College football’s man of mystery is telling his side of the story.
Former University of Michigan staffer Connor Stalions, the figure at the center of a sign-stealing controversy that changed the sport and consumed college football fans last season, is the subject of Netflix’s new “Untold: Sign Stealer” documentary.
Here’s what to know about Stalions, the accusations against him, and the repercussions of the investigation.
The Michigan native grew up in a family of diehard Michigan football fans and played football in high school.
He’s shown in the documentary dressing up as a Michigan coach for Halloween as a 7-year-old and speaking about his lifelong desire to one day be a coach of the school’s football team.
Stalions went to the U.S. Naval Academy and became a Marine after learning that many legendary coaches in sports like football and basketball were military veterans.
He began his coaching career as a student at Navy, where he realized he had a knack for stealing opposing teams’ signals from the sidelines.
That began a trajectory that ended with him landing his dream position as an analyst on the football staff at Michigan due to his acumen with stealing signs. In 2022, he was given a game ball by now-former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh after a Big Ten victory over Iowa.
Up until this season, college football teams employed multiple coaches or players relaying hand signals to the players on the field to give them the plays on offense and defense.
Teams often used up to eight people giving fake signals while others are sending the real ones on to the field in order to confuse opponents. Stalions said he could figure out who was giving the real signals almost immediately.
“If you run a play twice, I’m going to know it by the second time,” Stalions says in the documentary.
Stalions estimates that “80 to 90%” of teams had a coach whose job it is to try to figure out the other team’s hand signals.
NCAA rules allow for teams to try to decipher opposing signals from the opposite sideline or from watching television footage of a team’s hand signals. However, sending someone in person to a game to take video of the hand signs of a future opponent is against NCAA regulations.
Teams now use radio communication to relay the plays in what’s informally referred to as the “Stalions Rule.” Coaches speak into a headset that relays the plays to an audio setup inside the quarterback’s helmet, like the NFL uses.
Stalions went from a little-known, low-level staffer on Michigan to a household name among college football fans in the course of only days after media reports surfaced about the alleged sign-stealing scandal in October 2023.
Stalions has been accused of orchestrating a scheme in which multiple people were given tickets to games of future Michigan opponents and asked to film teams’ hand signals so that they could be deciphered, which is against NCAA rules.
Opponents have accused Stalions of then standing on the Michigan sidelines and advising coaches on what plays may be coming based off the stolen signs obtained from the illegal in-person scouting.
He said he made money buying and selling tickets to college football games over the years, but never instructed anyone to film games for Michigan. A friend of his from the military also denied ever being asked to film opponents at games for Stalions.
“What set me apart was the way that I organized that information and processed it on game day,” Stalions says.
His parents, a military friend, a Detroit News reporter and Barstool Sports owner (and Michigan fan) Dave Portnoy are all interviewed, painting a mainly sympathetic portrait of Stalions.
The accusations against Stalions were made public in multiple reports in October 2023 as Michigan was in the midst of an unbeaten season.
An unnamed Division III college football coach told ESPN at the time that he was paid by Stalions to attend games and videotape hand signals.
Stalions says his phone, laptop and computer were seized, and the university’s athletic director initially suspended him with pay during an investigation. Stalions later resigned.
“Ever since I could remember, Michigan has been a huge part of my life,” he says on the show. “And for that to be stripped away overnight was pretty devastating.”
Footage of Stalions being questioned by NCAA investigators with his attorneys on either side is shown in “Untold.”
“I don’t recall ever directing someone to go to a game,” Stalions said when asked about the scheme.
“To my understanding, there are some people who attended games, using tickets that I purchased, and recorded parts of those games,” he later answers.
Stalions admits in the documentary that he was sent films of hand signals but it didn’t affect Michigan’s game plan.
“I’ve had a friend send me film,” he says. “It’s kind of like when your aunt gets you a Christmas present that you already have. You’re not going to be rude and be like, ‘Oh, I already have this, I don’t need it.’”
Washington Post reporter Will Hobson calls Stalions’ claims of innocence into question in the documentary.
“So why are all these Michigan interns and his buddy from the Navy, why are they going to games and videotaping the opposing coaches?” Hobson says. “Just for their own personal interest? I do not find it plausible that his sign analysis was based purely on game footage.”
One of the most notorious accusations is that Stalions dressed in Central Michigan team gear and posed as a coach on the sidelines of a September 2023 game against Michigan State so that he could film or decipher Michigan State’s hand signals.
Photos from the game show a mysterious figure in sunglasses who looks like Stalions standing on the sideline in a Central Michigan polo shirt. Stalions denies it was him in “Untold.” No one else has been identified as the mystery person.
“I mean I don’t even think this guy looks like me,” Stalions says while holding up a photo of the unnamed figure.
Portnoy, meanwhile, said it was Stalions on the Central Michigan sideline.
“Well, I know the answer to that because he told me. Yeah that was Connor on the sidelines,” he says on the show.
Stalions is also asked about the alleged incident in the interview with NCAA investigators.
“I don’t recall attending a specific game,” he says.
The NCAA issued notice of allegations seeking a three-year coaching ban for Stalions, according to the documentary.
Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten Conference for the final three games of the regular season last year. The conference said in a statement that Michigan was “conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition,” according to ESPN.
Harbaugh has since left Michigan and is now the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL.
On Aug. 25, the NCAA delivered a Notice of Allegations accusing seven Michigan staffers from the 2023 team of violating NCAA rules in connection with the sign-stealing controversy, according to the Detroit Free Press.
New Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore could face a suspension and an additional penalty after allegedly deleting 52 text messages with Stalions on the day news broke that Stalions allegedly led a sign-stealing operation, per the Detroit Free Press.
“Untold” also shows how opponents and fans flooded social media with comments that Michigan’s wins were tainted, saying their national championship season should have an asterisk next it.
There also was a lighthearted side to the allegations. Stalions popped up in memes showing him as “The Usual Suspects” shadowy figure Keyser Soze and hiding in the background at historical events like the Last Supper and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
The alleged scandal also changed the sport. This season, college teams are using radio technology inside the helmets for the first time, eliminating the need for hand signals from the sidelines.
Stalions is now coaching in high school.
He has been hired as the defensive coordinator on the staff at Detroit’s Mumford High School.
“He might be the most hated man in college football, but the coaches and kids at Mumford High School love him,” the school’s head coach told ESPN.
Stallions is set to coach his first game on Aug. 29.
The Aftermath of the Sign-Stealing Controversy
As the NCAA continues to investigate Michigan’s role in an alleged sign-stealing operation run by former staffer Connor Stalions, no Big Ten coaches or administrators suggest the Wolverines’ national title is tainted or that their victories lack validity. But that doesn’t mean they are not angry, either.
The Athletic reached out to head coaches and assistants from at least five different Big Ten football programs spanning the former East and West Divisions for their thoughts on former Stalions and the team’s advance scouting scandal. In exchange for their candor, the coaches were given anonymity. None of the coaches volunteered to speak on the record, and none were from archrival Ohio State.
“I think their sign-stealing operation was a big deal,” said one assistant coach whose squad was impacted. “It cut at the integrity of the game. I know some people say it wasn’t a big advantage, but it was.
“On game day, as a coordinator, I don’t want to hear from anyone who doesn’t have valuable information pertaining to the game. Connor was talking directly to the coordinators. That tells you what he had to say was important. As far as Harbaugh is concerned, not a single head coach in the country would allow a ‘recruiting’ staff member to be talking to his coordinators on game day. Somehow, Connor was allowed to.”
Stalions’ work was considered pivotal enough to Michigan’s operation that former coach Jim Harbaugh awarded him a game ball following a 27-14 win at Iowa on Oct. 1, 2022. Stalions revealed the decorated ball to cameras in the Netflix documentary “Sign Stealer,” which was released Tuesday.
“The funny thing (Harbaugh) said after I got the game ball is, ‘Don’t get the big head, Connor,’” Stalions recalled in the documentary. “Getting this ball is a pretty cool moment in my life of just being acknowledged as doing a good job at what I do and helping Michigan win. I’ll remember it forever.”
The game ball was long rumored in Iowa City, especially as questions arose about Stalions. The documentary provided validation.
“I just heard about (the game ball footage in the documentary) maybe an hour ago, something like that, and got an email,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday in a news conference. “It’s so far out of mind — it’s history right now. Whatever happens, happens. The appropriate parties will deal with it.”
The 2022 game wasn’t the only time the spying scandal allegedly involved Iowa. Roughly four hours before the 2021 Big Ten championship game, a Big Ten coach called an Iowa staffer and issued a warning.
“Michigan has got all of your signals and calls,” the coach told the Iowa staffer. “I wished I’d gotten to you earlier.” That coach confirmed the context of that conversation to The Athletic. By then it was too late for Iowa to change its signals. Michigan dominated in every phase, blowing out the Hawkeyes 42-3 in Indianapolis.
Was the Sign-Stealing Operation Worth It?
This week, Michigan received a notice of allegations from the NCAA regarding Stalions and the football program’s alleged sign-stealing scheme. Stalions is accused of collecting film of opposing teams’ signals taken by people attending games around the country, which is against NCAA rules. Programs are allowed to review television footage or all-22 video but cannot conduct in-person advance scouting. In photos and game broadcasts, Stalions can be seen standing by the Michigan coordinators interpreting opponents’ signals during games (in-game deciphering of signals is not against NCAA rules).
Neither Ferentz nor any other coaches suggest Stalions’ actions detract from Michigan’s victories. Last December, Michigan shut out Iowa 26-0 to claim its third consecutive Big Ten title, and that took place after Stalions’ resignation and after the Wolverines kept winning through a three-game suspension for Harbaugh imposed by the Big Ten. But throughout the conference, the vibe is clear: Coaches are upset that no controlling agency has held Michigan accountable.
“Based on the public info it’s surprising that there has been nothing adding to their penalty,” a second Big Ten assistant coach said. “I do believe there will be but the NCAA loses credibility when nothing is done or said and everyone is left wondering. Right now, the punishment does not fit the crime — there are more folks involved.”
There is nuance to Stalions’ actions, which a head coach explained. Most programs take television copies and game video and pair it with hand signals from the bench. Everyone wants an edge, he said, but scouting a future opponent in-person crosses the line. But, he added, schools also need to alter their signals more regularly, and teams can scout on the road in the NFL and high school.
The Legacy of the Sign-Stealer
Football espionage stories date to the game’s beginnings. According to one legend, former Northwestern assistant coach (and eventual New York Yankees owner) George Steinbrenner left for Purdue in 1956 and hired students in married student housing to watch the Wildcats’ practice. Northwestern coach Ara Parseghian (later of Notre Dame fame) found out and moved his main squad and left the junior varsity to practice in front of Purdue’s spies. Northwestern won 14-0.
Perhaps one day the Stalions story might join others in the somewhat harmless wing of conference lore and tall tales. But for now, there’s bitterness associated with the situation and a belief Michigan will receive preferential treatment.
“By nature, college football coaches don’t waste time on things that don’t have value,” the first assistant coach said. “The amount of time they spent on it tells you all you need to know.”
A different head coach just offered a verbal shrug.
“I guess it doesn’t matter now,” the coach said.
