Whipped Cream Difficulties

I say “not a firing”. Yet. But the winds are blowing in a direction that makes me think a whole bunch of people are going to get fired.

Connor Stalions, a “football analyst” with the University of Michigan, has been suspended indefinitely with pay.

There’s an ongoing investigation into Michigan by the NCAA. The university is accused of using “an ‘elaborate’ scouting system to steal signals from future opponents since at least 2021“.

Athletic director Warde Manuel announced Stalions’ suspension with pay on Friday, one day after the analyst was identified as a person of interest in the investigation into whether No. 2-ranked Michigan violated an NCAA rule by scouting future opponents in person at games, sources told ESPN. The NCAA prohibited such scouting in 1994.

I can understand the issue with “stealing signs”, though I really don’t know what that means in college football. But the NCAA has a rule against attending your opponents games in person? Seriously? I guess, maybe, they are afraid larger schools with more resources will have an advantage over smaller schools that can’t afford to travel as much? Or is this just more of “we’re the NCAA. Nothing we do has to make sense”?

Harbaugh served a three-game suspension to start this season related to NCAA charges of failure to cooperate and head-coach responsibility over alleged recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period. A violation by a member of his coaching staff could trigger another charge of head-coach responsibility, potentially a Level I violation.
Sources said the NCAA enforcement staff’s level of interest in Stalions was so significant that it sought access to his computer as part of its investigation.

So they were already looking at Harbaugh for recruiting violations, and he basically pled guilty to that. This would be the second rules violation in less than a year. What would be the implications in terms of NCAA penalties if this is substantiated?

Could we see…dare I say it…the “death penalty“?

I doubt it myself. But it’d be fun to see. Realistically, if this is substantiated, I suspect major loss of scholarships, a ban on post-season play, and possibly for Harbaugh to get a “show-cause penalty“.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 20th, 2023 at 6:07 pm and is filed under Firings, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.