Michigan Response To Big Ten's Expected Discipline Today For Sign-Stealing As Weak As Iowa's Offense | Glenn Guilbeau

Got to hand it to the University of Michigan's legal representation and its Board of Regents. They know an easy football schedule when they see one.

And that may be partly why the Michigan Wolverines football team is 9-0 and ranked No. 3 in the nation in the College Football Playoff rankings at the moment. Michigan's strength of schedule is ranked No. 111 in the nation.

Michigan Didn't Need Connor Stalions' Stolen Signs?

So surely - Michigan's legal brainiacs argue - Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and staff didn't need former analyst Connor Stalions and his cohorts' covert operations of illegal scouting and subsequent illegally ascertained signals to win games so far this season.

Yeah, because you got caught before the cheating manifested itself at No. 10 Penn State (8-1) Saturday (Noon, FOX), or against Ohio State on Nov. 25 (Noon, FOX). By the time Michigan takes the field Saturday, it was expected to be without coach Jim Harbaugh. The Big Ten was expected to possibly suspend Harbaugh early Friday afternoon. That could be for three games, which would be the rest of the regular season.

In between Penn State and Ohio State, Michigan plays at Maryland on Nov. 18. A three-game suspension for Harbaugh would be his second of the season. He sat out the first three games of the season on suspension for recruiting violations in 2020.

There has been much talk of "due process" from the Michigan side and other pundits before any suspension should be handed down by the Big Ten Conference. But a suspension without due process is not unprecedented. Just four years ago, LSU suspended basketball coach Will Wade just days after stories leaked of his recruiting violations. Wade missed the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. LSU fired him in 2022. The NCAA did not finish with LSU until 2023.

Michigan Releases Letter To Big Ten On Sign Stealing Scandal

"There is simply no evidence that Stalions' actions had a material effect upon any of Michigan's games this season," states Michigan's letter to the Big Ten Conference and commissioner Tony Petitti released on Wednesday. Really? The letter responded to the Big Ten's notice of impending likely disciplinary action against Michigan for its Stalions And Friends sinister sign stealing show this side of "Get Smart."

Well, then, if Stalions actions had no "material effect" on the games in the ultimate rent-a-win schedule so far, why the hell did Jim Harbaugh let him do it? And saying Harbaugh didn't know is not a good defense. Even if you are telling the truth. Sorry, that falls under a new NCAA rule - No. 11.1.2.1.

This rule says, "A coach is presumed to have knowledge of what is occurring in his program, and therefore, can be responsible for the actions of his staff and individuals associated with the program."

Jim Harbaugh Must Know What's Happening In Program

Gotcha, Jim. And for the record, does anyone really believe Jim Harbaugh didn't know what Connor Stalions has been doing the last several years at Michigan? Harbaugh is a brilliant, detailed guy. He knew. Rule No. 11.1.2.1 is at the crux of the Big Ten impending punishment.

And it's simple. Any knowledge of what an opponent is about to do is inherently valuable.

Something else should be a key pillar in the Big Ten's pre-NCAA punishment. While there is no NCAA rule that literally says a coach can't be stupid, there should be one. And Harbaugh clearly violated it if Stalions scouted any of Michigan's early opponents this season, or planned to before Michigan suspended him on Oct. 20 and fired him on Nov. 3.

CONNOR STALIONS SIDELINE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Michigan's wins with Stalions on the pay and camera roll this season were over East Carolina (30-3), UNLV (35-7), Bowling Green (31-6), Rutgers (31-7), Nebraska (45-7), Minnesota (52-10) and Indiana (52-7).

Michigan Covert Operations Surfaced At Rutgers Game

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said in a TV interview while trailing 14-7 at halftime to Michigan that he felt something funny was going on. Rutgers was 4-8 last season and has not had a winning season since 2014. Why would Michigan steal Rutgers' signs illegally from a previous game, if Stalions did that? For Rutgers?

There have been reports that Stalions went in disguise to the Central Michigan-Michigan State opener on Sept. 1. Michigan State went 5-7 and 3-6 last season.

Why cheat against Michigan State? The Spartans are 3-6 and 1-5 now. They lost, 49-0, to Michigan just after news broke about Stalions and he was suspended.

Jim Harbaugh Is Another Version of Richard M. Nixon

Why? Because Harbaugh is the football version of Richard M. Nixon, who had his men break into the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. on June 17, 1972, for intel before the presidential election. He won that over George McGovern (49-1) five months later as far as electoral votes of the 50 states, garnering 60 percent of the vote. He didn't need to cheat. It was a landslide, like Michigan's 2023 season so far.

Michigan's own letter further spells out Harbaugh's leadership as reckless in allowing the scouting of any such exhibition games this season.

"Since Stalions was suspended, Michigan's average margin of victory has been 38 points (four more than when Stalions was around)," the letter says. "Including one 49-point victory and another 28-point victory without Stalions on the sideline."

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh Likes To Push Cheating Envelope

So if he's useless, why have him around? Does Jim Harbaugh just like to see if he can get away with stuff? He didn't need those extra recruiting days in 2020 when he broke those dead-period rules by visiting players? But he did it anyway and got suspended from Michigan's first three games this season.

But what the letter misses here is this. Whether or not Michigan needed to cheat with Connor Stalion's illegally ascertained sign steals or not, they still cheated. If you break into someone's home and find nothing of value and leave with nothing, you still broke the law.

NCAA Investigation, Big Ten's Tony Petitti Probing Michigan

Michigan's letter also dubiously incriminates who it is trying to defend - Harbaugh and the Michigan program.

"We are not aware of any evidence or allegation suggesting that violations are ongoing now that Stalions is no longer part of the football program," the letter states.

Now that Stalions is no longer part of the football program? Well, thank you. By process of elimination, you just said that while Stalions was a part of the football programs violations must have been ongoing.

Connor Stalions Didn't Just Start Illegal Scouting This Year

And don't forget that this is not just about this season. Stalions has been reportedly illegally scouting future opponents of Michigan since the 2021 season. That is conveniently left out of Michigan's letter.

No more investigation is needed to see that Harbaugh is a serial cheater. A suspension is now warranted.

Michigan's letter had input from its Board of Regents, general counsel and a high-priced national firm from Washington D.C. called Williams & Connolly. In other words, there were about as many people involved with this letter as there were with the systemic scouting scandal.

Michigan says Stalions was the only one involved and refers to him as a "junior analyst" multiple times. Couldn't been too junior. Such analysts are usually in the background if they are on the sidelines. This cat has been pictured within a few feet of Harbaugh and defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. In the tweet below, he is just to Harbaugh's left.

The learned letter writers fail to realize that a "junior analyst" is the perfect fall guy, so President Harbaugh doesn't take the hit.

Michigan's letter also ridiculously delves into too much procedure and not enough about Harbaugh's and Michigan's innocence.

Basically, the letter keeps saying over and over that the Big Ten didn't read Michigan its Miranda rights. That's not the point here. The NCAA and Tony Petitti do not have nearly the same burden of proof that the court system carries. I think the lawyers with this letter may have forgotten that.

With the NCAA and its various conferences, if it looks like cheating and sounds like cheating and smells like cheating, and enough people tell you it's cheating, it's cheating.

And say what you want about the NCAA and the various conferences, they tend to know BS when they hear it. Such as this comment from Jim Harbaugh's lawyer Tom Mars.

"No decision should be made just to placate rival coaches, who have reason to hope for Harbaugh's demise," he said in reference to the other Big Ten coaches pressuring the league to discipline Michigan and/or Harbaugh in some way.

Uh, Mr. Mars, the "rival coaches" in the SEC would like nothing better than to see Alabama coach Nick Saban's demise. But they don't have any outlet at the moment other than trying to beat him on Saturdays. Because Saban is too smart to get caught cheating in the Michigan version of "Get Smart." Your client is not.

Michigan's Letter Avoids Actual Sign Stealing For Technicalities

Oh, and here's another gem from the letter:

"Michigan now believes in-person scouting and other collusion to steal signals is more prevalent than previously known."

Wow, how con-VENIENT! Just when you got caught, suddenly you have discovered others doing the same thing. Actually others are stealing signs within games, which is legal. You can't scout other games and use electronic equipment for organized crime, which is what Michigan allegedly did. 

All in all, this Michigan letter is about as week as Big Ten Iowa's offense, which is No. 130 out of 130 FBS schools in total offense at 225 yards a game.

Finally, in addition to this letter from Perry Mason, et al, Michigan's attack on the Big Ten just trying to do its job had to include a little old-fashioned intimidation.

"It’s absolutely vital that members of the Big Ten Conference receive due process in any investigation, especially those that may have been initiated by allegations from parties with clear conflicts of interest," Michigan state representative Phil Skaggs wrote to Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti on Wednesday.

Conflict of interest, Phil? Skaggs is a Michigan graduate. So were eight other state representatives out of 11 who signed another letter to the Big Ten office. What was this, a Big Chill reunion?

Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti Threatened?

If Petitti does any "ill-considered actions," this Big 11 said they "will vigorously support Michigan to compel fairness and due process."

Sounds like a threat. And, "fairness?" Isn't that why Michigan should not have illegally scouted to therefore illegally steal signals in the first place?

Written by
Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.