As being reported from multiple sources, after months of waiting, Michigan and the college football landscape now know the fate for the Wolverine football program from the sign-stealing scandal. The NCAA fined Michigan tens of millions of dollars and suspended Coach Moore for three games. Moore, who was already issued a self-imposed two-game suspension by Michigan, will also be banned from the first game of the 2026-27 season for a total of three games. Moore received a two-year show-cause order, but he will be allowed to fulfill coaching commitments and other athletically related activities.
Financial penalties are expected to exceed $20 million and include a $50,000 fine, a 10% fine on the football program’s budget, a 10% fine on Michigan’s 2025-26 scholarships and a fine equivalent to the anticipated loss of postseason revenue for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Michigan also faces a 25% reduction in official visits during the upcoming season and a 14-week prohibition on football recruiting communications during the probation period.
It seems like they will not have to sacrifice any titles or wins in the process. The NCAA does not have rules against stealing signs but does prohibit schools from sending scouts to the games of future opponents and using electronic equipment to record another team’s signals. The NCAA investigation surfaced early in the 2023 season amid allegations that Michigan used a robust in-person scouting and sign-stealing operation conducted by Stalions. He was suspended by the school. Stalions, who did not participate in the NCAA investigation, recently said he knew almost every signal opponents used in seven games over two seasons.
Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti sent a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions last month, suggesting that Michigan’s football program should not face more sanctions related to the sign-stealing saga.
Here is what the NCAA determined, with the indented quote falling within the category immediately above.
During the 2021, 2022 and 2023 football seasons, Stalions and members of the Michigan football program violated the principles of honesty and sportsmanship when Stalions conducted and/or directed and arranged for other individuals to conduct 56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular season opponents across 52 contests. This violation is Level I. In the spring and summer of 2023, Clinkscale and Robinson provided impermissible recruiting inducements to prospect 1 and his parents in the form of gear, transportation and a meal. Additionally, Clinkscale attempted to assist prospect 2 with verifying his Instagram account and donated $100 to the charity golf outing of the father of prospect 3. These violations are Level II. Between January 18 and April 25, 2023, Minter and Partridge sent a total of nearly 100 text messages to a prospect prior to the permissible date. This violation is Level II. As a result of the underlying scouting and recruiting violations, Harbaugh violated the principles of head coach responsibility. This violation is Level I. At various times throughout this investigation, Stalions, Harbaugh, Moore and Robinson each failed to cooperate under Bylaw 19. Each of those violations is Level I, except for Moore’s failure to cooperate, which is Level II. From the fall of 2021 into the fall of 2023, Michigan failed to monitor its football program. The violation is Level II. The NOA alleged additional violations for Partridge, including: (1) arranging and conducting impermissible tryouts with prospects; (2) providing an impermissible inducement to a prospect and (3) failing to cooperate during and after his employment at Michigan. The recruiting allegations were presented as Level II. The failure to cooperate allegations were presented as Level I. Partridge disputed each of the allegations. The panel concludes that the case record does not demonstrate that these violations occurred.