University of Michigan employee Connor Stalions has resigned, a school spokesman said Friday. He has refused to participate in any internal or external investigations or discussions, a school source told The Athletic.
Stalions, who was initially suspended with pay by Michigan on Oct. 20, is the focus of the NCAA’s investigation into alleged spying and sign theft. Stallions purchased tickets to games in at least seven Big Ten stadiums before those teams played the Wolverines over the past three seasons, including the 2023 season, sources told The Athletic earlier this month. Purchasing the tickets is not a violation of NCAA rules, but using them to scout and record other teams would violate rules that prohibit in-person scouting on campus and audio or video recording of signals.
Friday’s news comes days after screenshots of a person resembling Stalions seen on the Central Michigan sideline during the team’s game against Michigan State began circulating online on Monday night. The Athletic obtained additional photos of the person on the sideline on Tuesday, and CMU said it was investigating whether Stalions were actually on the sideline wearing CMU gear at the Sept. 1 game against the Spartans. If the man on the CMU sideline is indeed a Stallions, this would be the first known example of him personally attending a Michigan opponent’s game weeks before the opponent’s game against the Wolverines.
“We are obviously aware that there is a picture circulating with the sign thief,” CMU coach Jim McElwain said Tuesday night after CMU’s game against Northern Illinois. “Our people are doing everything they can to get to the bottom of this. We are completely unaware of it. 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 either.”
Frustration within the Big Ten Conference has grown in the days and weeks since the first NCAA investigation collapsed into Michigan. The league’s coaches and athletic directors both met with Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti this week to vent to Petitti and urge him to take action against the Wolverines because of evidence of the spying and sign-stealing program. While Petitti has the ability to impose penalties under the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy, he has previously told administrators and coaches that he wants to let the investigative process play out, which includes giving Michigan the opportunity to respond to the NCAA’s findings react.
Officials at the other 13 Big Ten schools believe Petitti has enough information – tickets purchased by Stalions for games at Big Ten opponents’ stadiums and stadium surveillance footage showing people in those seats filming the sidelines – to act now.
“The crazy thing is that they weren’t allegations. It happened. There is video evidence,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said on his radio show Thursday. “There are ticket purchases and sales that can be traced. We know for a fact that they were at some of our games, so we had to teach our guys a new language when it came to some of the signals.”
The Boilermakers face the Wolverines on Saturday night.
Katie Strang of The Athletic contributed to this story.
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