Written by Nicole Auerbach, Austin Meek, Katie Strang, and Bruce Feldman
University of Michigan employee Connor Stallions has resigned from his position, a university spokesman said Friday. A school source said he refused to cooperate with any internal or external investigations or discussions The athlete.
Stallions, who was initially suspended with pay by Michigan on Oct. 20, is the focus of an NCAA investigation into an alleged scouting and sign-stealing scheme. The Stallions purchased tickets to games at at least seven Big Ten stadiums before those teams played the Wolverines over the past three seasons, including the 2023 season, sources said. The athlete Advance this month. Purchasing tickets is not a violation of NCAA rules, but using them to scout and record other teams would violate rules prohibiting personal on-campus scouting and recording audio or visual signals.
said Stallions’ attorney, Brad Beckworth of Nix Patterson The athlete on Friday that previous reports of Stallions’ firing were false, and that “Connor is grateful the university corrected this false narrative tonight.”
“As he informed the school earlier today, Connor has chosen to resign because recent stories related to his time with the University of Michigan have created a distraction for the team,” Beckworth said. “He hopes his resignation will help the team and coaching staff focus on tomorrow’s game and the remainder of the season. Connor also wants to make clear that, to his knowledge, neither Coach Harbaugh nor any other coach or staff asked anyone to violate any rules or were aware of of inappropriate behavior in relation to recent allegations involving advanced scouting.
In his own statement, L The athlete“I love the University of Michigan and its football program,” Stallions said.
“And I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to work with the amazing student-athletes, Coach Harbaugh and the other coaches who have been part of the Michigan football family during my tenure,” Stallions said. “I don’t want to be a distraction from what I hope will be a championship for the team, and I will continue to encourage them.”
Friday’s news comes days after screenshots of someone resembling Stallions on the Central Michigan sideline during the team’s game against Michigan State began circulating online Monday night. The athlete CMU obtained more photos of the person on the sideline Tuesday, and CMU announced it is investigating whether Stallions was indeed on the sideline in CMU gear for the Sept. 1 game against the Spartans. If the man on the CMU sideline is indeed Stallions, this would be the first known example of him attending a Michigan opponent’s game in person weeks before the opponent played the Wolverines.
“Obviously we’re aware of the picture that’s floating around with the guy stealing the signs,” CMU coach Jim McElwain said Tuesday night after CMU’s game against Northern Illinois. “Our staff is doing everything they can to get to the bottom of it. We are completely ignorant of this. I certainly do not condone it in any way, shape or form. I know that his name was not on any of the passes that were allowed to go out. We continue to track him and trace him back and try Discover it. It’s in good hands with our people. Again, there’s no place in football for that.”
Frustration has mounted within the Big Ten Conference in the days and weeks since the NCAA’s initial investigation into Michigan began. The league’s coaches and athletic directors met with Big Ten Commissioner Tony Pettitte this week to vent and urge Pettitte to take action against the Wolverines amid evidence of a scouting and sign-stealing scheme. Pettitte has the power to issue the penalty under the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy, but he previously told officials and coaches that he wanted to allow the investigative process to begin, which includes giving Michigan a chance to respond to the NCAA’s findings.
Officials at the other 13 Big Ten schools believe Petitti has enough information — tickets the Stallions bought for games at Big Ten stadiums and on-court surveillance footage showing people in those seats filming the sidelines — to act now.
“The crazy thing is they weren’t allegations. It happened. “There is video evidence,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said Thursday on his radio show. “There are ticket purchases and sales you can track. We know for a fact that they’ve been present at a number of our games, so we’ve had to teach our guys a new language in terms of some of the signals.
The Boilermakers face the Wolverines on Saturday night.
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