AP: Stalions Filed No Expense Reports w/Michigan
AP’s Larry Lage did a FOIA request to find any expense reports filed by Connor Stalions, and was told no such reports exist, further demonstrating that no other Michigan staffers or coaches were involved in his scheme:
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Connor Stalions, the former Michigan staffer at the center of sign-stealing investigation by the NCAA, did not file any expense reports during the 17 months he was formally employed by the football program, according to the school.
The Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Stalions’ expense reports while he was employed from May 2022 through Nov. 3, 2023. There are no responsive records, Patricia Sellinger, chief freedom of information officer at the school, replied in an email sent Wednesday.
November 15th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
It seems like most of the bad news that can be unearthed has been, and now it's gonna be a slow stream of "ok Michigan fans were right in this way but totally not about that other stuff!" Until it's just Spartan and Buckeyes crying about nothing.
November 15th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
Yeah, I don't believe this for a minute. There is always more.
November 15th, 2023 at 4:17 PM ^
Part of my job is investigation. And, no, more frequently than not, suspicions are *not* confirmed and there isn't necessarily more to the story.
November 15th, 2023 at 4:34 PM ^
Perhaps my response was a bit blunt.
Professionally, I'm no stranger to investigations either. There may or may not be more to the allegations of links between the coaching staff and Stallions, and the absence of any expense reports is a welcome report, but there is most definitely more that the program doesn't want aired. And the way I read the post I replied to, he was basically saying that we were in the clear. In my experience, it is waaaaaaaay too early to go to the conclusion that there won't be any more bad news coming out of AA.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Indications are that you are an uninformed partisan of a competitor team.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:50 PM ^
Other indicators, such as my posting history and diploma, suggest otherwise. Granted, you only have access to one of these sources.
Cass Sunstein has a fabulous book I highly recommend, Why Societies Need Dissent. Link
November 15th, 2023 at 5:53 PM ^
Societies need dissent. Nobody needs a contrarian.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Indications are that you are an uninformed partisan of a competitor team.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Indications are that you are an uninformed partisan of a competitor team.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:56 PM ^
we now have more indications of him being an UPOACT than we do of actual sign-stealing
November 15th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Indications are that you are an uninformed partisan of a competitor team.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^
Just 4 more responses and you can call yourself "Magic 8-Ball"
November 15th, 2023 at 6:38 PM ^
The incidence of homerism is still running high here, and who better to kill a messenger than a homer. The collective IQ here has also taken another one of its precipitous drops, as it does during Michigan's various bouts of fever. Yesterday's wielder of the pitchfork may be today's bun-licker; the turnaround doesn't always take much time.
But just to buttress what Hab is saying a little: Stalions GAVE the info he developed to somebody. Just what that chain of information consisted of, how it was transmitted and TO WHOM, quite obviously remains to be described, at least to the public. We have preliminary indication that Jim didn't know, and we now have an indication that Stalions wasn't formally reimbursed. Terrific. But leaping on someone discerning enough to state, simply, that there's more TK? Stupid AF.
People wanting to claim this means there's no more news are willing naifs.
November 15th, 2023 at 7:28 PM ^
"GAVE that information" is doing a lot of work here.
It's just as likely he USED that information, along with other more conventional (legal) means to generate a product--opponent signs. Something that every team does via a guy who has a job like Stalions.
November 16th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
This has been my impression pretty much the whole time. Conor Stalions wanted to look like a savant and used everything at his disposal to do so. This included the advance scouting, which he may or may not have known was illegal. He would then compile that along with other means (All-22, etc.) to come up with his predictions of what play would come next. He probably tried to chalk up his success as an Army captain who could predict the enemy's next move, which probably is true, but he also relied on other means.
November 15th, 2023 at 7:57 PM ^
Stalions GAVE the finished product to the coaches, there's zero reason to assume he gave them the raw, allegedly impermissible data. They don't need that, they don't want that, they hired him to take care of figuring out the signs so they didn't have to. Using any of that as proof they knew about his scheme is ridiculous.
November 15th, 2023 at 10:10 PM ^
Another interesting question is where Stalions got the money to buy the tickets, which usually aren’t cheap. I don’t know how much an analyst makes, but I’m guessing it’s not much. It’s possible Stalions had enough of his own money to cover the costs, and did so because he wanted to make himself look good and help his chances of upward mobility, but it’s also possible the money came from somewhere else. If it did, that doesn’t necessarily mean it came from the university. Also, if we’re being honest, if a coach or university employee was fully aware of the scheme and wanted to fund it, they wouldn’t have Stalions file expense reports.
November 15th, 2023 at 11:21 PM ^
You obviously haven't been following this story very closely. He made $55k/year and his parents are almost certainly funding him ( primarily based on the $450k home purchase he recently made as well as circumstantial evidence his parents are loaded).
November 15th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
I see, guilty because the U has no expense reports so it was all a smart conspiracy. 😆
November 16th, 2023 at 9:44 AM ^
I didn’t say any of that, but there’s been no proof, or at least none that has been made public, of where the money came from. As I said, it’s certainly possible Stalions could’ve funded all of it in an effort to make himself look good, but the lack of paperwork requesting reimbursement from Michigan isn’t proof that he did.
November 15th, 2023 at 7:08 PM ^
Don't know why you're getting so much hate for this follow-up post. It comes across as well-reasoned to me. Yeah, with a thorough purge someone may find something silly somewhere.
November 15th, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
Just remember that this PI investigating got months of a headstart on anyone else...and they've got jack to report on other than Connor Stallions- heavily implying they didnt find it went beyond him. If there was more in their chamber, Thamel wouldve tweeted it already.
November 15th, 2023 at 4:51 PM ^
Are we even certain that what Stalions did was against NCAA bylaws? Other than a questionable picture of someone looking like him at a CMU game, what definitive proof is there that he actually broke any rules?
November 15th, 2023 at 4:59 PM ^
No, we are not certain that Stalions violated the bylaws, nor is there even an allegation that he did. There are just allegations that there are allegations.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:02 PM ^
All my upvotes for the rest of eternity.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
The Stalions on the CMU sideline thing is really bizarre
Unless I've missed something (not unlikely) it's been radio silence since the picture dropped, other than McElwain saying that Stalions was not issued a sidelines pass
It seems that by about five minutes after that picture dropped they should have known exactly who that is. Oh that guy? It's Bob. He's a second year intern.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:58 PM ^
I still think it’s going to come out that CMU caught itself breaking a rule there(extra coach) and it’s why it went radio silent.
November 15th, 2023 at 7:21 PM ^
This ^
November 15th, 2023 at 8:46 PM ^
I thought there was talk of a pretty direct connection somewhere between Stalions and someone on CMU’s staff… did I dream that?
November 15th, 2023 at 7:24 PM ^
Conner Stallions bought football tickets for his friends. Details at 11 on Action 7 news.
11:59 - here’s Connor’s buddy at the game. Good night everyone!!
November 15th, 2023 at 6:04 PM ^
I think this is right. The dripping has stopped, it would be weird to be holding back any blockbusters at this point. Not saying it’s impossible, but the strategy wouldn’t make sense.
November 15th, 2023 at 8:34 PM ^
There will be more. … about other schools
November 15th, 2023 at 3:58 PM ^
The goalposts are just gonna be moved and moved and moved by Buckeyes and Spartans till they're yelling "All we wanted this whole time was a fair and complete investigation!!" like they weren't all clamoring for the death penalty, immediate postseason ban, immediately indefinite suspension of Harbaugh, etc etc etc.
It's obvious that lots of rivals were trying to take advantage of the chaos to cause as much damage as they could while PR momentum was on their side
November 15th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^
"Ah ha! So Harbaugh burned official government documents to protect Stalions! That's a FEDERAL crime!!" ~RCMB and 11 Warriors
November 15th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
November 15th, 2023 at 5:40 PM ^
There's records of venmo too. If he was dumb enough to use his own credit card and not worry about hiding it, why would he ask for cash or even Venmo?
November 15th, 2023 at 4:25 PM ^
Unfortunately the initial propaganda bombardment has set the narrative
November 15th, 2023 at 4:50 PM ^
It's also fostered by jackasses like the staff of The Athletic, who act like any correction to their initial, incorrect take is just Michigan histrionics.
November 15th, 2023 at 4:56 PM ^
Which is why I'm no longer an Athletic supporter.
...wait that came out wrong...
November 15th, 2023 at 5:38 PM ^
No it didn't.
November 15th, 2023 at 6:21 PM ^
Nothing wrong with being an ex-jock....
November 15th, 2023 at 5:44 PM ^
Feldman was on the front lines of the HANG HARBAUGH mob a couple of weeks ago. He has significantly slowed his roll in the past week. Keep receipts on these fucks, my friends. Stalions never forget
November 15th, 2023 at 5:33 PM ^
Thanks, Bing AI Image Creator!
November 15th, 2023 at 5:39 PM ^
Is bucknut kneeling on a shoe? Those generators are both amazing and terrible at the same time.
November 15th, 2023 at 5:50 PM ^
The Buckeye kid in the top image has one really long leg and another short one. A.I. generated art, man...
November 15th, 2023 at 6:02 PM ^
What's up with his left arm?? It's like he had leg graft from his forearm.
November 15th, 2023 at 7:32 PM ^
It's like Dorf on Golf