Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh watches from the sideline beside off-field analyst Connor Stalions, right, during a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium in 2022. Connor Stalions, a former Michigan football staffer at the center of an alleged sign-stealing scheme, has found a new job at the high school level.
Stalions is the defensive coordinator under first-year head coach William McMichael at Mumford High School in Detroit, McMichael told the Detroit News on Thursday and confirmed to multiple media outlets on Friday.
“I got the most hated man in college football right now, Connor Stalions,” McMichael told the Detroit News, adding that Stalions is a volunteer on the staff.
Stalions, then a player personnel analyst, is alleged to have traveled across the country as well as instructed other people over a three-year period to record and steal signs from the Wolverines’ future opponents. Buying game tickets and in-game scouting are not violations of NCAA rules. However, rules prohibit in-person, on-campus scouting of upcoming foes and the audio or video recording of signals.
He was suspended with pay in October after the Big Ten announced an NCAA investigation into the football program for sign-stealing, and he resigned on Nov. 3.
Stalions didn’t cooperate with internal or external investigations or discussions in the matter. When he resigned, Stalions said through his lawyer that, to his knowledge, head coach Jim Harbaugh and other coaches and staffers never told anyone to break rules or were aware of scouting violations.
Harbaugh, now the coach of the Los Angeles Chargers after Michigan’s undefeated national championship season, has denied any knowledge of the sign-stealing scheme.
McMichael said he didn’t think about the allegations against Stalions when he hired him.
“I’m not worried about it,” McMichael told the Detroit News. “What happened with the NCAA doesn’t concern us here at Mumford. He comes here every day and gives 120 percent, and the kids all love him and we’re all learning from him.”
McMichael said he met Stalions through a mutual friend.
“He’s great with the kids, has an outstanding football mind and we’re learning a lot — not just the kids, but the coaching staff,” McMichael said. “He’s a great addition to what we’re doing. He can help prepare the kids for college. They are learning the lingo, how they practice college and how they break down film, so it gives the kids an advantage.”
–Field Level Media
