Fired Michigan Football Coach Denies Knowledge Of Cheating

We are a few days removed from the Wolverines‘ thrilling 30-24 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Big House, and while Team 144 is hard at work preparing for their third straight Big Ten title game this weekend, things are picking back up on the sign-stealing front. Today, fired Michigan football coach Chris Partridge, who was terminated earlier this month by U-M, released a statement denying knowledge of Connor Stalions’ alleged sign-stealing scheme.

Fired Michigan football coach releases statement on Monday

Even though the Maize and Blue are 12-0 and currently favored to win the national championship this season, Jim Harbaugh and his Wolverines cannot escape the media’s need to talk about Connor Stalions. Was Stalions the reason Michigan was winning? Well, seeing as Michigan is now 5-0 without him, including wins over No. 9 Penn State and No. 2 Ohio State, it doesn’t seem so.

No connection to Connor Stalions

Still, Paul Finebaum and others at ESPN (and more networks) love to talk about Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan football sign-stealing scheme, though a major detail was poorly reported on a few weeks ago when Chris Partridge was fired — he did not destroy computer evidence or have knowledge of what was going on until the initial reports broke back in October.

“Unfortunately, the manner in which the termination of my employment and my role as a coach at Michigan has been reported is inaccurate and has resulted in people speculating and making assumptions about my knowledge of, and connection to, the sign-stealing allegations within the football program,” Chris Partridge said in his statement. “I want to be clear: I had no knowledge whatsoever of any in-person or illegal scouting, or illegal sign stealing. Additionally, at no point did I destroy evidence related to an ongoing investigation.”

Chris Partridge explains why he was fired

According to Partridge’s Monday statement, he stands on the fact that he had no knowledge of the sign-stealing scandal or what Connor Stalions was doing. Below is another excerpt from his statement explaining why he was let go by the University of Michigan football program:

“As explained to me by Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel in person on the morning of November 17, 2023, and as set forth in my termination letter of the same date, signed by Doug Gnodtke, Michigan Athletics Chief of Staff, I was terminated because of a failure ‘to abide by the University directive not to discuss an ongoing NCAA investigation with anyone associated with the Michigan Football Program.”

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