Sherrone Moore, Jim Harbaugh, More Disciplined In Michigan Sign-Stealing Scandal

A reckoning has come for the Michigan Wolverines.

The NCAA revealed its findings and punishments for Michigan regarding a 2023 sign-stealing investigation into the program on Friday morning. Those who were disciplined include former head coach Jim Harbaugh, current head coach Sherrone Moore, former Michigan analyst Connor Stalions and former director of player personnel Denard Robinson.

• Harbaugh punishment: 10-year show-cause order, prohibiting him from any “athletically related activities” during the show-cause period beginning on Aug. 7, 2028
• Moore punishment: Two-year show-cause order and a one-game suspension for the 2026 college football season (Moore was already suspended for two games by Michigan for the 2025 season)
• Stalions punishment: Eight-year show-cause order, prohibiting him from any “athletically related activities” during the show-cause period
• Robinson punishment: Three-year show-cause order, prohibiting him from any “athletically related activities” during the show-cause period

All four of the aforementioned individuals are categorized in “trigger repeat violator status,” as they repeatedly failed to comply with the investigation, according to the NCAA report. They were also said to be guilty of “destroying relevant materials to providing false and misleading information during interviews.”

Elsewhere, the parties involved received four years of probation, a $50,000 fine, a 25% reduction in football official visits for the 2025 season and a 14-week prohibition on recruiting communications in their football program during the probation period. Michigan is expected to be fined upwards of $20 million, according to ESPN.

During the 2023 season, knowledge of Michigan gaining impermissible access to opposing teams’ on-field signals during the 2022 season came to light, which the NCAA confirmed in its report. Stalions, a former Michigan analyst, was revealed to be the impetus behind the operation, with the school moving on from the six-year staffer shortly after the revelations. Furthermore, linebackers coach Chris Partridge was fired for a purported role in the illegal sign-stealing scheme.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten Conference suspended Harbaugh, Michigan’s head coach from 2015-23, for the final three games of the 2023 regular season, with him returning for the Big Ten Championship Game. The Wolverines went on to finish 15-0 and earn National Championship honors for the first time since the 1997 season. Harbaugh left Michigan to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers shortly after the 2023 college football season.

Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, who served as acting head coach during Harbaugh’s Big Ten-imposed suspension in 2023, became the full-time head coach for the 2024 season, with the Wolverines going 8-5 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play. 

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