The NCAA presented new evidence to the University of Michigan this week that a Michigan booster may have been at least partially funding Conor Stalions’ sign-stealing operation and that another assistant coach had allegedly participated in the destruction of evidence on a computer before the news of the scandal broke according to Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports.
As the Wolverines football program falls further into disarray, it also announced that it had fired Chris Partridge, its linebackers coach who had returned to the team in 2023 and Stalions referred to as a close friend according to an Oct. 25 report from Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated.
Multiple sources have reported that Partridge is not alleged to have known about Stalions’ scheme at the time but acted after the fact to cover up evidence. According to Yahoo Sports, the booster allegedly funding Stalions was named in the report as “Uncle T,” and had given the former recruiting analyst thousands of dollars for the expenses needed to attend future Michigan opponents’ games and send other people to them to film the sidelines of those teams.
This all comes one day after Harbaugh and the school decided to accept the three-game suspension the Big Ten Conference gave on Nov. 10 after saying the school had violated the sportsmanship policy of the conference.
There was supposed to be a hearing on Friday on Michigan’s request for a temporary restraining order on the suspension, but it decided to drop the legal battle after it reached an agreement with the conference that the Big Ten would stop its investigation into the Wolverines football program.
