Another Michigan football report that tells us nothing new

Another “damning” report about Michigan football came out from ESPN. However, it was much ado about nothing. 

There was another revelation in the Michigan football sign-stealing investigation on Friday night as ESPN put out another report relating to Connor Stalions.

Dan Murphy found a former Division-III coach who Stalions paid to attend games and film the sideline of future Michigan football opponents.

Here’s part of what Murphy reported:

"“He (the coach) said he attended three Big Ten games during the past two years to record the sideline of a future Michigan opponent. He said he uploaded the videos he took on his personal cellphone to a shared iPhone photo album but does not know who else other than Stalions had access to the album. He said he was wary of Stalions’ plan “to a degree” when he was first approached to record the games but felt that if someone from Michigan’s staff was asking him to do this that it must fall safely in the gray area of college football’s sign-stealing rules.”"

The coach was quoted in the story too. Here’s what he told ESPN’s Dan Murphy. 

"“I didn’t like it, but it’s a gray line. You can call me naive, but no one is reading the bylaws. I’m not a contractual lawyer. … I just felt like if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying to get ahead.”"

Rivals will freak out about this, as will the people who want Michigan football to be guilty. But we already know that Stalions paid people to go to games and record signs. We know he paid $15K, which the evidence suggests he funded on his own.

Some are having a hard time believing that. Those people also aren’t willing to do the smallest amount of research. Devin Garder said that Stalions was “at every away game.” That was dating back to 2013, so it’s clear he had the funds to travel to and attend most Michigan football games.

Stalions was able to buy a house in Ann Arbor while being stationed in California for the NAVY, and still working as a volunteer for Michigan football, then rented out rooms so he could afford to attend every game as a volunteer.

Since he was on the sidelines of an Indiana-Michigan football game in 2017 (also not cheap), plus made regular trips from California to Michigan and other places for games, it’s not that hard to imagine he could have funded his on his own.

In fact, it makes perfect sense. Michigan should have never hired Stalions and the athletic department should actually be vetting these people, but there’s no evidence that Jim Harbaugh knew about any of this and it’s my belief that that evidence doesn’t exist.