Each year, students in Dan Matheson’s class at the University of Iowa compete in an intramural tournament designed to simulate what happens in an NCAA infractions hearing. Matheson provides a mock case file inspired by real events and students form teams to argue each side of the case, playing the role of the NCAA’s enforcement staff or the school’s defense counsel.
This year, Matheson chose a case ripped straight from the headlines: Michigan’s sign-stealing investigation, which appears on track for a real-life hearing later this year. Matheson hasn’t seen the actual case file, but he created a facsimile that included photos, testimony and other evidence of the sort the NCAA might use to make its case.
“That was just a perfect case in terms of capturing students’ attention,” said Matheson, a former associate director of enforcement at the NCAA and the director of the Sport and Recreation Management program at Iowa.
The Michigan sign-stealing investigation has commanded the public’s attention since news of the scandal broke in October 2023. More than a year later, Michigan and the NCAA are bracing for a confrontation in front of the Committee on Infractions, which will rule on allegations that analyst Connor Stalions broke NCAA rules by coordinating an in-person scouting scheme to collect video footage of opponents’ signals.
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Michigan has yet to fulfill an open-records request made by The Athletic for the NCAA’s notice of allegations, which was delivered in August, or an amended version issued in November. The full scope of the NCAA’s case has not been made public, though Yahoo reported last month that Michigan faces 11 alleged violations, including a “failure to monitor” charge levied against the institution.
Michigan took issue with several of those charges in a response filed last month, obtained in part by Yahoo. The school cited the “sensational public narrative” created by the case and expressed concern about the NCAA’s reliance on an anonymous whistleblower, as confirmed by sources briefed on the school’s response.
The origin of the NCAA’s investigation remains murky, but Michigan is reportedly seeking a pre-hearing conference to discuss the role of the anonymous whistleblower in building the NCAA’s case. Lawyers representing Stalions have also raised questions about how information used to build the NCAA’s case was obtained, suggesting that Stalions could have been the victim of a computer hack.
Saquandra Heath, associate director of communications for the NCAA, said NCAA legislation permits the use of anonymous sources during investigations and “expressly protects their identities from other parties and the Committee on Infractions.” However, information obtained via an anonymous source cannot be used as the basis for an allegation.
“All information supporting an allegation must come from an identified source,” Heath wrote in an email.
Matheson said it’s common for the NCAA’s enforcement staff to receive tips from anonymous whistleblowers who aren’t willing to be identified. In some cases, that information leads to evidence that can be used to substantiate an allegation, such as physical documents or on-the-record testimony. Other times it doesn’t, and the investigation is closed. Matheson wasn’t surprised that Michigan is raising questions about the role of an anonymous source but said those issues tend to be resolved in the NCAA’s favor.
“It wasn’t uncommon in a case like this for a school to raise questions about the motive of the source (and say), ‘This person had an ax to grind, they left the team under bad circumstances or they were fired from their position and were a disgruntled former employee,’ or whatever the case might be,” Matheson said. “It’s understandable how a school may feel they’re being attacked unfairly by somebody who may be out to get them, but ultimately, that’s not going to factor into the committee’s decision.”
Stalions, who resigned in 2023 and now coaches high school football in the Detroit area, is accused of breaking NCAA rules that ban in-person scouting by arranging for friends and acquaintances to attend more than 50 games involving Michigan’s future opponents. He’s also accused of appearing in disguise on the Central Michigan sideline for a 2023 game against Michigan State, which would be a further violation of the in-person scouting rule.
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A key issue in the case, Matheson said, will be the NCAA’s ability to link tickets purchased by Stalions to verifiable instances of impermissible scouting.
“I could see that being a vigorous debate within the case where Michigan would at least be trying to bring down the number of confirmed impermissible scouting instances because that could help mitigate some of their damages,” Matheson said. “The penalties on the back end could be brought down severely if the Committee on Infractions chooses to narrowly view which instances of impermissible scouting will be counted as a violation.”
The sign-stealing investigation created ancillary issues for Michigan, including an allegation that coach Sherrone Moore deleted text messages with Stalions shortly after the investigation became public. The messages were recovered and submitted to the NCAA, and Moore has said he looks forward to them being released publicly. Yahoo, citing Michigan’s response, reported that Moore told school officials he deleted the messages out of anger and frustration because he didn’t want Stalions to receive credit for the team’s accomplishments.
Complicating matters for Michigan is the so-called “Burgergate” investigation that resulted in three years of probation for Michigan and a four-year show cause order for former coach Jim Harbaugh. In that case, which also produced a one-game suspension for Moore, the Committee on Infractions ruled that Harbaugh had impermissible contact with recruits during the COVID-19 dead period.
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Michigan could be subject to tougher sanctions if the school is found to be a repeat offender, though it’s unclear what those penalties might be. Tennessee, which faced 18 Level I charges for recruiting violations that occurred under former coach Jeremy Pruitt, was fined $8 million but avoided a postseason ban in a case decided in 2023.
It’s impossible to know what the NCAA will decide in Michigan’s case. In Matheson’s tournament, however, the verdict is already in. Matheson doubts the mock hearing will predict what happens in the real one — the case file was a facsimile, after all — but the outcome might interest a few people in Ann Arbor.
“In the final hearing, the winning side was actually the students representing Michigan,” he said.
(Photo: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)
