Balas: NCAA to visit Michigan on Thursday to discuss Signalgate
"Michigan is expected to receive a visit from the NCAA late this week, multiple sources have informed TheWolverine.com." Full article here. Says that Michigan takes the scouting issue seriously, and the outcome could determine the timing of Harbaugh's contract extension.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:17 PM ^
Adam Rittenberg
Another butthurt Northwestern grad.
October 24th, 2023 at 8:34 PM ^
I honestly cannot see serious penalties coming from this. It sounds a lot like hearsay and conjecture. Let's face facts, if this was us accusing OSU, ESPN wouldn't even lift a finger. Thamel is such a clown and a guy who only spins his own narrative for benefits of the network. The whole thing is a clown show. We will smash everyone in our path and there is nothing they can do about it.
October 24th, 2023 at 8:51 PM ^
This exactly. The entire OSU fanbase is tweeting out the same thing every five minutes. “Oh here is a Venmo account. Oh here is a touchdown we scored where they believed we were passing.” Still no actual proof, no listed punishment, and no reimbursement proof. What we do have is Tom Mars saying attorneys cannot even interpret the ruling. Everyone outside of rival fanbases think this is stupid also.
October 24th, 2023 at 8:43 PM ^
I’ve made the mistake of looking around the internet and people earnestly believe that a) nobody else is doing anything remotely like this, b) Michigan should vacate wins and be barred from postseason play for multiple years, c) that somehow no one at Michigan thought to make sure this guy wasn’t using his public accounts to conduct this super secret operation, d) that even though this has been an “open secret” for years that JUST NOW someone has decided to spill the beans even though Michigan has been curb stomping the B1G for 2+ years and e) this explains the CFP losses as if not having signals resulted in two drives inside the 2 resulting in zero points and two pick sixes.
D is the most unbelieveable to me. So all of these coaches were aware this was going on and said nothing while they were getting their doors blown off.
It’s why Alabama didn’t say shit about Cam Newton. Burglar doesn’t tell the cops to check out those other burglars because burglary is a crime.
October 24th, 2023 at 8:47 PM ^
Fuck Ward and these NCAA clowns.
Extend him now Santa and tell these jokers to fuck off
October 24th, 2023 at 8:47 PM ^
they need to get real jobs
October 24th, 2023 at 8:55 PM ^
There's too much transitivity and conflatin' going on! Bad takes don't need to be catered to to protect the feelings of the mistaken. Life doesn't pass out participation awards or scores and rules would be arbitrary! :)
October 24th, 2023 at 9:02 PM ^
It took them a week? Really? A week to come see us while they let us drift in the wind and leaked confidential information to the media? That NCAA? Monsters.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:02 PM ^
I know I'm in the minority here but once the story got out UM's best approach is to treat this as professionally as possible - the NCAA and the leakers have some public support now but you can tell as more details come out and the point is made that stealing signs is part of the game, acting like this isn't a big deal and not trying to hide anything likely gives UM more credibility than stonewalling. Flipping the double bird may feel cathartic but don't let this become a story that's bigger than it is - my guess is we'll soon enough hear who called in the complaint and if it's who we all think it is then that'll be an interesting public relations approach.
Warde and the AD gain very little from being defiant at this point, but when the scope of the violations become clearer then a harder tact makes sense.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:22 PM ^
100% agree. This is a PR fight now. The clearest sign to me that Michigan feels like they did nothing wrong/will be vindicated is they suspended Stallions with pay. You do that to bide time until this all blows over outside of the OSU fanbase who will cling to it for dear life.
When programs really get caught, they immediately cut bait.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:30 PM ^
If Stallions basically says it's all his idea and Michigan legitimately didn't know, that's the best outcome right now. Michigan can point at Matt Wiess and say they have a pattern of immediately squashing any illicit behaviors the second they're aware, which is exactly what you're supposed to do, blunting the eventual punishment
October 24th, 2023 at 10:00 PM ^
Hopefully, but this is pretty hard to believe. Remember, this was leaked by someone who knew Stallions was doing this. That probably means others knew and I find it hard to believe no one on the staff was aware. Possible, and we are all just making shit up at this point, but I think it’s unlikely. The best case scenario is that he never made a paper or E trail to anyone else on the staff regarding the operation. That at least gives staff members plausible deniability. They could just say they though he was really good at deciphering the signals.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
It could be one of his cronies. It could be someone who knew he worked for Michigan and recognized him at one of the games.
Why would someone inside leak information that would hurt the program? Sorry, but that isn’t believable.
Per Twitter this was out there as early as December of 2022. A friend of a friend told me type situation. Based on his Venmo and ticket buying habits his operation was pretty flagrant in how it operated. Not too hard for people to find out.
It is curious that it got leaked at this specific time.
October 25th, 2023 at 4:46 AM ^
I have a feeling this worked the opposite of the way it has worked in the public. Someone at or associated with OSU saw Stalions in coordinators ears at the game last year and figured out who he was and dug up what they could on him. I don’t know how easy a head coach can get a “stadium manifesto,” but if it’s something the school has (and considering the power these guys wield) it’s not hard to imagine Day’s staff getting that info and piecing things together from there
October 25th, 2023 at 9:07 AM ^
It's pretty clear at this point that OSU was behind it, and the stories around Day hiring someone to look into it seem at least somewhat substantive. It also sounds like every school has a guy like this, though maybe someone who hides his tracks a bit better. But I've said elsewhere that everyone has a guy like this and there's likely some general truce between teams that you don't out my guy and I won't out yours. Maybe Stalions did something particularly egregious, or so sloppily, that Day thought it was worth calling out. But it's hard to believe that UM would be the only team in the league, let alone the country, who has a guy like this and explored methods like this.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:28 PM ^
I agree with you. Cooperate until you have a reason not to. A reason not to would be an attempt by the NCAA to impose harsher penalties than what is warranted.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
How much bigger can this story get? It's pretty much the talk of college football now. Instead of falling on their swords, I would rather Michigan go out and hire a big ass law firm and ask what their exposure is. Then get a detailed answer as to if they possibly broke the rules and which ones or did they simply break the spirit of the rules. If a credible argument can be made that they did not break the letter of the rule, then you fight back with everything you have.
October 25th, 2023 at 9:03 AM ^
It's the talk right now for about a week because leaks keep happening; after games this weekend we'll have more things to talk about and lives move on. Michigan hasn't even gotten a formal complaint yet from the NCAA - you can hire a law firm but all they're going to do is preliminary research that I'm sure the AD already sort of knows.
This is a years-long process, not something you fix in a week with billable hours. People want Warde and UM to fight back publicly because they're mad but, and I mean this with no disrespect to you, fans are the dumbest people in the world when it comes to matters like this and we have the worst instincts. Look at the clown schools you see that try to "fight back" and how stupid they look in the end.
Michigan "wins" this situation by paying a fine, getting some probation, and leaving the NCAA looking like dipshits who are shocked there's alcohol being sold in this place.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:03 PM ^
Of course you linked a paywall article. Any info so I don’t have to an introductory price.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:27 PM ^
Might I suggest the Brown Jug. Keep your receipts.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:31 PM ^
I’m going to the OSU game! NCAA will probably force Jim to head to the NFL. I think he’s sick of the shit the NCAA is pulling on him and the team! It is sad to watch!
October 25th, 2023 at 5:26 AM ^
Very distinct possibility, but Harbaugh is also the kind of guy who is stubborn enough to want to stick around long enough to outlast the NCAA and watch them die their inevitable death.
So who knows....
October 24th, 2023 at 9:43 PM ^
Sign Harbaugh now.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:03 PM ^
How possible is it for Michigan to buy it's way out of this in a settlement? I know it's not justified and a waste of money, but money can make a lot of things go away.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:08 PM ^
Awesome.
Still don’t care at all.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
Isn't the picture showing Michigan's cheat sheet, taken from the OSU side, proof that they were trying to steal our signs? There's no phone that can zoom in so far away and have that resolution.
October 25th, 2023 at 2:21 AM ^
What would they be discussing? Do they have sufficient evidence?
October 25th, 2023 at 3:24 AM ^
"Ohio State told us to come here and ask questions. We don't have any questions because we don't actually know anything. Help us out. What do you think we should we ask you?"
October 25th, 2023 at 7:14 AM ^
I honestly don’t know what to expect from this. How much information that is out there is being flooded and dropped by OSU media members, fans or insiders who keep calling and foaming at the mouth for bowl bans, scholarship reductions, vacated wins, etc.
How much of this talk is really coming from Big Ten sources, the NCAA, and the actual governing bodies who would be the ones to make these decisions. Again, I really don’t know.
Honestly, whatever the punishment is or needs to be, can we just rip the damn band-aid off and move forward?
October 25th, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
Have the event catered with cheeseburgers from the Little Brown Jug. Show em' a good time.
October 25th, 2023 at 11:13 AM ^
The last time the NCAA moved this quickly was the Kansas/FBI incident.
