Michigan avoid playoff ban but face record NCAA fine over sign-stealing

The NCAA announced Friday it has hit the University of Michigan with one of the largest financial penalties in college football history for running an illegal in-person scouting and sign-stealing scheme – ordering the school to forfeit more than $20m in postseason revenue – but stopped short of banning the Wolverines from competing in the playoffs.

The financial hit stems from postseason football payouts over the 2025 and 2026 seasons, a figure projected by multiple sources to exceed $20m and potentially surpass $25m based on historical Big Ten and College Football Playoff distributions. Michigan was also fined $50,000, assessed 10% of its football budget, and will lose the financial equivalent of 10% of its football scholarships for 2025–26. Other sanctions include a 25% reduction in official visits for the 2025–26 season, a 14-week ban on recruiting communications, and four years’ probation.

The controversy dates back to early in the 2023 season, when reports emerged that Michigan’s football program was running a covert sign-stealing operation. In American college football, teams often use hand signals to communicate plays from the sideline, and while deciphering those signals is not against NCAA rules, schools are barred from sending representatives to scout future opponents in person or from using electronic equipment to record signals.

According to the NCAA, former staffer Connor Stalions orchestrated a vast off-campus, in-person scouting scheme during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons. Using a network of staff, interns, and acquaintances he dubbed the “KGB,” Stalions purchased and transferred game tickets – spending nearly $35,000 in 2022 alone – so others could film future opponents’ signal callers from the stands. The footage, which Stalions referred to as “dirty film”, was then used to decode thousands of signals, information he shared with prominent coaching staff members. Evidence included ticket receipts, transfer data, and witness testimony.

The NCAA documented 56 scouting instances covering 52 games against 13 future opponents. Stalions also attended at least one future opponent’s game himself. Investigators said the full scope and advantage gained “will never be known” because of the deliberate destruction and withholding of materials, including Stalions admitting he disposed of his phone – and possibly film – in a pond.

The scandal led to multiple failures to cooperate. Stalions, Harbaugh, Moore and then–director of player personnel Denard Robinson destroyed materials or provided false and misleading information. Moore deleted a 52-message text thread with Stalions the day after the scheme became public, later conceding it was a reaction to the news. Harbaugh refused to provide records or sit for an interview.

The investigation also uncovered unrelated recruiting violations, including impermissible benefits to four prospects and nearly 100 impermissible recruiting messages before allowable dates. Those violations were attributed to several former assistants, including Jesse Minter, Steve Clinkscale and Chris Partridge, as well as Robinson.

The NCAA classified the scouting and most cooperation failures as Level I violations – its most severe – and the recruiting and “failure to monitor” charges as Level II. The panel concluded Michigan’s compliance staff was rebuffed, dismissed and disregarded by Harbaugh’s program, creating “a culture of noncompliance”.

Stalions received an eight-year show-cause order; Harbaugh a 10-year show-cause beginning in 2028; Robinson a three-year show-cause. Moore, now head coach, was given a two-year show-cause and a three-game suspension, with one game to be served in 2026 after Michigan’s self-imposed two-game ban in 2025.

Despite Michigan’s status as a “repeat violator” and the case’s Level I–Aggravated classification – grounds for a multi-year postseason ban – the panel chose financial penalties instead, saying a ban would unfairly punish current players for the actions of former coaches and staff.

Michigan open the 2025 season at home against New Mexico on 30 August. Moore will serve his suspension after the 6 September game at Oklahoma, missing matchups with Central Michigan and Nebraska. Whether he will appeal the additional 2026 game remains unclear.

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