By Kyle Golik
In life you always try to keep yourself centered in position. Typically, whether you are asked to judge a situation or asked for your own “two cents,” the accused and the accuser are going to throw their interpretations at you. What they position the truth to be, or in the case of Connor Stalions, what truths he is willing to tell you.
I found the recent episode of Netflix’s Untold series titled Sign Stealer, an attempt by Stalions to position himself as a victim. With current litigation, and unlike the Johnny Football episode where former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was letting truths fly for a final payday, Stalions needs to establish a narrative that won’t jeopardize a potential coaching future.
The story of Stalions begins to position the former Michigan analyst as a giant fan whose dream was to be the head coach of Michigan. Stalions’ fandom is put on full display as we see him as a youth dressed up as Bo Schembechler and reciting “The Team” speech. The build-up is how he got involved in football at the Naval Academy, how Stalions was an asset in his debut as a sign stealer against Ohio State, and how Stalions got connected with Michigan football by meeting Chris Partridge.
The underlying tone is the obsessive fanaticism Stalions has for Michigan football. To the depths Stalions was willing to go, and what he was willing to sacrifice had to catch the fancy of head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Remember, it was Urban Meyer who said that when he was coaching Ohio State, he had a dedicated staffer studying Michigan, everything they did and predicted what their next approach was. Harbaugh had an inkling of what Meyer was doing and it only fueled his obsession to replicate the success Meyer created for the Buckeyes.
I examined the many behaviors of Harbaugh pushing boundaries and his lack of respect to them. Harbaugh lived in the gray areas, the grayest area was the culture of sign stealing and Harbaugh knew he had someone special in that regard.
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Even Stalions own admission sounds like something Harbaugh would say.
“I don’t always break the rules,” Stalions said. “In fact, I’d argue that I don’t break the rules. I just walk a very fine line in the gray. I exploit the rules. I don’t break the rules, I exploit them.”
When you combine Harbaugh’s lack of ethics, and to be honest in major college football is their ethics or is it honor amongst thieves, with Stalions fanaticism and obsession, it’s easy to see how Harbaugh exploited Stalions talents to reposition Michigan near the top in the sign stealing community, something the documentary alluded to.
I often wonder how big Stalions impact on games was and how much Stalions scouting had to play. Let’s take a look at Michigan’s 2022 game against Penn State, where the Michigan ground game had 418 yards rushing. The total is the third most Penn State ever surrendered against an opponent in program history. If you look at the other games Manny Diaz coordinated Penn State defense and subtract out the contests against Michigan their defense allowed 70.4 rushing yards per game.
I look at the 2023 game where it took Michigan 46 carries to get 227 yards and that was without Harbaugh and Stalions that seemed appropriate. How big was Stalions’ influence on that game? We could look at every game Stalions was involved with and ask similar questions but to me how disproportionate the numbers are makes you wonder how bad Stalions and Harbaugh cheated the game.
A line that made me begin to question the authenticity of certain testimonials Stalions was talking about came from Stalions’ attorney Brad Beckworth who commented on the allegation that Stalions was advanced scouting Michigan State on the Central Michigan sidelines.
“Could it be that Connor was at that game? Maybe,” Beckworth said. “Whether that happened or not, that would be up to Connor to talk about.”
Stalions was dismissive of the allegation, even saying in a joking matter with a smile that a Cheshire cat would appreciate, “I don’t even think this guy looks like me.”
When someone demonstrates fanatical or obsession as deep as Stalions, boundaries aren’t recognized. There is no satisfaction in just having a database that Stalions has cultivated or being recognized amongst your peers as being an aficionado of the sign-stealing game. Those obsessive people push that envelope as far as it goes, even be damned of the envelope.
In my mind, that was Connor Stalions on the sideline, whether he vehemently denies that being him or not. The obsession of not just being the best, but what he learned in the Naval Academy and being a former Marine, the only victory is total victory. When you combine the desire of total victory with the obsession Stalions had, there was no boundaries going to keep him back.
When I look at how Stalions approached his advanced scouting allegations with the ticket purchases, the truth is extended so much, how aren’t they lies?
“I purchased tickets to many games,” Stalions said. “There are some people who attended the games using tickets I purchased and recorded parts of the game. Sometimes I would receive film from them.”
While some family and friends said Stalions bought tickets to be a nice guy, that very well could be true. But they also could have been pawns in a bigger strategy, if Stalions’ parents or friends simply went to the games on the dime of Stalions and didn’t do it, there is reasonable doubt to conceal others who went to advanced scout.
Again, someone who is obsessed and thirsts for total victory like Stalions has depths to his strategy. The fact Stalions said, “I don’t ever recall directing someone to go to a game,” doesn’t jive with all the ticket purchases.
When you begin to center yourself in the Stalions situation and you take a macroview of the Harbaugh regime, from the top with Harbaugh to where Stalions was on the totem pole, Stalions epitomized the Harbaugh regime that lacked ethics and decency.
What Harbaugh coveted is he had a willing man to carry out what he wasn’t willing to do. The difference between Harbaugh and Stalions was that Harbaugh recognized the boundaries of no return, but knew how to motivate Stalions to run through them and reward Stalions with game balls to reward him.
Stalions was played by Harbaugh, as Harbaugh makes millions and Stalions is trying to convince us he doesn’t break rules and doesn’t recall vivid details of specific situations. But he is so meticulous in his database of signals of over 2,000. How ironic is that?
