Coach Harbaugh risking Michigan’s reputation
Michigan’s sign-stealing denials don’t pass the smell test, which is comical considering the Wolverines think their scat doesn’t stink.
I mean, this is MEEESHIGAN. Champions of the West. Or East. Or maybe neither, depending on what the university, Big Ten and/or NCAA uncover during investigations into the scandal playing out in Ann Arbor.
You’ve probably heard that multiple media reports link UM analytics assistant/spy Connor Stalions to in-person scouting and video recording of as many as 40 games involving 10 opponents. If true, the Houston Astros’ish espionage would violate NCAA rules.
This is MEEESHIGAN, which for generations has fancied itself the cream of the behavioral crop. Clean as it gets. Above reproach. Better than anyone in athletics, academics and ethics. Especially Ohio State.
And UM still thinks it. So smug. So righteous. So wrong. Remember when Maize and Blue fans cast stones at the Buckeyes during the dark days of Tattoogate? Beware of the ricochet, Michiganders. Remember when Jim Harbaugh hinted that opponents broke rules related to recruiting, then went out and held camps in fertile recruiting grounds, an edgy approach that tested the limits of fair play? Oh, but that wasn’t Harbaugh doing anything wrong, at least not technically. The UM coach was simply being smarter than everyone else.
Michigan’s definition of integrity is “Whatever we say it is.” (Or what our elite law school says we should say it is.) Not to suggest the school and athletic department are on par with Southeastern Conference skullduggery. Michigan at least suspended Harbaugh three games this season for his role in recruiting violations pertaining to impermissible on and off-campus contact during a COVID-19 dead period. But the NCAA accused Coach Self-Righteous of being less than forthcoming during its investigation, and the NCAA chafes at being lied to. Where is the UM administration on that count?
You will recall that Jim Tressel lost his job for misleading – ahem – NCAA investigators, not because five players traded memorabilia for tattoos. Wolverines fans nodded when OSU forced Tress out, a confirmation to them that Ohio State ran a dirty program.
But if OSU was dirty, Michigan looks filthy. What the Wolverines are accused of doing is worse than getting discounted ink on the arm. By shattering the concept of honest competition that is sacred to sports, UM becomes associated with a word that scars: doubt. It doesn’t matter if Stalions acted alone, as Michigan Men want to believe. Doubters will always wonder how many of those Michigan wins the past two seasons, when the Wolverines suddenly got really good, were due to illicitly knowing what the opponent was going to do before it happened.
As for Stalions going “rogue,” this is where the smell test comes in. Are we expected to believe Harbaugh had no knowledge of Stalions and his spies attending games, where, according to multiple reports, they were spotted filming the opposing sideline with cell phones? Again, a big no-no. Sorry, that explanation is not plausible. It stinks.
The emerging details regarding the sign-stealing allegations make Stalions appear overly arrogant – overestimating his intelligence by underestimating his ability to get caught. Or overly clueless. My guess is some of both, a former Marine too smart for his own good, yet not smart enough to realize he was a pawn.
It strikes me that Stalions is the office analytics expert who desperately wants to impress. The employer welcomes his inside information without wanting details of how it was collected. Harbaugh hired Stalions as an off-field analyst in May of 2022, but photos have surfaced of him standing next to Harbaugh and other coaches during games.
And you know what they say about cheaters – they never win. What’s that? Michigan is 21-1 since 2021, when the signal-stealing reportedly began. That sounds like winning to me.
Rob Oller is a sports columnist at the Columbus Dispatch.