At long last, we have a verdict.
The NCAA has informed the relevant parties in the Michigan advanced scouting scandal that it has set a date to announce its decision on if and how to punish the alleged rule breakers. And that date is Friday.
"The NCAA has formally notified parties tied to the Michigan NCAA infractions case that an announcement on the findings and punishments will be publicly released on Friday," ESPN's Pete Thamel tweeted Thursday morning.
Commonly known as a "sign stealing scandal," sign stealing has always been legal under NCAA rules but advanced scouting has been illegal since 1994. Stalions is alleged to have orchestrated a scheme in which he purchased tickets for friends and acquaintances to attend games of Michigan opponents, where they would film coaches signaling in plays and the relay their findings back to Stalions.
The scandal first came to light in October of 2023, with the name Connor Stalions joining the college football lexicon shortly thereafter. The Big Ten quickly suspended Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of Michigan's 2023 regular season; under the interim leadership of Sherrone Moore, the Wolverines won at No. 10 Penn State, won at Maryland, and defeated No. 2 Ohio State in a regular-season game of importance unlikely to be matched for the rest of college football history.
As we know, Michigan went on to win the national championship, Harbaugh took the Los Angeles Chargers job, and Moore was promoted to full-time head coach. Linebackers coach Chris Partridge was alleged to have destroyed evidence after the scandal came to light; Michigan fired him on Nov. 17, 2023; he is now the outside linebackers coach for the Seattle Seahawks, working under former U-M defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.
Moore was later implicated in the scandal when investigators uncovered 52 deleted text messages between he and Stalions. Investigators later uncovered the texts, which Moore claimed he deleted because he was angry at Stalions, a defensive analyst for Michigan at the time.
Michigan has issued a 2-game suspension of Moore for his part in the scandal. He will miss the Wolverines' Sept. 13 game against Central Michigan and Sept. 20 trip to Nebraska.
Speaking of Central Michigan, the program also has a place in the center of this scandal. Stalions was later discovered to have been on CMU's sideline in disguise for its Sept. 1, 2023 game at Michigan State. CMU was given a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA on June 27, which gave the program a 90-day window to respond to the NCAA. That window closes on Sept. 25.
Stalions, meanwhile, was last seen coaching high school football in Michigan and taking a central role in the Netflix documentary about the scandal, and his prospects of returning to college football could hinge on Friday's results. A show-cause penalty could be placed on him, along with possible additional punishments for Moore and the Michigan program.