Michigan football received arguably the biggest punishment in the history of the program on Friday, Aug. 15, when the NCAA handed out its penalties for the Conor Stalions sign-stealing scandal.
The program will be put on a four-year probationary period and pay fines that could amount to $20 million, though it also avoided a potentially devastating postseason ban. Coach Sherrone Moore will also tack on one more game to his two-game suspension, which was originally self-imposed by the University.
The penalties come to a program that has maintained a general reputation for fair play in its over 150-year history. And though Michigan has avoided the biggest NCAA scandals that have plagued other big-name schools like Penn State, Miami and SMU, Michigan's football history is not totally clear of controversy.
Here are five scandals and infractions that have rocked U-M football over its history:
Former U-M coach Rich Rodriguez only spent three years at the helm of the program, but he left Michigan football with a stain -- albeit a mostly forgettable one.
The NCAA ruled ahead of the 2010 season that Michigan was not in compliance when it exceeded its practice and workout times allowed during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The University imposed sanctions on itself in May of 2010 as a result.
Rodriguez was fired in January of 2011, though mostly because of his 15-22 career record and not necessarily because of the infractions.
Former Michigan coach Gary Moeller had a 44-13-3 record at Michigan, but resigned a week after tapes of a drunken outburst at a suburban Detroit restaurant were released in May of 1995.
Though the program had great success under Moeller, including a 38-31 win over Washington at the 1993 Rose Bowl, the coach's behavior was one the University decided it couldn't support. His assistant Lloyd Carr took over the program ahead of the 1995 season, and two years later led Michigan to a national championship.
This one isn't related specifically to the football program, but to U-M's athletic department as a whole.
Dr. Robert Anderson, who served as a doctor at the University from 1968-2003, was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of U-M athletes and students during his time with the University.
One of those students (not enrolled at the University) was Matt Schembechler, son of legendary coach Bo Schembechler. In 1969, Schembechler's first year as coach, Matt (then 10 years old) told his father that Anderson had sexually assaulted him. According to Matt, Bo did nothing about it.
Other former U-M players like Daniel Kwiatkowski and Gilvanni Johnson held a press conference with Matt to detail the allegations. In 2022, the University settled with the sexual assault survivors for $490 million.
Harry Kipke, who coached the Wolverines from 1929-37, was fired after the 1937 season for five main reasons per an article from the Chicago Tribune, three of them for reasons that were considered unsportsmanlike.
One was an allegation that Kipke was promising summer jobs and guaranteed wages to incoming freshmen. Another was Kipke allowing for summer practices (banned by the Big Ten's rules at the time) and the last was Kipke's association with Harry Bennett, the controversial right-hand man of Henry Ford.
Fielding Yost, the school's first legendary coach, joined Michigan in 1901 after coaching Stanford in the 1901 season. Michigan became a juggernaut under Yost, going 55-1-1 in his first five seasons and outscoring opponents by a total score of 550-to-0 in his first season in 1901. The NCAA recognizes Michigan as either outright or co-national champions each year from 1901-04, marking the first national titles for the program.
Yost was later accused by Stanford preisdent David Starr Jordan of paying players, going against the spirit of amateurism of the day. Though by 2025 standards, those accusations can be considered relatively tame.
As a result of the heat that Yost faced over his first few years as coach, Michigan withdrew from the Western Conference in 1907 and played as an independent school until it returned to the conference in 1917.
You can reach Christian at [email protected]