More Michigan Cheating

[BusSport]

I just can't buy into this because of the credit card purchases. No coach in America is going to turn a blind eye to that. Everyone has a guy on the staff whose job it is, is to try and figure out the signs of the opposing team. I just can't seem to grasp anyone knowing anything about what this guy was doing because of those CC purchases.

What is so hard to get about this? "Go to the games, scout the other teams' signals, and get those signals back to us. We don't need or want to know any more details about how you go about it." Simple as.

 

[NewPhoneWhoDis]

How else would it be done? You certainly wouldn't want the ticket purchases directly related to the football budget.

How else? Have your neighbor buy tickets. Have you cousin buy tickets. Have the mailman buy tickets. Have ANYONE not affiliated with the coaching staff buy tickets. It seems like that'd just be common sense.

I'd bet my life A LOT of schools do something quite similar, but they aren't dumb enough to use their own name to purchase the tickets.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry over the stupidity of this coach.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Yet you've repeatedly said it's nothing at all. So which is it?

I think it's nothing at all. I also think they're clearly operating in a grey area, one that has been blast into the spotlight. So I think it's perfectly normal to investigate this and to what extent it was actually happening. Because if Michigan did have hired staff at games, that is a clear violation.

 

[Red_Alert]

All of that would depend on where the money came from. If Stephen Ross wants to pay for someone to attend games, that doesn't make them an employee of the university.

Knowing it is a violation of an NCAA rule, the purchase of tickets, travel, accommodations, meals, etc. certainly wouldn't be coming directly out of the football depts budget.

Hence the use of personal credit cards and personal venmo.

 

[NewPhoneWhoDis]

What is so hard to get about this? "Go to the games, scout the other teams' signals, and get those signals back to us. We don't need or want to know any more details about how you go about it." Simple as.

What is so hard is, exactly what is happening now. It comes back to the Head Coach and rightfully so. That being said -- IF the HC was in on it -- the LAST THING he'd do is allow a staff member to purchase tickets with their own personal credit card, IMO.

If it comes out Harbaugh knew about this -- he should be fired for stupidity alone, even if the NCAA doesn't do anything.

 

[WhosYourDawggy]

So, what will happen here?

- I actually think this is going to be bigger than anyone thinks.

- I think it will keep UM out of the CFP.

- People will be fired, including Harbaugh.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Knowing it is a violation of an NCAA rule, the purchase of tickets, travel, accommodations, meals, etc. certainly wouldn't be coming directly out of the football depts budget.

Hence the use of personal credit cards and personal venmo.

It isn't. Hard stop. But feel free to cite a rule you think it violates.

If Harbaugh pays for a hotel room, pays for someone's food and pays for someone's tickets, and that person goes and records a football game, that absolutely does not violate the letter of the NCAA rule. There is absolutely no rule about Harbaugh paying for some homeless dude's ticket and expenses to a game.

 

[fishinabarrel]

It’s only tOSU fans … 1M views

 

[NewPhoneWhoDis]

Knowing it is a violation of an NCAA rule, the purchase of tickets, travel, accommodations, meals, etc. certainly wouldn't be coming directly out of the football depts budget.

Hence the use of personal credit cards and personal venmo.

It still leads back to the coaching staff. Anyone with an iota of intelligence would stop that immediately. It wouldn't make any sense at all for coaches making 7 figures to tell a staffer to break a NCAA rule and do so with a paper trail of personal CC purchases and venmo transfers.

The easiest thing in the world was to simply have someone unaffiliated with the school purchase the tickets and transfer them to whoever was using them. No paper trail.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

So, what will happen here?

- I actually think this is going to be bigger than anyone thinks.

- I think it will keep UM out of the CFP.

- People will be fired, including Harbaugh.

Well that's just silly.

Even if the NCAA gives Michigan a notice of violation, Michigan has 90 days to respond. 90 days from today would be the end of January, weeks after the national championship game is played.

Harbaugh isn't getting fired, even if he sent a staffer to a game himself (which isn't even what's being accused). We don't even know if that's a level 1 violation.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

The level of conspiracy you guys are resorting to is hilarious.

 

[NewPhoneWhoDis]

If you watch any game -- you are going to see a guy doing the exact same thing as the UM guy. He is just at the center of it right now. Every team has a guy trying to steal the signs of the other team and that guy will be right by your OC or DC during the game.

Michigan didn't invent the wheel with this guys position. He is just in the headlines now and casual fans don't realize this is something every team has on their staff.

 

[WhosYourDawggy]

Well that's just silly.

Even if the NCAA gives Michigan a notice of violation, Michigan has 90 days to respond. 90 days from today would be the end of January, weeks after the national championship game is played.

Harbaugh isn't getting fired, even if he sent a staffer to a game himself (which isn't even what's being accused). We don't even know if that's a level 1 violation.

CFP is not controlled by the NCAA. They can tell them to fuck off and protect the game. You keep minimizing this.

 

[Red_Alert]

All of that would depend on where the money came from. If Stephen Ross wants to pay for someone to attend games, that doesn't make them an employee of the university.

The mental gymnastics continue...

Either you still don't get it or are intentionally distracting from the facts.

If Stephan Ross were funding the operation to send 3rd parties to future opponent games to video said opponents sideline signals then providing it to Michigan staff for use, it's a violation of the rule.

That nobody using the video to break down future opponents sideline signals and not question where the video came from is what's impossible to believe.
They knew exactly how the video was obtained and didn't care because it was beneficial to game preparation.

 

[stakesarehigh]

Let me try to put these two together. Sure you change the signs and indicators as does everyone. Now IF I can film your sideline across multiple games, I can easily deduce how many people are using dummy signs and of the real signs, I can tell how many and which ones are used for what group of players. When it comes to in-game, would I have an advantage trying to decipher your communications with that knowledge?

This.

Acting like the in person context isn't valuable is laughable

why do it if it isn't. It's extremely valuable.

 

[stakesarehigh]

So, what will happen here?

- I actually think this is going to be bigger than anyone thinks.

- I think it will keep UM out of the CFP.

- People will be fired, including Harbaugh.

man...that's tough. I don't know. The NCAA is notoriously inconsistent. But I will say...the more gas this gets the more likely that Michigan gets something.

Harbaugh will leave either way imo.

 

[Red_Alert]

How else? Have your neighbor buy tickets. Have you cousin buy tickets. Have the mailman buy tickets. Have ANYONE not affiliated with the coaching staff buy tickets. It seems like that'd just be common sense.

I'd bet my life A LOT of schools do something quite similar, but they aren't dumb enough to use their own name to purchase the tickets.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry over the stupidity of this coach.

Doesn't matter who was buying the tickets, paying for travel, accommodations, meals, etc. if the Michigan staff is willingly using the ill-gotten product.

"We don't care if it was obtained outside of the rules as long as we can benefit from it." - Michigan Coaching Staff

 

[Across The Field]

man...that's tough. I don't know. The NCAA is notoriously inconsistent. But I will say...the more gas this gets the more likely that Michigan gets something.

Harbaugh will leave either way imo.

Harbaugh is gone after this year regardless. They lose like 18 starters so he's basically going to spend the entire offseason in the portal trying to find replacements.

 

[Across The Field]

Doesn't matter who was buying the tickets, paying for travel, accommodations, meals, etc. if the Michigan staff is willingly using the ill-gotten product.

"We don't care if it was obtained outside of the rules as long as we can benefit from it." - Michigan Coaching Staff

This is the part right here. I don't know how you can expect to use illegal materials regardless of who got it. If it's illegal to use certain means to record a game for scouting purposes, it doesn't matter who obtained the recording. Fairly certain that's a major part of why the NCAA is investigating in the first place.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

CFP is not controlled by the NCAA. They can tell them to fuck off and protect the game. You keep minimizing this.

Without a violation they'd have a hell of a lawsuit on their hands. I'm sure there are contractual agreements that would make what you're suggesting probably actually illegal.