The latest allegation in the Michigan sign-stealing scandal is that Michigan football employee Connor Stalions impersonated a Central Michigan employee during Central Michigan’s game against Michigan State in order to steal Michigan State’s signs. Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain isn’t happy about it.
Central Michigan played Tuesday night, and McElwain said after the game that it would be a serious violation of acceptable behavior in college football if a photo of an unknown person on the Central Michigan sideline was found to show Stalions.
“We are obviously aware that there is a picture circulating of the sign thief,” McElwain said. “Our people are doing everything they can to get to the bottom of this. We weren’t aware of it at all. I certainly cannot condone it, shape or form. I know his name wasn’t on any of the passports issued. We keep going back and trying to figure it out. It is in good hands with our people. There is no place for that in football.”
The latest accusation against Stalions is more damning than previous allegations that he conducted his sign-stealing operations by purchasing tickets to Michigan opponents’ games. That alone would be a violation of NCAA rules, but sneaking onto another team’s sideline to spy on that team’s opponent would be even more serious.
No evidence has been released yet to suggest that Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh knew what Stalions was up to, but he could be in trouble with the NCAA even if he didn’t know, since the NCAA expects head coaches to know what is going on in their programs and create a culture of compliance with NCAA rules. Having an employee on the sidelines of another NCAA team spying on another NCAA team would be a damning sign that there is no culture of compliance with NCAA rules at Michigan.