The NCAA's ruling on Connor Stalions and his illegal sign stealing operation at Michigan has been getting a lot of attention today, and rightly so. It's a story that has captivated the country for a few years now.
The 74-page document released on the ruling mentions various levels of wrongdoing and disciplinary action for Jim Harbuagh, Stalions, Sherrone Moore, Denard Robinson and a few other Michigan staffers related to both the illegal scouting operation of Stalions, as well as recruiting violations that were uncovered during the course of the investigation.
One person who was essentially vindicated in the whole deal? Former Wolverines linebackers coach Chris Partridge.
Partridge, now working as the outside linebackers coach for the Seahawks under former Wolverines defensive coordinator Mike Macdoland who is heading into his second season as the head coach in Seattle, was fired by Michigan back in mid-November of 2017.
The in-season timing of his departure from the Michigan staff led many to believe he was the first casualty of the illegal scouting scheme.
On November 16th, a Thursday, Michigan accepted a suspension of Jim Harbaugh handed down by the Big Ten for the Michigan game.
The very next day, Michigan announced they had fired Patridge.
Patridge's name was dragged further into the Stalions storyline during the Netflix documentary where Stalions shared it was a conversation at a coaching clinic with Partridge where the topic was brought up about Stalions getting involved with the Michigan staff that brought him on board as a volunteer intially. Stalions shared he had previously helped decipher signals while working with the Navy program, something not against NCAA rules as long as it is done without sending team personnel to do in-person scouting of opponents - which we all know now is the bylaw that was eventually broken.
At the time of his dismissal, Partridge was vocal in his stance that it had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into Stalions, sharing the following back on November 27th, just ten days after his firing:
"Unfortunately, the manner in which the termination of my employment and my role as a coach at Michigan has been reported is inaccurate and has resulted in people speculating, and making assumptions about my knowledge of, and connection to, the sign-stealing allegations within the football program."
"I want to be clear: I had no knowledge whatsoever of any in-person or illegal scouting, or illegal sign-stealing."
The NCAA's findings released today make it evident that they do not believe Partridge was a part of the illegal scouting scandal headed by Stalions.
The mentions of Partridge (138 in total) in the NCAA's release today are nearly all related to minor Level II recruiting violations during his time with the program.
As it relates to the Stalions investigation, Partridge's name is noted a few times including"
An original member of Jim Harbaugh's staff, Partridge joined the Wolverines back in 2015 originally as director of player personnel before being elevated to safeties coach and then special teams coordinator.
He left Ann Arbor for a co-coordinator role at Ole Miss on Lane Kiffin's staff in 2020 before returning to Ann Abor in 2023 as an immensely over-qualified analyst. He was later promoted to linebackers coach, getting the coaching veteran back to an on-field role.
At that time of his dismissal, Michigan pointed to evidence that Partridge failed to abide by a University directive to not discuss the ongoing investigation with anyone for the reason for his dismissal and there were allegations from the NCAA enforcement staff that he had failed to cooperate while employed at Michigan.
One of the last mentions of Partridge by the NCAA note that "although questions remain about Partridge's knowledge of the impermissible scouting scheme, there is insufficient information to reasonably conclude that Partridge attempted to influence a student-athlete to lie about it to the enforcement staff."
In June of 2024, a report surfaced that Partridge was considering suing Michigan in federal court for being denied due process, alleging he was never given the opportunity to share his side of the story on what Manuel and the Board of Trustees used as his grounds for termination.
When the NCAA laid out the "Aggravating Factors for Partridge" they note at the end of each the decision to decline to apply each factor to the veteran coach.
With these findings, something tells me we'll be hearing more about Partidge vs. Michigan in the coming months in regards to how he was fired, or at least a settlement on the behalf of Michigan if they don't want to take this to court.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest on that, and so much more.