The NCAA announced its ruling on the Michigan football program’s sign-stealing scandal on Friday, a ruling that is one of the more effective decisions I’ve seen from the governing body of college sports in the past decade.
The decision concludes a deep investigation centered around former Michigan staff member Connor Stalions, who coordinated a sign-stealing scheme to give the team an unfair advantage. The investigation found that from 2021-2023, Stalions was illegally recording and transmitting opponents’ signs to the Michigan sidelines — and ultimately concluded that the violations were intentional.
Additionally, during the investigation, former head coach Jim Harbaugh, then-assistant and now-head coach Sherrone Moore, and former assistant director of player personnel Denard Robinson provided misleading information to the NCAA.
The ruling includes 4 years of probation — heightened supervision — significant financial penalties that could amount to $25 million and recruiting restrictions for the program. It also places a 10-year show-cause order for Harbaugh — stacked on top of the four-year order he has from last year’s recruiting violations investigation — an eight-year order for Stalions, a three-year order for Robinson, and a two-year order for Moore. When an individual has a show-cause order in place, any NCAA school that wants to hire them must demonstrate why they should not face penalties, making it extremely difficult for those affected to work in college athletics.
It doesn’t vacate Michigan’s 2023 national championship or include a postseason ban — nor should it. “The panel determines that a postseason ban would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program. Thus, a more appropriate penalty is an offsetting financial penalty,” the decision explains.
They’re absolutely right. Too often in the past, the NCAA has handed out sanctions like postseason bans as the ultimate punishment, the hammer that will deter teams from committing infractions in the future. But considering the same problems happen over and over, they don’t work. They end up punishing innocent players and even the programs themselves more than coaches. Coaches end up leaving because of the sanctions, moving on to another opportunity, and redefining their careers but players lose opportunities, most notably the chance to shine in the postseason.
In 2010, for example, the NCAA punished the USC football program with a two-year postseason ban and scholarship reductions because Reggie Bush received illegal benefits — but by the time they went into effect, Bush was playing in the NFL and head coach Pete Carroll left for the Seattle Seahawks. Likewise, in 2012, the NCAA banned Penn State from the postseason for four years in light of the Jerry Sandusky trial, but powerful figures like Joe Paterno left before the sanctions went into effect.
That’s why the NCAA has moved away from blanket punishments and toward these show-cause orders in recent years. It hit UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie with a three-year show-cause rather than a postseason ban for failing to monitor staff and misleading investigators in 2019. Two years earlier, in 2017, B.J. Hill received a six-year show-cause for academic fraud from his time as the Northern Colorado men’s basketball coach — punishments included probation and scholarship reductions, but no postseason ban.
This renewed approach is crucial. The NCAA is acknowledging the importance of holding coaches accountable, and it is a step forward. Before, players had to pay the consequences of some coach who broke a rule, got the school in trouble, and left years before. But by shifting the way it considers infractions, the NCAA is making the leap to protect athletes and acknowledging their limited eligibility and opportunity to reach their potential while holding coaches and athletic departments accountable.