LoginReport: CMU staff invited Connor Stalions onto sidelines vs. MSU
When the NCAA late last week released its report on Michigan’s sign-stealing scheme, the takeaway for anyone north of Lansing was that it finally verified that the unknown staffer on Central Michigan’s sidelines vs. Michigan State in the 2023 opener was indeed Connor Stalions.
Prior to his testimony to the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, Stalions — the mastermind behind U-M’s sign-stealing operation — had never admitted the CMU-gear-clad, goatee-wearing figure visible in screen shots from the broadcast was him.
When the NCAA’s 74-page report dropped Friday, confirming that it was him, the question turned to: How did he get there, and what was he doing?
According to a published report by CBS News Detroit’s Gino Vicci, it seems Stalions’ presence may have been requested by the CMU staff.
“Two sources with direct knowledge of the incident confirmed to CBS News Detroit that a CMU coach initiated contact with Stalions and that then-head coach Jim McElwain was likely aware of and approved of the arrangement to secure Stalions a sideline credential and outfit him in CMU-issued gear,” wrote Vicci. “According to the CMU source, Stalions’ role during CMU’s game against MSU was the result of a direct request from CMU’s staff, with the sole purpose of assisting their program for that game.”
That idea was also previously posited by Justin Spiro, the host of “The Spiro Avenue Show” podcast, last week.
While former CMU head coach Jim McElwain retired after last season, and was moved to an advisory role in the athletic director’s office, the school’s athletic department has maintained its collective innocence all along, saying that Stalions was not on any pregame pass list, but noting that they were cooperating with the investigation. McElwain said he didn’t know how the Michigan staffer got on the Chippewas’ sidelines, either.
“I certainly don’t condone it in any way, shape or form,” McElwain said at the time. “I do know that his name was on none of the passes that were let out. We keep tracing it back to try to figure it out. It’s in good hands with our people.
“There’s no place in football for that.”
Stalions’ presence on the sidelines at all, as a staffer at another institution, was in and of itself a violation.
“On one occasion in 2023, Stalions personally engaged in-person scouting when he stood on CentralMichigan University’s sideline wearing a bench pass and disguised in Central Michigan-issued coaching gear during the institution’s contest against Michigan State. According to interview statements by a former football staff member, Stalions attended that game in part to decipher Michigan State’s signals, but also to help a Central Michigan staff member with play calling,” the NCAA report read.
“With regard to Bylaw 11.6.1, Michigan and Stalions argued that the scope of the scouting bylaw is narrow. Based on the text of the bylaw, both parties claimed that an institutional employee must attend the contest in-person to commit a violation. Thus, they both agreed that Stalions’ in-person attendance at the Central Michigan game constituted a violation.”
McElwain was on former U-M coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff as wide receivers coach in 2018. A former student assistant under McElwain at both Michigan — overlapping Stalions’ tenure — and CMU, Jake Kostner was quarterbacks coach for the Chippewas in his second stint in Mt. Pleasant was cut short by his abrupt resignation on Sept. 15, 2024, after CMU’s third game of the season.
While CMU is under investigation for its involvement in the process, the athletic department told Tony Paul of the Detroit News in late July that it was negotiating a settlement with the NCAA.
“We are aware that the NCAA has updated its online infractions dashboard for parties contesting their allegations,” Central Michigan said in its statement to Paul. “CMU has not received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA because it is working with the NCAA toward a negotiated resolution. We have been working collaboratively with the NCAA since fall 2023, and we look forward to bringing our matter to a fair conclusion soon.”
