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Central Michigan says its working to reach resolution with NCAA regarding Connor Stalions
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- Central Michigan says its working to reach resolution with NCAA regarding Connor Stalions
Another school is dealing with NCAA fallout at the hand of Connor Stalions. This time it's Central Michigan University.
Per the NCAA's Division I infractions dashboard , the Chippewas were served a Notice of Allegations on June 27, which would open the 90-day window from that date for CMU to respond − sometime on or before Sept. 25.
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A statement sent to the Free Press from Central Michigan associate athletic director Greg Hotchkiss says CMU has not received the notice, but did recognize they are negotiating with the NCAA.
"We are aware that the NCAA has updated its online infractions dashboard for parties contesting their allegations," the statement reads. "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."
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The Free Press has filed an open records request with Central Michigan regarding the matter.
This comes 21 months after news of the sign-stealing saga broke in late October 2023 and 23 months after Stalions allegedly was able to wear a disguise in August 2023 and sneak onto the Central Michigan sideline for that season's opening game against Michigan State at Spartan Stadium.
When Stalions became the center of a Netflix documentary, "Untold: Sign Stealer," he denied ever having been on the CMU sideline that evening against the Spartans.
According to the database, the investigation began on Oct. 31, 2023 − the day that pictures began circulating online showing a man, who appeared to be Stalions, wearing a disguise including facial hair, CMU coaches clothes and sunglasses that looked to have a light in the corner of them to potentially record something.
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Four days later, on Nov. 3, there was a notice of inquiry. That process lasted for 387 days and was delayed multiple times after the party provided "false or misleading information" or because of "withholding requested materials by enforcement staff" per the database, until a review board met more than a year later on Nov. 21, 2024.
The former U-M staffer is accused of having purchased tickets to dozens of games across multiple years, sending them to acquaintances who would sit directly across the stadium from the team of interest's bench, record their signals during the game and then send video back to Stalions to decode.
The Central Michigan game against MSU is the only one that Stalions is accused of attending himself.
While former Central Michigan coach Jim McElwain, who has since retired, claimed to have no knowledge of the person he called "the sign stealer guy" or how he got onto the field, it's worth noting there were connections between the two schools. McElwain was a former offensive coordinator at Michigan , while Jake Kostner, the former CMU quarterbacks coach who also resigned from the program in the fall of 2024, was on staff in Ann Arbor as a student assistant coach from 2015-18 and overlapped with Stalions.
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MORE: Sherrone Moore responds to NCAA investigation into Michigan football
The Michigan football aspect of the saga has taken just as long. Michigan did not enter into a negotiated resolution with the NCAA, but instead opted to take the case directly to the NCAA's Committee on Infractions last month.
It's been 52 days since members of the Wolverines brass – including coach Sherrone Moore, athletic director Warde Manuel and university counsel – met with the NCAA's COI in Indianapolis on June 6, 2025, to discuss the case. Reporters waiting outside the courthouse showed that Stalions was on hand , but he reportedly did not participate in the process.
Michigan Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh watches from the sideline beside off-field analyst Connor Stalions, right, during a game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium in 2022.
That came after the NCAA sent Michigan NOA's in both August and November and while there's been no resolution yet, the expectation is the governing body's enforcement arm will reach a decision sometime before the start of the 2025 season.
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U-M has tried to mitigate any punishment by handing Moore a two-game university-imposed suspension for Weeks 3 and 4 of the upcoming season, the first of which is a home game against Central Michigan. The second would be for the Big Ten opener on the road at Nebraska.
Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: CMU-Connor Stalions: Chips working with NCAA for MSU sideline incident
