Connor Stalions’ drive unlocked his Michigan coaching dream — and a sign-stealing scandal

When Chris Barnett first heard the news that would instantly transform the quiet, hyper-focused young man he knew growing up in Lake Orion, Michigan, into a figure of intense national interest, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

Within 25 hours of an NCAA investigation into Michigan football for alleged in-person scouting and sign-stealing becoming public, Connor Stalions’ name was revealed as the centerpiece of the operation, introducing the country to what had been an anonymous staffer among a sea of maize-and-blue-clad individuals on the Wolverines sideline.

For some like Barnett back in Stalions’ hometown, it wasn’t an introduction to the 28-year-old, but a reaffirmation of what they already knew about the local boy who wouldn’t let anything impede him from his dream of coaching his childhood team.

“I’m damn proud of him,” said Barnett, Lake Orion’s township supervisor who is close with Stalions and his family. “I’m not going to get into the nuances of the NCAA rules and whether he broke them, but I just leaned back and smiled when I first heard the story because this is Connor Stalions. He’s driven. He wants to be the best he can be and help the organization he literally grew up loving be the best they can be. I wouldn’t say I was surprised to hear that he was involved in this.”

Stalions' role in the biggest story in college football has turned him into an object of relentless fascination. A biography previously familiar to only those closest to him is now common knowledge among fans of the sport: He was born and raised in Michigan and educated at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is a retired Marine Corps Captain and someone who diligently worked his way from obsessing over the Wolverines to rubbing shoulders with their top players and coaches.

Stalions' life was decidedly simpler growing up in Lake Orion, a suburb about 30 minutes north of Detroit with the motto, “Where living is a vacation." 

He was, according to Barnett, someone who largely stuck to himself. He opened up once he got to know someone, displaying a sharp wit and strong comedic timing. As Barnett put it, he was “the type of guy you would want to date your daughter,” the son of a respected local family who “live a life of service for others.” His parents, Brock and Kelly, are teachers at the local middle school, where they’ve each been named the school’s teacher of the year within the past four years. 

MORE PUNISHMENT?:Michigan's Harbaugh suspended for bulk of 2024

Connor Stalions always had an eye for Michigan

Stalions was active as a student at Lake Orion High School, where he played varsity basketball and lamented the Dragons’ 12-8 record in the school’s yearbook his senior year. He noted that, “We’re not winning the games that we should be winning.” He was a member of the National Honor Society and was on the school’s power-lifting team. While staying busy, he maintained a robust academic resume, one strong enough to earn him admission to both Navy and Michigan. In a January 2022 story from the nonprofit Soldiers to Sidelines, Stallions said he quit playing football his junior year of high school to help his father coach an eighth-grade football team.

Among his myriad interests, one loomed larger than others: Michigan — specifically, its storied football program.

Both of his parents are graduates of the university and dedicated fans of its teams. The day news of the NCAA probe broke — and one day before her son’s name would be tied to it, Kelly Stalions reposted a tweet from a Michigan fan describing the developing story as “absolute madness” and claiming it was only happening because the “NCAA hates (Jim) Harbaugh.” She also has pictures of herself with the likes of Desmond Howard and J.J. McCarthy on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Calls and messages to both of Stalions’ parents by the USA TODAY Network seeking comment for this story were not returned.

Their source of pride and passion naturally transferred to their son. By the time he was in high school, Stalions told Barnett that he wanted to one day be the head coach at Michigan. What would have seemed like an ill-conceived fantasy coming from most other teenagers meant something much different when verbalized by Stalions, who Barnett said is perhaps the most driven young person he has ever met.

“I was always impressed he had a vision and he set his mind to it,” Barnett said. “He was on that path to do what his dream was. He probably had a more direct path to doing something like that than anyone I’ve ever met or heard about.”

That drive and singular focus soon came to define his life’s path.

How Connor Stalions blended military strategy, college football

Despite being accepted at Michigan, he opted to attend the Naval Academy, believing a military background offered him a clearer road to his dream job in Ann Arbor. Once at Navy, Stalions took his first tangible steps toward his goal. He was a student volunteer for the Midshipmen, working one year in the program’s video department and three years in recruiting, according to Navy senior associate athletic director and sports information director Scott Strasemeier.

In the profile of him in Soldiers to Sidelines, Stalions claimed that after a triple-overtime win against San Jose State in 2013 — his first year as a volunteer — he drafted a report on every game clock situation and explained the best decision for each scenario. The report, Stalions told the publication, earned the approval of then-Midshipmen coach Ken Niumatalolo, who had Stalions brief the entire coaching staff on his findings.

One source familiar with Stalions' time at Navy informed the USA TODAY Network that multiple members of the Midshipmen's coaching staff do not recall that happening. Through a spokesperson at UCLA, where he now works, Niumatalolo declined to comment.

Dating back to 2015, when he was still at Navy, Stalions began working as a volunteer assistant at Michigan, according to his since-deleted LinkedIn account. He continued to do so once he was a Marine Corps officer stationed in Southern California, regularly making trips back to Ann Arbor on his own dime.

He leaned on his military experience and training to try to advance his career, noting in his LinkedIn profile that he sought to "employ Marine Corps philosophies and tactics into the sport of football regarding strategies in staffing, recruiting, scouting, intelligence, planning and more." To help fund his travel back east, Stalions claimed he rented all the bedrooms in a house he owned while he slept on the couch. Even after he retired as a Marine Corps captain in 2022 and joined the Michigan staff in a full-time capacity, he continued to work on the side (most notably as a poorly reviewed seller of used vacuum cleaners on Amazon), according to The Wall Street Journal.

It was at Michigan where the roots for his newfound fame took hold.

Included among allegations, Stallions purchased tickets under his own name to games at 12 different Big Ten schools, as well as tickets to games involving potential College Football Playoff foes, as part of a widespread scheme in which future opponents’ signs would be recorded on video. Over the past several weeks, videos have circulated on social media of Stalions standing next to and apparently communicating with Michigan play-callers on the sideline during games, an unusual set-.arrangement for an analyst. In what might be the most bizarre twist of an already-strange saga, photos emerged of a man who looks like Stalions standing on the Central Michigan sideline during the Chippewas’ Sept. 1 loss at Michigan State, which Central Michigan and the NCAA are currently investigating.

Stalions resigned from his position on Nov. 3.

Despite the controversy surrounding the program and whatever distractions it created, Michigan has continued to win.

Since news of the NCAA investigation broke on Oct. 19, the Wolverines have gone 5-0, with the past three victories coming without head coach Jim Harbaugh, who was suspended by the Big Ten for the final quarter of the regular season. During that time, Michigan outscored its opponents 175-76 and secured wins against top-10 Ohio State and Penn State teams. At 12-0, and with Harbaugh able to return to the sideline, the Wolverines need only a win against three-touchdown underdog Iowa in Saturday’s Big Ten championship game to make their third-consecutive College Football Playoff appearance.

The ordeal that derailed Stalions from reaching his life-long dream is both surreal and believable. Stalions becoming a controversial figure was wholly unexpected by Barnett. But the traits for which he was once praised — namely, his tenacity and unrelenting ambition — were the same ones that led him into this predicament.

For those like Barnett back in Lake Orion, they’re left to reconcile how a man lauded for his integrity and character is now inextricably tied to what might become one of the most notable on-field scandals in the history of college football.

“I think he’s doing everything he can do for an organization he loves,” Barnett said. “If you’re asking me my opinion on the morality of that or squaring that, I don’t know that I can.”