeles Chargers.

Friday’s report was highly anticipated. The NCAA has gained quite the reputation for being squashers of fun over the years by imposing excessive penalties, often resulting in extreme suspensions and vacated wins (including championships from time to time). Remember SMU’s “Death Penalty” punishment in 1987? So, you can imagine the confusion and outrage when Michigan, which very clearly cheated in a way that directly affected on-field performance, received a monetary slap on the wrist. 

It is reported that Michigan, a program worth $1.83 billion, will likely owe something around $30 million in fines, and head coach Sherrone Moore will serve out a three-game suspension over the next two seasons. No wins vacated, no postseason ban moving forward, and no touching the Harbaugh championship run with a ten-foot pole.

The response to the ruling has been intriguing. Many now recognize the NCAA’s powerlessness, which seems to fear a lawsuit more than it cares to equitably enforce rules these days. Others are concerned that more schools might look for ways to cut corners, knowing that the price of a championship is a few million dollars.

Fans of schools that have received harsher penalties for far less, like arch-rival Ohio State in 2011, will certainly view Michigan with an extra level of anger moving forward. Meanwhile, Michigan plans to appeal the penalty, hoping to get away almost consequence-free.

Four godly directives

Michigan’s sign-stealing story is one of ethical ignorance and self-promotion (at the detriment of others), and its downstream effects are yet unknown. Here are four godly directives to follow in response: 

• Walk in integrity. The Bible calls all believers to choose honesty (Eph. 4:25), avoid hypocrisy (Rom. 2:3), and maintain high character at all times (Phil. 2:15). Cheating (even in football) is aligned with the rampant self-gratification of our deeply narcissistic and prideful culture.
• Build a legacy. For many, Harbaugh’s legacy will be the scandal, and the championship will be tainted. What legacy are you building? A series of man-made accomplishments makes for a sad and tainted legacy. Most of us will be forgotten in just a few generations (Phil. 1:21). Build a legacy with an eternal impact, one that is about elevating Christ through discipling others, not about elevating yourself or your family name.
• Desire justice. It is right to want to see evil, like cheating, punished. Yet, God is the ultimate arbiter of justice. When we take matters into our own hands, we do a great job of making things worse. Desiring justice in a scenario like this should not look like becoming an angry keyboard warrior on social media–who benefits from that? Seek the God of justice instead  (Mic. 6:8).
• Play by the “rules” in the game of life. Have you ever played a board game with neighbors or friends and learned that they play by a totally different set of rules? The rules of the game exist for a reason. It controls chaos, keeps everyone on the same page, and makes the game more exciting. The game is not simply constrained by the rules, but it is also maximized by them. The same is true for both football and the Christian life. Our dedication and obedience to the Lord should come from a heart posture of humility, knowing that the way he has called us to live is far greater than the rule-bending nature of the culture around us (Lk. 6:46-69). 

All that’s left is to turn the TV on

Michigan is just one of many storylines to track this college football season, which kicks off with a rivalry game between Kansas State and Iowa State (a.k.a Farmageddon) in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday. The official week 1 slate will take place over Labor Day weekend, with games scheduled almost non-stop from Thursday night to Monday night. 

As a Christ-follower, if you are looking for a couple of storylines to cheer for this year, consider previous topics we have covered, like the Boise State Broncos and their disciple-making coach, Spencer Danielson, or Deion Sanders and his faith-marked recovery journey. Both provide excellent examples of how God can use football to draw people to faith. 

Will you pray for even more of those examples this season?