Michigan is digging in, the Big Ten appears poised to send a statement -- and the climax of this sordid, alleged widespread spying and sign-stealing scandal pervasive inside Jim Harbaugh's Michigan Wolverines football program might find clarity midweek.
Numerous reports Monday evening paint the landscape for the absolute latest in the ongoing probe into Michigan's alleged years-long, NCAA-rules-violating scheme to scout in-person opponents of the Wolverines, video those foes' sideline signals and then marry those discoveries with film study of those opponents.
The Big Ten has now notified Michigan that its findings from this multi-week look into the illicit actions inside Harbaugh's program have been sufficient enough to inform the program that disciplinary action could -- and likely is -- forthcoming. Specifically, it is expected that punishment could center around Harbaugh, who's served as head coach at his alma mater since prior to the 2015 season.
Harbaugh's coaching arc atop the Michigan program has peaked since the onset of the 2021 season to include back-to-back Big Ten championships, consecutive College Football Playoff appearances and a national runner-up finish following the 2021 campaign.
Though Stalions had been a volunteer assistant with various duties inside the Wolverines' program for several years, he was hired into a full-time "recruiting analyst" role prior to the '21 season.
Michigan has won a program-record 21 consecutive games against Big Ten foes and posted an 34-3 ledger since Stalions was hired into the program full-time.
Harbaugh has produced an 31-3 record since Stalions was officially added to Harbaugh's program; his win-total is lower than that of the Michigan program the past three years because Harbaugh served a school-imposed three-game suspension at the onset of this 2023 season due to Harbaugh's alleged recruiting violations during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
As numerous coaches repeatedly have told FootballScoop since the Oct. 19 news of the investigation into the Michigan plot, "Everyone steals signals. I'm always looking across the field on gamedays to see if I can figure out his signs. But we don't cheat the game," said an ACC assistant coach.
Michigan A.D. Warde Manuel has announced he will not attend Tuesday night's meeting of the College Football Playoff committee and instead will remain in Ann Arbor, Michigan, due to the all-consuming nature of these probes into the school's flagship athletics program.
Another turn in this ongoing saga has been the emergence of an NCAA look into the Central Michigan football program, which is alleged to have housed Stalions on its sideline to open this season. The Chippewas played at heated Michigan rival Michigan State to open the 2023 slate, and still photographs and videos have since emerged that appear to show Stalions on the CMU sideline in East Lansing, Michigan, for that Sept. 1 contest -- less than 24 hours before Michigan opened its season without the suspended Harbaugh.
Central Michigan head coach Jim McElwain, the former head man at both Colorado State and Florida, has publicly disavowed any knowledge that Stalions was on the CMU sideline at Michigan State and acknowledged last week that CMU officials had begun to probe the matter. On Monday, after repeated attempts for comment from FootballScoop, Central Michigan acknowledged that the NCAA had now broadened its look at Michigan to include Central Michigan and the alleged presence of Stalions on the CMU sideline.
FootballScoop President Scott Roussel and national college football writer John Brice dive into the latest news, examine the possible penalties the Wolverines -- specifically Harbaugh, for now -- might face, the Big Ten timeline versus the NCAA timeline and much more in this brand-new podcast.