According to a report released Tuesday afternoon by Yahoo! Sports' Ross Dellenger, Michigan is prepared to fight the allegations made by the NCAA in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal.
Stalions, a former low-level staffer with the Michigan football program, emerged at the center of Michigan's sign-stealing allegations in October 2023.
As a result of the allegations made by the NCAA, former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for the team's final three regular-season games of the 2023 season. Harbaugh missed a 24-15 classic at Happy Valley against Penn State, the program's 1,000th victory — which came at Maryland — and an instant rivalry classic against Ohio State.
With Sherrone Moore filling in as interim head coach, Michigan went 3-0 in those three games and went on to win the Big Ten Championship, the Rose Bowl and the National Championship.
Consequences of the allegations died down for the offseason and suddenly reemerged a week before the 2024 season began. On Aug. 25, 2024, the NCAA hit Michigan with a final draft of the Notice Of Allegations, giving the Wolverines 90 days to respond.
Because it's common practice to ask for an extension, Michigan did and finally on Tuesday responded to the NCAA.
According to Dellenger's report, Michigan, in its 137-page document submitted to the NCAA, accuses the NCAA of "grossly overreaching" and "wildly overcharging" Michigan in the midst of the scandal.
Dellenger's report claims that "Michigan makes clear that it will not enter into a negotiated resolution with the NCAA over the alleged wrongdoing, vigorously defending its former head coach, current head coach, several staff members and even Stalions."
"Michigan makes clear that it will not enter into a negotiated resolution with the NCAA over the alleged wrongdoing, vigorously defending its former head coach, current head coach, several staff members and even Stalions," Dellenger wrote.
The 137-page document also addresses Moore's 52 deleted text messages between himself and Stalions.
Michigan claims that the deleted messages were “innocuous and not material to the investigation," according to the report.
"The coach (Moore) told school officials that he deleted the messages in anger and frustration shortly after the bombshell news story broke, suggesting that he did not want one person, Stalions, to receive credit for 'all the work that' coaches and players put into the championship run," Dellenger wrote.
“'So, (I) deleted all the information — all Connor, on my personal phone,'” he said in Michigan’s response. “'And it wasn’t to hide anything, it was just that — I was just extremely angry of, you know, the type of person that would do that to this program and these kids.'”
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