Michigan scandal: University of Michigan Police confirm FBI has joined probe into Wolverines

An outside, third-party investigative body.

Now, the FBI.

Yes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Michigan football -- which already has seen its mercurial head coach Jim Harbaugh open this season on self-imposed suspension after the NCAA said 'No thanks, we're not done' to the school's proposed four-game absence -- has found itself in an ongoing and ever-increasing probe into widespread allegations of illicit scouting and sign-stealing behavior.

To the point that multiple outlets report that the FBI has entered into the fracas, at least as it pertains to the ongoing dive into the firing of former Wolverines top offensive assistant, coordinator Matt Weiss.

The University of Michigan Police Department confirmed to multiple media outlets that the on-campus law enforcement group has been working "for months" with the FBI in the ongoing probe of the since-fired Wolverines offensive coordinator.

Concurrent - though yet unclear if connected - is the multi-layered ongoing examination of Michigan’s allegedly coordinated and orchestrated illicit sign-stealing scheme which has senior football staffer Connor Stalions extensively implicated and indefinitely suspended by the school with pay.

A third-party investigative firm has obtained multiple layers of what is believed to be incredibly damning evidence into the investigation that Jim Harbaugh's Michigan program utilized NCAA-banned, illicit scouting information -- namely, video-taped, stolen signals from opponents and potential opponents -- that has included computer evidence. 

Weiss’s electronic device(s) is at the center of that specific component. 

"The University of Michigan Police Department has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the Matt Weiss unauthorized computer access incident," MPD said in a statement.

"Currently, the investigation is intensive, ongoing and is of the utmost priority. Additional information will be provided when available."

This latest, FBI-level development of the most recent probe into Michigan football's alleged rogue ways under Harbaugh simply is its latest.

Consider:

Harbaugh served an allegedly voluntary three-game suspension to open this season, during which defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore filled the void of Harbaugh's top-headset absence.

Harbaugh and Michigan officials only elected to have their head coach and former star quarterback serve that three-game ejection after the NCAA refused to accept the school's reported question of an four-game, self-imposed suspension.

Prior to this probe into the alleged, elaborate and multi-state sign-stealing, spygate scheme believed to be masterminded by low-level staffer Connor Stalions, Michigan and Harbaugh already were under the NCAA microscope for Harbaugh's alleged disregard for recruiting rules, specifically in-person contact and interactions, during the COVID-19 pandemic when the NCAA had imposed multiple recruiting dead periods.

Atop the Weiss dismissal, Harbaugh probe and Stalions investigation, Michigan and Harbaugh also were forced in shame to part ways with Shemy Schembechler from a recruiting, support-staff post after it was uncovered that Schembechler -- son of the school's iconic, College Hall of Fame coach Bo Schembechler -- had appeared to endorse racist rhetoric when he "liked" incendiary social media posts on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

Former Michigan All-America defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who starred in recent years under Harbaugh before he was a top NFL Draft pick of the Detroit Lions, did nothing Thursday to refute that Michigan had benefitted from stolen signs during Hutchinson's collegiate career.

"I don't really know, I, uh, they're doing all their investigations while Michigan's got a shot to win the national championship this year," Hutchinson told a gaggle of reporters. "I don't know. It is what it is, I guess. You know? Time will pass and people will forget about it and move on once we're the champs again.

"I didn't have a relationship with him (Stalions). He's kind of just with the coaches upstairs that you never see. I don't think any of the players really had a relationship with him ever, so. 

"I mean, there's ... People are always stealing signs in college football. People stole our signs. Other Big Ten schools stole our signs. It's just a thing when you're in college football, so I mean, not anymore than anybody else did as far as I'm concerned."

Numerous sources this week told FootballScoop that not only had Michigan allegedly scouted its own future Big Ten opponents, as well as the Wolverines' non-conference foes, but that the school also had allegedly engaged in scouting potential College Football Playoff opponents last year -- including, but not limited to Georgia and Tennessee -- as the Wolverines sought a return trip to the CFP.

Additionally, sources told FootballScoop that Stalions had sought to purchase tickets to Tennessee's 2022 home game inside Neyland Stadium against Kentucky and also had potentially cooperated with additional schools not on Michigan's schedule but perhaps on the schedule of those potential CFP rivals. 

It also, per sources, is being investigated as to whether or not Stalions had an illegal method of technological communication with Michigan staffers during gameday Saturdays on the sidelines.