Michigan football's wild ride: From scandals to national title to more scandals
The past two years have been quite the roller coaster for Michigan football.
The program has reached the highest of highs as the defending national champion and three-time reigning Big Ten conference champion. And while it has been winning on the field, there have been multiple NCAA investigations, an FBI investigation, scandals surrounding improperly filming other teams and a wholesale coaching change.
Former head coach Jim Harbaugh was hit Wednesday with a four-year show-cause penalty and a one-year suspension for his role in Michigan's recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period, a Level II penalty upgraded to a Level I due to Harbaugh's "unethical conduct and failure to cooperate," according to the NCAA.
Harbaugh will not be immediately impacted since he left Michigan weeks after winning the College Football Playoff championship to take over as head coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers, and took a half-dozen assistants with him including defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. Former offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was promoted to replace Harbaugh and now faces a potential NCAA punishment before his first season starts as one of seven staffers accused of violating NCAA rules in the alleged sign-stealing scandal.
Here is a look at all that has transpired for Michigan football since January 2023.
Jan. 6, 2023: Michigan's COVID-19 recruiting violations detailed
On the same day Harbaugh said he wasn't interested in returning to the NFL and expected to be back at Michigan, a Notice of Allegations (NOA) from the NCAA came to light alleging Michigan violated the mandates around recruiting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was charged with four Level II violations and Harbaugh was charged with a Level I violation, with punishment coming 18 months later Wednesday with a four-year show-cause penalty through Aug. 6, 2028.
Jan. 18, 2023: Michigan suspends co-OC/QB coach Matt Weiss
Weiss was placed on leave after university police received a "report of computer access crimes" that occurred in Schembechler Hall in December 2022.
Two days later, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel announced the university was firing Weiss, who had split the offensive coordinator job with Moore and was the quarterbacks coach.
In October, police told the Free Press its department had been working with the FBI for months to investigate Weiss' computer case, and said it had no relation to the sign-stealing probe. Weiss has not been arrested.
"The University of Michigan Police Department has partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the Matt Weiss unauthorized computer access incident," the police said in an October email. "Currently, the investigation is extensive, ongoing, and is of the utmost priority. Additional information will be provided when available."
May 20, 2023: Shemy Schembechler resigns after three days on job
Glenn "Shemy" Schembechler, son of Bo Schembechler, resigned in May from his post as assistant director of recruiting just days after he accepted the job. He was found to have been "liking" racist posts, from a public social media account, that were found and widely shared online.
Aug. 21, 2023: Jim Harbaugh suspended by Michigan for three games
Michigan and the NCAA reportedly had a deal done that would give Harbaugh a four-game suspension in July 2023, but the deal fell through after the NCAA's infractions panel struck it down.
As an act of good faith to the governing body, the school in late August suspended Harbaugh for the first three games of the 2023 season, but not for practices.
Aug. 27, 2023: Michigan suspends two more assistants
Six days later, the school suspended Moore and offensive line coach Grant Newsome, formerly the tight ends coach, for the season's first game.
"While the ongoing NCAA matter continues through the NCAA process, today's announcement is our way of addressing mistakes that our department has agreed to in an attempt to further that process," Manuel said in a statement at the time.
Oct. 19, 2023: Michigan sign-stealing drama begins
Once Harbaugh was back on the sidelines, things calmed for a few weeks before the next scandal came to light. In the middle of October, a report came out alleging a low-level team staffer, later identified as Connor Stalions, was orchestrating a sign-stealing scheme where he filmed Michigan's future opponents and paid others to film Michigan's future opponents to break down those teams' signals for the Wolverines' benefit in a future matchup.
The operation put Michigan in violation of a 30-year-old NCAA bylaw that prohibits off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents with the use of technology.
Stalions was suspended with pay a day later.
Harbaugh and Michigan denied the allegations at the time, with the coach saying “my instructions and awareness of how we scout opponents have always been firmly within the rules.” After the story initially broke, more details came forward, such as other schools reportedly finding Stalions in their ticket purchase logs. It was later reported he purchased tickets to at least 35 games and 17 stadiums, including 12 of the other 13 Big Ten stadiums, over the past three seasons.
Oct. 31, 2023: Connor Stalions connected to Central Michigan
Central Michigan on Halloween says it's investigating images of what appeared to be Connor Stalions in CMU disguise on the sidelines at Spartan Stadium during the Sept. 1 season opener at Michigan State.
More than 10 months later, the NCAA confirmed in its NOA draft, obtained Aug. 4 by ESPN it was indeed Stalions seen dressed in full CMU coaching gear with a bench pass. The draft stated the conduct "seriously undermined or threatened the integrity of the NCAA collegiate model," but does not say how Stalions got on the Chippewas' sideline.
MYSTERY MAN:Connor Stalions’ drive unlocked his Michigan dream — and a sign-stealing scandal
Nov. 3, 2023: Connor Stalions resigns
A few weeks after the scandal became public, Stalions resigned from Michigan. He reportedly refused to cooperate with any internal or external investigations or discussions.
Nov. 10, 2023: Big Ten suspends Jim Harbaugh for rest of regular season
The league, led by commissioner Tony Petitti, bars Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season while the Wolverines were flying to Penn State for a top-10 matchup. The conference said the Wolverines were in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy "for conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition."
U-M filed for a temporary restraining order with Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Connors later that evening, but the hearing was set for the following week, and Harbaugh was forced to watch the 24-15 win from his hotel room.
Nov. 16, 2023: Jim Harbaugh, Michigan accept three-game suspension
The circus ended with Harbaugh and the school dropping the court case and accepting the Big Ten's suspension, meaning he would sit games at Maryland and vs. Ohio State. Harbaugh ended up serving a suspension in six of the team's 12 regular-season games.
"This morning, the University, Coach Harbaugh, and the Big Ten resolved their pending litigation," a school spokesman said. "The Conference agreed to close its investigation, and the University and Coach Harbaugh agreed to accept the three-game suspension. Coach Harbaugh, with the University's support, decided to accept this sanction to return the focus to our student-athletes and their performance on the field.
"The Conference has confirmed that it is not aware of any information suggesting Coach Harbaugh’s involvement in the allegations. The University continues to cooperate fully with the NCAA’s investigation."
Nov. 17, 2023: Michigan fires linebackers coach Chris Partridge
Linebackers coach Chris Partridge was fired by the school, after a report he allegedly took part in destroying evidence on a computer that related to the sign-stealing scandal.
Ten days later, Partridge released a statement.
"I want to be clear: I had no knowledge whatsoever of any in-person or illegal scouting or illegal sign stealing. Additionally, at no point did I destroy any evidence related to an ongoing investigation," Partridge posted to X.
The NOA draft in August accused Partridge, now with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, of pressuring a Michigan player to lie and/or mislead investigators in order to protect the coaching staff.
Jan. 8, 2024: National champions and 'we're innocent'
Michigan excelled on the field while continuously garnering attention for the wrong reasons off it. The Wolverines had no problem through the entirety of the regular season, steamrolling each opponent thanks to its top defense and strong running game, and finished the season with a third straight win over Ohio State, 30-24, and a 26-0 Big Ten championship game shutout of Iowa.
The Wolverines finally grasped an elusive CFP win after losing the previous two years, beating Alabama in an epic Rose Bowl 27-20 overtime game on Jan. 1. The Wolverines then separated in the second half from Washington for a 34-13 victory in the CFP title game for the school's first title since 1997.
[ Order now: Celebrate Michigan's national title with Free Press commemorative books: "Blue Reign" and "Maize & Grand" and check out special wall art from our front page from the morning after the championship. ]
At the podium during the postgame news conference, players were asked about the off-the-field issues Michigan had overcome throughout the season, but Harbaugh interjected.
"Off-the-field issues — we're innocent," he said. "We stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent and I'd just like to point that out. These guys are innocent. (To) overcome that, it wasn't that hard because we knew we were innocent. So, that's really what I wanted to say, it went exactly as we wanted it to go. It went exactly as we wanted it to go."
Jan. 24, 2024: Jim Harbaugh bolts to the NFL, takes assistants with him
Harbaugh didn't stick around to enjoy the view from the college football mountaintop for too long. Just 16 days after the championship, Harbaugh ditched Michigan in favor of coaching the Chargers.
A long list of assistants decided to follow him to the Pacific coast in the following days, weeks and months, including Minter, director of football operations Christina DeRuyter, interim linebackers coach and analyst Rick Minter, defensive line coach Mike Elston, defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale and heralded strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert. (Special teams coach Jay Harbaugh, Jim's son, left Michigan for the same position with the Seahawks.)
MITCH ALBOM:Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan was how fairy tale season was destined to end
Two days later, Moore was promoted to U-M head coach, and tasked with remaking the staff, primarily on defense.
March 16, 2024: Greg Scruggs OWI arrest and subsequent resignation
New defensive line coach Greg Scruggs, hired to replace Elston on March 6, is arrested March 16 for operating a vehicle while intoxicated overnight in Ann Arbor and is suspended indefinitely.
Five days later, Scruggs resigned from his position. According to the police report obtained by the Free Press, Scruggs' blood alcohol level was double the legal limit.
April 15, 2024: Denard Robinson the latest staffer arrested
Former Michigan standout quarterback and current recruiting staffer Denard Robinson was arrested after being involved in a single-car crash at 3 a.m. in Ann Arbor, and was found to be operating while intoxicated. He was then suspended. He had joined in 2022 as a support staffer.
A month later, Robinson was confirmed to be no longer with the program after his OWI arrest.
Aug. 5, 2024: Michigan's sign-stealing Notice of Allegations leaked
ESPN reported Moore could face a suspension and show-cause penalty for what the NCAA's NOA draft says were 52 deleted text messages with Stalions on the same day in October media reports indicated Stalions was the man behind an illegal off-field sign-stealing operation and the messages were later recovered using device imaging.
The NOA draft named Moore as one of seven Michigan staff members accused of violating NCAA rules.
Harbaugh, Partridge, Robinson and Stalions — all four now gone from the program — were accused in the draft of the NCAA's most serious Level I violations, and Partridge also earned a Level II violation. The document also says Minter and Clinkscale committed recruiting violations unrelated to the sign-stealing scheme.
READ MORE:Sherrone Moore's image is tarnished before start of Michigan football head coaching tenure
Aug. 7, 2024: Jim Harbaugh hit with NCAA punishment
Harbaugh receives a one-year suspension and four-year show-cause sanction for the recruiting violations during a dead period in 2021 while COVID-19 ran rampant. The punishment does not affect Michigan's 2023 national title.
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