You just can’t make up the timing of all of this. While Ohio State fans, media, coaches, and others connected to the program bask in the glow of the program’s ninth national title in program history, Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger dropped a bomb of a story today on Michigan responding to the Notice of Allegations surrounding the Connor Stalions sign-stealing fiasco.
There’s a lot to take from the story after Dellenger got his hands on part of the 137 page response from Michigan to the NCAA, and it’s pretty juicy. The biggest thing to take from what the Wolverine brass responded to is that there’s a fight brewing. Michigan contends the NCAA is “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” with its 11 alleged infractions on the program, six of which are the most serious Level 1 variety. It’s clear that Michigan will not accept responsibility and is drawing its sword to do battle with the NCAA.
According to the report from Dellinger …
In its response to the association sent earlier this month, the university refutes many of the alleged rules violations and accuses the NCAA of “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” the program without credible evidence that other staff members knew of Stalions’ illegal in-person scouting system.
In the 137-page document — a portion of which Yahoo Sports obtained — Michigan makes clear that it will not enter into a negotiated resolution with the NCAA over the alleged wrongdoing, vigorously defending its former head coach, current head coach, several staff members and even Stalions, the low-level assistant who orchestrated one of the most elaborate sign-stealing systems in college football history on the way to the school winning the 2023 national championship. The school purports that the sign-stealing system offered “minimal relevance to competition,” was not credibly proven by NCAA investigators and should be treated as a minor violation.
Dellenger goes on to convey Michigan’s stance, claiming that the program believes the NCAA has little evidence, can’t prove that more staff members aside from Stalions had knowledge of the scheme, and even questioned the chain of custody from the anonymous source that tipped off the governing body.
In its response, Michigan believes that the notice of allegations, sent to the school in August, makes “numerous factually unsupported infractions, exaggerates aggravating factors and ignores mitigating facts,” the document says. The school requests that the NCAA apply “common sense and commitment to fairness” and treat the case not as a serious Level I infractions case but a “Level II standard case.”
The document details why many of the 11 allegations against the school — six of them deemed as Level I — are without “merit or credible evidence,” the school contends, and that includes allegations against ex-head coach Jim Harbaugh and current head coach Sherrone Moore, who was an assistant on staff during Stalions’ advanced scouting operation and was found to have deleted text messages with him.
However, perhaps most notable in the document is an answer to a long-discussed question: Who originally tipped off the NCAA to Stalions’ scheme?
There’s plenty to take away from this that we’ll have at a later time, but it’s clear that the NCAA is indeed trying to bring the so-called hammer down on Michigan despite what all the Michigan fans and beat writers said on the contrary.
Since Michigan does not plan to enter into a negotiated resolution with the NCAA, it now means the case will go before a hearing in front of the Division I Committee of Infractions. The timing of that hearing is not known but is likely to take place sometime during the coming weeks. Even when that hearing takes place, any penalties or restrictions that stick to the Wolverines are still a ways off after the hearing.
We’ll have more on this in the coming days, but get your popcorn out because it’s about to get “wildly entertaining.”
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