In a bombshell, it was announced on Thursday that the NCAA investing the University of Michigan Wolverines football program under allegations of sign stealing. Michigan announced this news with a message from their athletics department.
Michigan Under NCAA Investigation for Sign Stealing
“The university is fully cooperating with the Big Ten and NCAA,” Michigan said in a released statement.
Michigan’s statement came after the NCAA reportedly approached Michigan State with “credible evidence” that UM was stealing signs and had been successful in doing so this season. The Athletic reported that Michigan State was approached as a forewarning ahead of their annual rivalry game in Week 8.
“Late Wednesday afternoon, the Big Ten Conference and University of Michigan were notified by the NCAA that the NCAA was investigating allegations of sign stealing by the University of Michigan football program,” the Big Ten said in a statement. “The Big Ten Conference has notified Michigan State University and future opponents.”
“The Big Ten Conference considers the integrity of competition to be of utmost importance and will continue to monitor the investigation. The Conference will have no further comment at this time.”
A report from Yahoo Sports stated that Michigan had allegedly placed people in attendance of games of future opponents and potential College Football Playoff opponents in an attempt to gather as much information as possible on signs used to call plays on both offense and defense.
That would, of course, be a violation of an NCAA bylaw, specifically 11.6.1. Under NCAA rules, “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents is prohibited.”
ESPN confirmed that a Las Vegas firm — U.S. Integrity — that monitors betting markets has sent out an alert to its sportsbook clients to warn them of the controversy.
This is the latest in a string of bad news and awful looks for the Michigan program after head coach Jim Harbaugh served a three-game, University-imposed suspension for improper recruiting during the COVID-19 seasons.
The punishment for such a violation of Bylaw 11.6.1 is unclear, and we’ll continue to monitor as this story is ever-changing and will be updated when we have more information.