Nearly a year after it was announced that the University of Michigan football program was under investigation for game sign fraud, fans finally learned about the man at the center of it: Connor Stalions.
On Tuesday, Netflix released a documentary about the former UM football staffer, where we learned a little more about the person accused of using a “vast network” for advanced scouting in college football. The documentary provided some background on Stalions, including his upbringing as a Michigan football fan, his time at the Naval Academy and how those two worlds collided in a way that helped him land a job in the Michigan football program.
At one point, the documentary shifted its focus from the Stalions to the mysterious outside investigation firm that apparently began investigating the UM football staff in the fall of 2023. The outside firm that conducted the investigation presented its findings to the NCAA, which led to the sign-stealing controversy becoming the biggest story in college football last year. Although the outside firm responsible for that investigation remains anonymous, the documentary does offer clues as to who might be responsible.
Washington Post sports reporter Will Hobson provided some insight into the findings that led the NCAA to launch its investigation.
“From what I understand, there was an investigative firm that was essentially investigating Michigan’s sign-stealing operation through the fall of 2023,” Hobson said. “The firm had developed at least one source within Michigan football, and they had documents from the Michigan football program that showed the game schedule and identified the names of the people who would be filming.”
This is the crux of the NCAA investigation and exactly what could ultimately lead to future penalties for the Michigan football program. While Stalions denies that he was in any way involved in paying individuals to attend games and provide him with footage of future opponents’ signals, there is a long paper trail that appears to prove otherwise. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that a former Division 3 coach said Stalions paid him to tape several Big Ten games, and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports stated that several schools had surveillance footage of individuals recording games from the seat where Stalions purchased a ticket.
“I contacted the schools through the Freedom of Information Act,” Wetzel said. “And the stadium surveillance video shows a guy sitting in Connor Stallion’s seat all by himself, just filming the opposing signs. That kind of stands out.”
The question then was how the Stalions financed this operation. After all, low-level employees don’t typically make enough to afford prime seats and travel expenses to send scouts to football games across the country. The possible answer to that question is that a UM athletic booster financed it – the infamous “Uncle T.” As it turns out, the investigation into “Uncle T” eventually led to a man named Tim Smith, who was a UM booster and formerly part of the Michigan NIL collective Champions Circle. Although Smith publicly denied any involvement in financing the sign-stealing, his membership in the Champions Circle was revoked just days after the allegations surfaced.
For his part, Stalions never provided much clarity about the fact that he sent individuals out to scout future opponents on his behalf. Instead, he says it was pretty normal for him to buy and sell tickets to sporting events around the country, and that he made a lot of money doing it. At one point in the documentary, Stalions admits that he sometimes received video footage from the people who bought those tickets. But instead of taking advantage of that information, Stalions claims it was like receiving a gift you already had.
“A friend sent me a movie,” Stalions said. “And it’s like your auntie giving you a Christmas present that you already have. You’re not going to be rude and say, ‘Oh, I already have that, I don’t need it.’ You know? It’s just like, ‘Thank you, I appreciate that.’ You know, they feel like they’re helping or something, whereas I already have the signals. I already have the signals memorized. So I just say, ‘Thank you,’ whatever. You know?”
For Stalions and his lawyers, the real crime wasn’t whether he bought tickets to football games or whether friends attended those games on his behalf. The real crime was committed by the mysterious third-party company that somehow got all the information that led to the NCAA’s investigation in the first place.
“The entire NCAA case was based on a spreadsheet that Connor had,” Stalions’ attorney said. “That spreadsheet was never given to anyone. The Washington Post got it. We believe his email was hacked.”
There is no doubt that Stalions is convinced that he was the target of this third-party company and that it obtained the information illegally.
“Just as national journalists have written conspiracy theories about me, many Michigan alumni have been doing their own investigations into who might have hacked me, who might be this unnamed private investigation firm that the NCAA and the Washington Post claim to name but won’t disclose.”
But Stalions wasn’t satisfied with that. Not only does he believe that his personal information was hacked and illegally stolen, but he also seems to believe that some people in Columbus are responsible for all of this.
“The Washington Post reporter happened to go to school with Ryan Day,” Stalions said. “There’s a private investigation firm that opens an LLC in Michigan right around the time an unnamed private investigation firm breaks into my computer. I doubt that’s a coincidence.”
Although he rejects the notion that he had any knowledge of Ohio State’s involvement in the Stallions investigation, Hobson – the Washington Post sportswriter with a minor connection to Ryan Day – says he can’t rule out the possibility.
“I mean, I can’t say with 100 percent certainty that nobody from Ohio State was involved because I don’t know who paid that company,” Hobson said. “So it’s certainly possible that someone with ties to Ohio State or Michigan State was involved. But who hired them doesn’t change the fact that the evidence was what it was. The NCAA didn’t launch an investigation because they got an angry voicemail from Ryan Day. They launched an investigation because someone collected evidence that they felt indicated an operation was taking place that violated NCAA rules.”
At the end of the documentary, it states that the NCAA is seeking a three-year coaching ban for Stalions as part of the NOA imposed on Michigan – and that Stalions intends to maintain the violation resolution process.
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