Michigan football sign stealing gave a competitive edge: Urban Meyer

The probe into the Michigan football program remains ongoing two years after it was alleged that former staffer Connor Stalions was stealing opponents’ signals.

While there has been plenty of debate around the practical effect of such a scheme, former head coach Urban Meyer believes it could have only helped the Wolverines.

“Everybody needs to understand that when you say signals, there are only a couple of signals you can get that fast in real time,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast.

“Is it a run or a pass? Is that significant? Hell yeah it is. It’s a tremendous advantage. It changed the entire technique of your defensive front, linebackers. The second everybody knows it’s a pass, that’s a completely different story. 

“And then the whole right or left, if they know it’s a run to the right or run to the left. And that’s why I understand what the advantages are.”

Jim Harbaugh, then the head coach at Michigan, was suspended for three games during the 2023 regular season in response to the sign stealing allegations.

Stalions was fired from the program, as was linebackers coach Chris Partridge, and while Harbaugh came back to lead Michigan to a national title, he ultimately departed the school and took the head coaching position with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Suspensions are still the order of the day at Michigan, as the school announced it would impose a two-game ban on current head coach Sherrone Moore, who the NCAA said deleted 52 text messages with Stalions.

And the NCAA itself remains in deliberation on how to punish the school following its investigation into the matter.

Other penalties potentially facing the Michigan football program include possible recruiting restrictions, fines, and in the most extreme case, a postseason ban.

That last option seems like the most unlikely, given the NCAA’s reluctance in recent years to pursue a policy that severe, and after Michigan’s athletic director suggested that he didn’t believe a ban was likely after his own conversations with NCAA insiders.

And NCAA chief Charlie Baker himself said that he thought Michigan’s national title was legit, likely putting to bed any concerns that the school’s championship would be rescinded.

Sign stealing is not itself a violation of NCAA rules, but bylaw 11.6.1 prohibits “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents” in the same season.

Stalions is alleged to have purchased tickets for dozens of Big Ten games and paid third parties to attend and film opponents’ sidelines to pick up their football signals.

Meyer, who went undefeated against the Wolverines when head coach at Ohio State, is convinced that any signals Stalions or his allies may have acquired constitute an edge on the field.

“Whether other coaches have done that before in the past, I’ve never heard of this before,” Meyer said of the Michigan allegations.

“A lot of this is to be determined on the surface, but is it a competitive advantage to know the signals of your opponents illegally? You got them illegally? Of course it is.”

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