4 takeaways from the Connor Stalions Netflix documentary

On Tuesday, college football fans from around the country tuned in to hear the “sign stealer” in his own words. Connor Stalions, the former Michigan football staff member who became the center of an NCAA investigation, finally shared his version of the story in a Netflix documentary that left far more questions than answers. Although we did get a little more insight into his background and his love for Michigan football, Stalions came far short of providing anything of substance on key questions surrounding the sign-stealing controversy.

Here are my four biggest takeaways from the documentary:

In spite of what I think about his conduct, his response to the controversy, and the documentary itself, I’ve got to give Connor Stalions his flowers when it comes to his work ethic and dedication to the art of sign-stealing. I don’t doubt Stalions when he says that 80-90% of programs around the country have someone whose focus is to decode signals, but I’m quite comfortable in saying that none of those folks are as dedicated, detailed, and downright obsessed with the process as Stalions appears to be. Although we didn’t get a detailed look at what was inside that 1,000+ page manifesto, we did get to see some of the quotes, the notes, and an interactive map of draft picks over the last 10-years. Love him or hate him, Connor Stalions is an elite sign-stealer.

For as detailed and dedicated as he is to the process of stealing-signs, his selective memory on key events raises too many red flags. He can remember thousands of signals and act them out in his garage in front of a cellphone camera, yet he can’t remember whether or not he was standing on the Central Michigan sideline last season? He can’t remember which individuals sent him cellphone videos? I’m not buying it, and neither is the NCAA. There are some who think the best pathway forward here is for Stalions to hold his ground and to force the NCAA to prove its case. There are others, myself included, who think honesty up front would have prevented this from becoming one of the biggest (and most overblown) scandals in college football history.

Interestingly enough, Stalions himself admitted that the videos he received from those who were attending games on his behalf were useless. At one point in the documentary, he compared it to your aunt buying you a gift that you already have.

“I’ve had a friend send me film,” Stalions said. “And it’s kind of like when your aunt gets you a Christmas present that you already have. You’re not going to be rude and be like, ‘oh, I already have this, I don’t need it.’ You know? It’s just like, ‘thanks, appreciate it.’ You know, they feel like they’re helping out or whatever, when I already have the signals. I’ve already memorized the signals. So I just say, ‘thanks,’ whatever. You know?”

If that was truly how he felt about what he was gaining from the cellphone videos he’d receive, then why do it in the first place? Keep in mind, the accusation against Stalions isn’t that he just sent a few friends to a few games to record some video. Reporting suggests that a spreadsheet was recovered (or hacked) from his computer that shows a detailed schedule of games, names, and who was attending what. That seems like a lot of effort to go through for something that was essentially useless to you.

Overall, I think Stalions could have been an elite sign-stealer without “exploiting the rules” or living in that gray area, as he put it. But it’s clear that he had big goals of one day running the Michigan football program, and it certainly seems that those personal ambitions led him to take unnecessary risks.

I don’t doubt that Stalions had a nice financial incentive to do the documentary with Netflix, but it didn’t paint him or Michigan in a great light. In fact, I’d argue it did the exact opposite. Along with appearing to be dishonest with the NCAA on key aspects of the investigation, Stalions appears to enjoy this cat and mouse game with NCAA investigators. When he was handed what is allegedly a photo of himself wearing a disguise on the CMU sideline last season, he certainly didn’t appear to be someone who wanted to set the record straight and deny his involvement. Instead, he leaned into the controversy with a smirk and a dismissive answer.

That pattern of dishonesty and embracing this whole “sign-stealer” persona has been great for clicks, views, and social media debates. But the flip side is that it’s also been terrible for the University of Michigan and the football program, particularly in the midst of an NCAA investigation. Because this isn’t a legal matter, Stalions could have set the record straight at any point in time over the last 10 months. He could have taken an honest approach, stood firm on the belief that he exposed a loophole in a vague rule, and offered to work with the NCAA in order to come to a relatively quick resolution. Instead, Stalions chose a different path.

Make no mistake, there are plenty of folks within the Michigan fan base who are fully behind Stalions and the way he chose to handle this situation. Hell, some even view the guy as a hero. But while we’re all debating who this guy is and who’s really to blame for it all, there’s a football program in Ann Arbor that’s going to suffer the consequences of whatever the NCAA ultimately decides to do about it.

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