Connor Stalions is still a hardcore Michigan football fan.
That’s after resigning in November two weeks after media reports identifying Stalions as the alleged ringleader in Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal.
But Stalions says he wants to coach at Michigan again and feels he has support to one day return.
“I hope,” Stalions said last week, after CBS Sports asked if he would coach in college again. “I get a lot of support from various people about eventually bringing me back (to Michigan).”
That would of course have to wait until the NCAA reveals its verdict on its investigation. It delivered Michigan a Notice of Allegations in late August, and a final judgement likely will not come until 2025.
Stalions, former head coach Jim Harbaugh, former recruiting staffer and star quarterback Denard Robinson, and former linebackers coach Chris Partridge are accused of Level I NCAA violations. A show-cause penalty banning Stalions from NCAA athletics for a few years is a strong possibility.
Stalions is now the acting football head coach at Detroit Mumford High School, filling in for first-year coach William McMichael, who suffered a “mild stroke” after the Mustangs’ 47-6 loss to Redford Thurston in Week 1. McMichael took a leap of faith by having Stalions join his staff as a volunteer defensive coordinator.
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Stalions’ debut last week didn’t go well, a 60-0 beatdown to Flint Hamady. Mumford went 1-8 the previous two seasons.
Stalions was asked to pose for pictures as he walked around Michigan Stadium during the Wolverines’ ugly 31-12 blowout loss to Texas, and even appeared on the Barstool College Football Show pregame live in Ann Arbor to an ovation from fans, who chanted “Connor, Connor, Connor.” He delivered a little pregame hype speech on the show in which he implored head coach Sherrone Moore to “run the damn ball.”
“Look at Michigan; you could easily blame this on Sherrone,” Stalions told to CBS Sports after U-M’s loss. “Well, let’s be real. Losing J.J. McCarthy, Blake Corum and 11 other draft picks to the NFL makes a difference.
“My opinion of it from a fan perspective is the way that this team responds in the next couple of weeks will show that the culture remains. They’re just caught in transition right now.”
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But would Stalions’ former boss, Jim Harbaugh, take his phone call now?
“I don’t know,” Stalions told CBS Sports.
Marlowe Alter is a Sports Assistant Editor at the Detroit Free Press. Email him at: malter@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Connor Stalions: I have support to return to Michigan football someday
