After watching the “Sign Stealer” documentary on Netflix about Connor Stalions, I’ve come to one conclusion: The former Michigan staffer is really intelligent – and a narcissistic egomaniac.
In the end, the irony of the entire story is that his lifelong dream of bringing Michigan back to glory might have blown up in his face and because of his actions it could bring the program shame. At the very least, there are even more questions about what was exactly going on there.
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I have no idea what then-coach Jim Harbaugh knew or didn’t know. Part of me thinks Harbaugh fell in love with Stalions’ military background and laser-focus on doing what’s best for the Wolverines. Part of me thinks that Harbaugh loved the info and the intel and didn’t want to know or didn’t care where it came from.
Plausible deniability is a great weapon to have when you’re trying to win a national championship for your alma mater before parlaying that into yet another run at the Super Bowl, the game’s ultimate prize and the one Harbaugh covets most.
I have no idea what Harbaugh really knew or what Sherrone Moore or Jesse Minter or any of the assistants knew. Without a smoking gun (and who knows what the NCAA found in its investigation) this is all conjecture.
I do know when Stalions pointed his finger up in the sky and yelled something against Ohio State that multiple players motioned the same way. I do know that Stalions was attached to Minter often and that’s not usually the case for someone who’s just a recruiting staffer. I do know Harbaugh and Moore on at least one occasion had Stalions close by and Harbaugh took his headset off to listen to what Stalions said.
I know it because it’s on video. I saw it with my own two eyes.
And that’s where this documentary also was frustrating – because Stalions seemed not to own up to anything and acted like everything he did was because he was smarter than everyone else, craftier than everyone else, more dedicated than everyone else.
“I don’t regret a thing,” Stalions said. “... I would do the same thing over again.”
You are either related to Stalions (his dad compared him to Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man) or a diehard Michigan fan if you believe his defense in this documentary that he didn’t do anything wrong.
He said during the NCAA interview that he never directed someone to go to an opponent’s game, that family/friends/helpers taped some portions of games and sent that to him but he never used it because he already knew the signs of the teams. Yeah, he was that smart.
It’s hard to swallow that Stalions couldn’t recall being on the sidelines of the Central Michigan-Michigan State game (of course he was) but that he had such a Rain Man-like brain he could crack the code so easily. Come on. Stalions even held up the famous picture of him standing on the sidelines of that game and said:
“I don’t even think this guy looks like me,” with a smirk.
Stalions is clearly a bright guy but don’t insult our intelligence.
After following this story for nearly a year now and watching this documentary, it’s clear Stalions felt like he was on a mission – for Michigan to win a national championship and return to national glory – and that whatever it took to get there would be done. His “exploit the rules” comment during the doc was telling. He had a manifesto that ran hundreds of pages. He had this strange pipe dream that he was going to be Michigan’s coach one day.
Harbaugh probably used him as an effective pawn.
Either Harbaugh had an inkling that something seemed askew (how could one man be so adept at getting every team’s signals down pat?) and didn’t want to know or happily turned a blind eye because he and his staff were getting good intel.
The other scenario is that Harbaugh truly thought because of Stalions’ military background in the Navy and the Marines that he gave the Wolverines some kind of intelligence edge. Harbaugh is quirky and maybe thought Stalions was just so good at this.
But if Harbaugh (or Minter, or any number of other assistants that left town after the title) thought Stalions was so invaluable and so clean, why didn’t they take him with them? It’s almost like someone was wise to what was happening and they wanted no part of the aftermath.
Win the title and take an NFL job. The Michigan faithful will love Harbaugh forever and defend whatever was going down in Ann Arbor. Or be like Minter – get hired by Harbaugh to be the defensive coordinator of the Chargers and answer to no one about what he knew or didn’t knew about the guy who never got a stolen sign wrong. Let Stalions take the fall for what he allegedly did even though the entire program profited.
Two things can be true at once: Michigan was the best team in the country – and the Wolverines had an unfair advantage because of what Stalions did. That’s the ironic thing: Stalions didn’t need to cheat for Michigan to dominate.
By NCAA rules, it doesn’t even matter if Harbaugh knew: He was the head of the program so he’s responsible for everyone in the building.
Most of this should be figured out in due time. Michigan has received its notice of allegations from the NCAA. But many of the key figures who were in the program at that time are gone, off to bigger and better. Harbaugh and crew are off to the NFL. Moore is now the head coach. Stalions is the defensive coordinator at Mumford High in Detroit, ever hear of it?
Stalions’ alleged actions while trying to make Michigan a national player again just brought more scrutiny and questions to the proud program.
Part of me doesn’t even think Stalions cares or understands it. If this wasn’t about him, he wouldn’t have shown up on the Barstool set at the Michigan-Ohio State game to slip Dave Portnoy, Michigan Man, a note. Or attend that game secretly. Or show up at the national championship. He wanted the attention, craved it. Fame can be the great elixir.
The most ironic part is that Michigan was good enough to win the national championship without Stalions. Didn’t need him at all. He was a brilliant sign stealer (legally) and clearly cared about making an impact with the Wolverines by using his military past to apply it to Michigan winning games. He clearly has a lifelong love of the program.
But then things went way too far and if the allegations are true, he cheated to win. That’s the worst thing in sports. Maybe people inside the building played dumb because the info was too good. Harbaugh and his staff either had to think Stalions was a football savant or something was up. Why find out the truth?
“I’m rarely wrong,” Stalions said when it came to picking up signs.
After Harbaugh gave Stalions a game ball when Michigan beat Iowa, Harbaugh made an off-the-cuff comment: “Don’t get the big head, Connor.”
Maybe that’s exactly what Stalions did. Skirted the NCAA rules for unfair advantage whether it mattered to the Wolverines or not. He said in the documentary that if he’s a bad guy then everyone in college football is a bad guy. Not true.
Even if Michigan raised the national championship trophy like he had always dreamed, in the end, Scallions is the ultimate loser.
