The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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SEPTEMBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 9 BY CHRIS BALAS M ichigan head coach Sherrone Moore will be suspended three games, and the school will pay a hefty fine — estimated as high as $30 million or more — as punishment for "sign- gate," a scouting operation led by for- mer staffer Connor Stalions, the NCAA announced on Aug. 15. Additionally, Stalions and former head coach Jim Harbaugh received show-cause orders, with Harbaugh receiving a 10-year ban and Stalions eight. Allegations initially surfaced in Oc- tober 2023 that Stalions was sending people to games to scout and record other teams' signals, a violation of the NCAA's "in-person scouting" rule. He resigned as a result, while Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for the final three games of the regular season. He was set to fight the punishment in court, and the administration seemed to have his back over the alleged lack of due process, but he eventually accepted his fate and sat out while Michigan beat Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State to finish the regular season. The Wolverines went on to win the national championship, at which point NCAA President Charlie Baker pro- claimed nobody could argue it wasn't legitimate. "I don't regret doing it because sitting on that information, given the compre- hensiveness of it, I think we would have put everyone including Michigan in an awful place," Baker said. "At the end of the day, no one believes at this point that Michigan didn't win the national title fair and square. So, I think we did the right thing." While the title closed the book on the case for many around the country, espe- cially after the Wolverines won at PSU and swept Ohio State, Alabama, and Washington on the way to the cham- pionship, the NCAA proceeded with its case. It culminated in a June hearing in front of the Committee on Infractions, where NCAA enforcement, Stalions, and U-M representatives presented their cases in front of a panel. Here's the list of resulting penalties levied on Michigan, as announced by the Committee on Infractions Aug. 15: • Four years of probation. • Financial penalties, including: • $50,000 fine, plus 10 percent of the budget for the football program. • A fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of all postseason competition rev- enue sharing associated with the 2025 and 2026 football seasons. • A fine equivalent to the cost of 10 percent of the scholarships awarded in Michigan's football program for the 2025-26 academic year. • A 25 percent reduction in football official visits during the 2025-26 season. ❱ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS NCAA Announces Michigan Football Punishment Over 'Signgate' — U-M Will Appeal The NCAA hit Michigan with potentially more than $30 million in fines as part of the punish- ment for the "signgate" scouting operation in 2023. Head coach Sherrone Moore will serve a three-game suspension, sitting out two games this season (Sept. 13 versus Central Michigan and Sept. 20 at Nebraska) and the 2026 season opener with Western Michigan. PHOTO BY EJ HOLLAND