WTKA Roundtable 1/30/2025: The S.O.S.T.

Things Discussed: Mostly we discussed the Dellinger Leak and Michigan's response to the NCAA re: Signgate. I'll have a UV later today on it.

• Michigan has a very—extremely—strong case that they did very little wrong. Most of the in-person scouting was for teams not on their schedule, all of the evidence for a coverup is flimsy:
  • Sherrone deleted texts: Only off his phone, because he knew they had imaging, those were provided to the NCAA, and they were completely innocuous.
  • Mike Hart was told that Stalions was "extra" which: yeah.
  • That's it! That's all the evidence!
• Most of the report is just a glimpse into how sign operations worked—Stalions was sharing signs with Rutgers and Nebraska, who just used wristbands when they played Michigan. It also showed just how marginal sign-decoding was: Sherrone was told to change his signs before Ohio State and said he'll "think about it," Partridge yelled at Stalions about trying to use a team manager, etc.
• It has a name! Signal organization stupid thing, or S.O.S.T.
• NCAA's position is basically "We know we broke our bylaws and this isn't remotely just, but we need to humiliate you because look how mad all the Bielemas are."
• Michigan has requested a prehearing because the NCAA has at least one in-house source that refused to be identified, which we've just now learned is apparently against NCAA bylaws. No idea if the COI has to grant that prehearing
• The process is meant to be collaborative; it completely breaks down when the two sides have entirely different realities and goals. That's a big problem for Michigan because the NCAA's purpose here isn't to be reasonable or just.
• The fear here is NCAA's main motivation is relevance; they can't do anything about paying players, which has been their raison d'être, so this is the one field where they can demonstrate any kind of power.
• Legal challenge? Seems they'll go that route if things proceed as they seem to be. Guessing that's what the NCAA wants so they can placate the Bielemas by saying "it was the courts, not us."
• Seth: don't underestimate the difficulty of winning this case in court. Like the Tony Petitti thing, when it's not about constitutionality or the law, courts often default to whatever the agreement between parties is, and Michigan's agreed to be under NCAA judgment whether it's fair or not. With Tennessee: 1) It was their attorney general flexing power on behalf of the only thing his state cares about, which isn't who Dana Nessel is or how Michigan politics work, and 2) that was about paying players, which got into a constitutionality issue of denying the free trade of services.
• Guess how it plays out: NCAA goes overboard, Michigan takes them to court, court takes a long time, and when it's settled nobody cares because it's been too long and we all have more important things going on.
• Story Time: Just like 1928!

Non-S.O.S.T. thing:

• Jim Knowles off to PSU for a lot of money! What does it mean? It means anyone who can is getting away from Ohio State fans.