A former Michigan football coach is alleging in a lawsuit that the school and its leadership at the time were aware of Connor Stalions’ sign-stealing scandal and had attempted to keep it from ever being discovered.
Chris Partridge claimed in an amended lawsuit that leadership had found evidence of the elaborate sign-stealing scheme while investigating former assistant Matthew Weiss in January 2023, according to CBS Sports.
According to the suit, former Michigan president Santa Ono and athletic director Warde Manuel had discovered the evidence on Weiss’ hard drive and never turned it over to the NCAA or the school’s board of regents.
Weiss was later charged with multiple crimes for his alleged indiscretions, including 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft.
Partridge also alleged that Ono had told university employees that they should not take any notes in relation to the inquiry into Weiss in order to keep from potential disclosure.
Additionally, the former Michigan assistant coach claimed that the school had been aware of the “inappropriate relationship between former head football coach Sherrone Moore and a subordinate employee for years without taking action to protect the employee.”
Both incidents have been national headline-making news for the Michigan athletic department and have resulted in extensive criticism of the sports programs.
The sign-stealing scandal ended up costing then-head coach Jim Harbaugh a three-game suspension, although the football team did win the NCAA championship that season.
The NCAA did eventually hand down a 10-year show-cause penalty to Harbaugh and put the football program on four years of probation.
Harbaugh would leave Ann Arbor to become the Los Angeles Chargers head coach.
Moore’s firing occured after he was alleged to have an inappropriate relationship with executive assistant Paige Shiver, which later resulted in Moore’s arrest after he went to Shiver’s home.
The two high-profile instances led the university to commission an investigation into the athletics program led by Chicago-based law firm Jenner & Block.
Partridge is now with the Seahawks and is suing Michigan, its board of trustees and Manuel, alleging he was a “scapegoat” in the aftermath of the Stalions sign-stealing scandal.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
