A saga that became the fixation of not only college football, but the entire sports world last autumn, appears to be reaching its end game.
Over the weekend, Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger first reported that the NCAA had delivered its full Notice of Allegations against the University of Michigan football program concerning the Connor Stalions ‘advanced scouting’ scandal. The notice outlines rules that were broken by Michigan according to the NCAA’s enforcing body.
The news comes less than a week before Michigan opens its 2024 season, for which they will wear the distinction of reigning national champions — and less than 48 hours before the release of an upcoming Netflix documentary concerning Stalions’ journey and fallout at the program. Stalions became a national story when ESPN and other media outlets acquired video of him on the sidelines at a Central Michigan football game last year disguised as a staffer. He was suspended with pay on October 20, one day after the NCAA launched its investigation into the Michigan football program. He resigned the following month.
The emergence of the Notice of Allegations was, to put it candidly, coming due.
Earlier this month, Pete Thamel and Dan Murphy of ESPN reported that new Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore, who was named as the successor to Jim Harbaugh after assuming the reins in his absence (stemming from, you guessed it, sanctions imposed by the NCAA over the infamous ‘recruiting violations’) for four games during the school’s championship run last year, was included as one of seven members accused of violating NCAA rules in a draft of the aforementioned notice. According to the draft, Moore could face a possible suspension from the NCAA for allegedly deleting a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions in October 2023.
In the draft, Moore was accused of committing a Level 2 violation, while former Michigan staff members Jim Harbaugh, Chris Partridge, Denard Robinson, and Stalions were all accused of Level 1 violations – the most severe category in the NCAA’s enforcement process.
Though he is no longer with the program, Harbaugh has thoroughly denied any knowledge of wrongdoing by Michigan or himself as it relates to the scouting violations involving Stalions since the process began. The now-head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers was initially slated to attend the team’s season opener this Saturday against Fresno State as an honorary team captain, but Coach Moore informed the media in recent days that Harbaugh had opted to decline the invitation to focus on getting his new team ready for the NFL season.
