2023 Michigan Season Thread

[MrNubbz]

Noted anti-UM guy NFL writer Ian Rappaport.  It truly is Michigan vs. Everyone.  Michigan cheated, and everyone else knows it.  And nobody except Michigan fans are even trying to deny it anymore

LMAO in the comments - there's a real reason they wore Yellow Pants

[SuperMario]

The rumor is that he wasn't fired for being involved in Stalions' scheme nor even for having knowledge of it but for "destruction of evidence".  I'm guessing that the NCAA will be LIVID about that.  If they have some sort of proof that members of the staff destroyed or attempted to destroy evidence that is a REALLY bad look for Michigan. 

Completely agree. It's maddening.

Now to shift focus.. Lone wolf staff member with advanced scouting.. Also lone wolf staff member destroying evidence. Nothing to see here lol

[betarhoalphadelta]

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. 

IMHO this take is spot on. Obviously #1 is best for Michigan, as a conspiracy becomes significantly harder to keep secret the more people who are involved. So a truly lone lone wolf makes it easier to argue that "should have known" is not reasonable. But #2 is also not that bad because it gives you a plausible source of funds outside the university that does not in any way directly implicate the coaching staff or university (beyond Stalions who was already implicated of course). 

I still think there's a "should have known" aspect because the Rain Man theory IMHO is a little implausible. Does anyone know what Stalions did in the service? If it's something in cryptography or something like that, it might be something that he could use to con UM into the Rain Man theory... 

[ELA]

This was so f***ing stupid I actually believe there's no way Harbaugh knew.  I think both coordinators definitely knew.  I think this was the perfect storm of a staff on the ledge and a head coach who (fully aside from this) has a horrible history of vetting hires going along with it.

Whatever I think of Harbaugh, he's a weird ass dude, to think he signed off on this I don't believe.  Did Steve Fisher sign off on some major violations?  Yeah.  But the media was WAY different then.  Nobody had social media, and 99% of the time you were covered exclusively by local media, who weren't going to report anything, because they would lose access.  That hasn't been the case for 20ish years, and Harbaugh knew that.

Did it reach a point he SHOULD have known?  Maybe.  The NCAA removed that though.  Was that smart?  I think so, but as always, it's the law of unintended consequences.  The prior burden was based on the fact that you couldn't hold a head coach responsible for the actions of his boosters.  I think that's fair.  You are responsible for your staff, but if a rogue booster is giving out $200 handshakes, how would you ever know.

Now, those $200 handshakes are ok.  Most of the things that occurred outside the staff are now ok.  So you can hold coaches strictly liable.  I had a hard time believing this was one dude, and nobody asked him how he did it, and that nobody should have asked him how he did.  Hell, if he was that good at it, if I were his employer I would have sat him down with other analysts and asked him to show them how he did it.  But if you can ignore every normal decision an employer would make, I'm ok with saying this is the weird exception to the rule.  But now that actual position coaches are involved, it's done.

It is Michigan vs. Everyone.  Michigan cheated, and Everyone else is pissed.  At this point I think it's LESS likely anything happens.  Michigan is now the biggest draw in the sport.  All of these wins are going to be vacated, but the tv networks pull the purse strings, and they 100% want Michigan there.

[FearlessF]

it's simple... ban all the staff that knew or tried to cover it up
tomorrow morning

Jim can stand on the sideline by himself

[ELA]

it's simple... ban all the staff that knew or tried to cover it up
tomorrow morning

Jim can stand on the sideline by himself

It's not that simple.  If it was, everyone would do it

[Honestbuckeye]

If he didn’t know- which I acknowledge his highly possible- this it what is crazy:

Of 14 coaches in the conference- it appears that 13 Head Coaches did know.   He was the only one that didn’t.  

[ELA]

Pat Forde

The Wolverines chose to accept Jim Harbaugh’s suspension and end their legal fight after receiving new information.

The Michigan Outrage Meter seems to no longer be registering.

Last Friday it was all restraining order and rush-to-judgment this and due-process that and unfairrrrrrrr. The next day it was tears from the interim coach. On Sunday came a
dramatic social media post from the school president about facing “challenges and adversity.” Monday gave us a declaration that the Wolverines should be considered “America’s team."

Today? No outrage. After receiving new information, the only audible sounds from Ann Arbor are the circling of wagons. The only sight is the pointing of fingers at a booster who claims he didn’t do anything.

Jim Harbaugh and the school quietly accepted his three-game suspension from the Big Ten and called off the court hearing that was scheduled for Friday. Linebacker coach Chris Partridge has been abruptly fired. And a booster identified as “Uncle T” is alleged to have at least partially funded former analyst Connor Stalions’s widespread spying scheme, according to Yahoo Sports.

I’m not hearing any calls for Michigan to secede from the Big Ten today.

The premise offered by many Wolverines backers was that Stalions was a rogue employee, out there alone, concocting a certifiably ridiculous scheme to buy tickets and send associates into stadiums across the Midwest and elsewhere to gather opponents’ play signals. The lingering question was this: Where did Stalions, making $55,000 per year, get the funding to bankroll such an ambitious plan?

It’s good to have a rich uncle.

(A Michigan booster named Tim Smith has denied to Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports that he is “Uncle T.” Smith told Yahoo he was terminated from his membership in the Champions Circle collective, which raises funds for NIL opportunities for Michigan athletes. Smith said he is a “fall guy.”)

If covering college athletics for three decades has taught me anything, it’s this: When a scandal is uncovered, it’s almost never the work of a rogue employee acting in a complete vacuum. Denial is universal but rarely truthful.

In the case of Stalions, an astounding number of people wished fervently for it to be true. Story line: obsessed zealot plots path to importance via secret spying scheme.
Maybe this went no further than Stalions and the shadowy Uncle T, but that’s still further than one man working alone. Maybe nobody else on the coaching staff knew, but that is freshly called into question.

The same new information received this week that led to Michigan abandoning its attempt to get a temporary restraining order that would get Harbaugh back on the sideline led to the firing of Partridge, sources told SI. Yahoo cited sources in reporting that Partridge “allegedly participated in the destruction of evidence on a computer after the scandal broke.” The publication added that Partridge “is not alleged at this time of knowing about the advanced scouting by Stalions, but acted after the fact to cover up evidence.”

Was Partridge allegedly covering up for Stalions? (SI reported last month that while discussing the Michigan staff via text with an associate, Stalions said he was “close with CP.”) Or was Partridge allegedly covering up for Uncle T? Or someone else? Regardless, this has become a fireable offense for a full-time assistant coach, which spreads the dragnet further than Stalions himself.

Strictly from an NCAA standpoint, Partridge could be facing a Level I violation charge if he destroyed evidence. Michigan likely already is looking at a Level I charge if the Stalions scheme can be substantiated (thus far, nobody has disputed his alleged actions). And Harbaugh sits in the crosshairs under the NCAA’s “strict liability” designation of head coach responsibility bylaws.

There has been no public evidence that Harbaugh knew what Stalions was doing or condoned impermissible, in-person scouting. That hasn’t changed, and that wasn’t part of surrendering the court fight to coach again in the regular season.

But Harbaugh still is on the hook here, and the scandal has now ensnared one of his assistant coaches. He’s also facing potential additional sanctions for the other NCAA investigation of Michigan, which pertains to impermissible recruiting during the COVID-19 noncontact period. Harbaugh is alleged to have lied to the NCAA about meeting with recruits. The messes keep getting messier.

Michigan still has a chance to get what it really wants out of this, which is a national championship before the house burns to the ground. The screaming about due process was easily translated to mean: Just let us finish this season. The Wolverines will have to beat Maryland and—much bigger challenge—Ohio State without Harbaugh; then he’s free to coach in a potential Big Ten championship game and the College Football Playoff. We’ll see whether the team is good enough to give Harbaugh those opportunities.

But recent events have forced the school and its backers to abandon the righteous indignation stance. It was obnoxious before and no longer tenable now. A legal challenge has been abandoned, an assistant coach has been fired and Uncle T is now entered into Connor Stalions lore alongside a Central Michigan coaching disguise and the “Michigan Manifesto.” None of those are good things.

Time to pipe down and hope this doesn’t get any worse, Michigan.

[medinabuckeye1]

Now to shift focus.. Lone wolf staff member with advanced scouting.. Also lone wolf staff member destroying evidence. Nothing to see here lol

[MrNubbz]

So this Smith guy has been terminated,Stalions also,Partridge too - starting to look like the Nixon Whitehouse. Big 10 should consider moving The Game to Indianapolis considering the huge mushroom cloud building over Ann Arbor. And WTF is this Champions Circle collective?

[MarqHusker]

Upthread, @MarqHusker referred to "cooperating fully" as his "favorite utterance in the rolodex of the accused".  It was a funny comment but it really is a typical thing to say.  The accused wants to at least make it look like they are cooperating so as to minimize punishment but if a staffer of the University of Michigan has actually been caught destroying evidence that will put a serious dent in that "cooperating fully" argument. 

That's precisely why it is in the rolodex of the accused.  Every Pol uses it simultaneously as they stonewall, delay, obfuscate and appeal.   If Chat GPT was used to issue statements on behalf of the accused (of anything) it would have a high probability of appearing.

On the other side of this are those 'deeply concerned', but that's a different rolodex.

[medinabuckeye1]

IMHO this take is spot on. Obviously #1 is best for Michigan, as a conspiracy becomes significantly harder to keep secret the more people who are involved. So a truly lone lone wolf makes it easier to argue that "should have known" is not reasonable. But #2 is also not that bad because it gives you a plausible source of funds outside the university that does not in any way directly implicate the coaching staff or university (beyond Stalions who was already implicated of course).

I still think there's a "should have known" aspect because the Rain Man theory IMHO is a little implausible. Does anyone know what Stalions did in the service? If it's something in cryptography or something like that, it might be something that he could use to con UM into the Rain Man theory...

Thanks.

My biggest objection to the "Rain Man Theory" (which I postulated several pages back) is that no matter how smart your "Rain Man" was, he couldn't possibly know the signs until some way into a game. I could imagine a "Rain Man" being able to figure out opposing signs say by around halftime.

The problem is that the widely shared clip of Stalions watching tOSU's sideline then saying something to the DC then a slew of coaches and players on Michigan's sideline pointing up to indicate pass happened on tOSU's first drive.

IMHO, this poses multiple problems for Michigan:

• No "Rain Man" could possibly decode opponent signals that fast unless they had a head start (which Stallions did), and
• The fact that Michigan's DC was standing next to Stalions indicates that he knew that Stalions had worthwhile information even EARLY in the game, and
• The fact that a slew of coaches and players then pointed up indicates that they all knew that sings had been decoded already, on tOSU's first drive, and
• For Harbaugh to claim ignorance of all of this is dubious. It puts him at least in a "should have known" position.

[MrNubbz]

This was so f***ing stupid I actually believe there's no way Harbaugh knew. 

But he knew about the Tunnel Fights and Uzi "Three Clips" Smith and waited patiently....unlike this week

[medinabuckeye1]

WTF is this Champions Circle collective?

I don't think there is anything wrong with it. All schools have titles for donors so (completely made up):

• $100 supporter
• $1,000 Sustaining member
• $10,000 Conference title circle
• $25,000 Champions Circle