So the money behind the operation literally bragged about it on a UM message board, and expressly called it a competitive advantage. This might be the most bungled cover up of all .
Granted, there is like a 50% chance these are photoshopped.
I'm thinking this news, assuming it is true, isn't actually all that bad for Michigan. I don't mean that it is good, but given what we already knew, this could be a lot worse. Here is a list of plausible financing mechanisms that I have put in order from what I think would be best/least bad for Michigan up to what I think would be worst for Michigan:
- Stalions' family is loaded (has been said here by @Temp430 I think) and he just paid it out of pocket. This would be or would have been best for them because it minimizes outside involvement and increases the chances of the "lone wolf" defense carrying some water.
- Stalions got the money from a booster (the allegation today).
- Stalions got the money from another member of the Michigan Coaching Staff somewhere between himself and Harbaugh.
- Harbaugh paid for it. This was always extremely unlikely.
- The University paid for it somehow. This would be really bad but not quite as bad in the eyes of the NCAA as:
- Stalions used the knowledge that M had stolen signs and was therefore likely to overperform to make bets on Michigan and used the proceeds from the successful bets to finance further sign stealing. This would be the worst-case-scenario for Michigan because then it isn't just an NCAA violation, this would be fraud and likely federal wire fraud (because the sports book would be paid through a federal bank in an interstate transaction) which would entail a major FBI investigation into Stalions and anyone they could link to the scheme.
A booster paying for it is more similar to the usual stuff that the NCAA deals with where a booster(s) pay for things that are impermissible. From the Michigan perspective, #1 would have been better but this is WAY better than any of #3 through #6.
Two more things on the money:
First, we've heard a figure of $15k tossed around. I don't know how accurate that is but it sounds low to me. Stalions allegedly had very good tickets to the 2021 and 2022 SECCG's plus a bunch of other high-dollar games including that he allegedly had not one but two tickets to the tOSU/PSU game (to film both sides' signals). Just the tickets alone to the two SECCG's and the tOSU/PSU game would chew up a big chunk of that $15k.
Second, even if it is twice, thrice, or four times that much it still isn't really all that much money in context. The press has sometimes thrown that around like this was a major deal based on the expenditure of $15k, but realistically I was thinking all along that if the Stalions family is as loaded as was suggested and/or if one of Michigan's multi-hundred-thousand/year assistants wanted to do this, $15k isn't that much.
