NCAA issues Notice of Allegations to Michigan for sign-stealing scandal
The NCAA sent a Notice of Allegations to the Michigan Wolverines football program on Sunday. The allegations were related to a suspected sign-stealing incident that surfaced in the fall of last year, months before the team’s national championship victory.
An official from the team verified the information to the USA TODAY Network’s Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Seven Michigan staff members from the 2023 squad, including first-year coach Sherrone Moore, are reportedly under investigation by the Free Press for possible NCAA rule violations.
The NCAA will now have 60 days to react to the Notice of Allegations after the Wolverines have 90 days to respond in writing. After that, the NCAA would decide if the Committee on Infractions needs to hold a hearing.
In order to give the Michigan Wolverines an advantage in games, former staff member Connor Stalions was charged with purchasing tickets to games against conference opponents and potential future College Football Playoff opponents.
ESPN reports that Moore may be subject to a suspension and a show-cause fine for allegedly erasing a thread of 52 text messages with Stalions in October 2023—the same day that the purported sign-stealing scandal surfaced—based on an early draft of the NOA that the outlet obtained at the beginning of August. There may be changes to the early draft.
The draft, as reported by ESPN, suggested that Moore would face charges for a Level 2 offense related to the removal of the texts, which were then retrieved by “device imaging.”
After the NCAA concluded a different investigation into the football team in April, this one pertaining to recruiting breaches during a COVID-19 dead period in 2021, Moore may be regarded as a repeat offender.
The most significant infractions, Level 1, are allegedly being accused of by former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, former linebackers coach Chris Partridge, and former assistant director of personnel Denard Robinson.
Following the probe, the Big Ten banned coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three regular-season games, and the Stalions eventually resigned.