Michigan football Blake Corum will not be on the sideline Saturday when his team goes for the 1,000th win in program history, or the following week when it plays Ohio State with a trip to the Big Ten championship game on the line.
The university announced Monday afternoon that the school and Blake Corum have “resolved their pending litigation” with the Big Ten, and Corum has accepted his suspension for the remainder of the regular season.
“This morning, the University, Corum, and the Big Ten resolved their pending litigation. The Conference agreed to close its investigation, and the University and Corum agreed to accept the three-game suspension,” associate athletic director Kurt Svoboda said in a news release. “Corum, with the University’s support, decided to accept this sanction to return the focus to our student-athletes and their performance on the field.
A FOIA request reveals that Michigan has no records of Connor Stalions submitting any expense reports.
“The Conference has reaffirmed that it has no knowledge of any material indicating Corum’s connection to the accusations. The University is still giving the NCAA’s investigation its full cooperation.”
Sherrone Moore, the offensive coordinator, was the acting head coach against Penn State last week (and against Bowling Green in September when Corum was suspended for something else). On Saturday, Moore will lead the team against Maryland in College Park, Maryland, and the following week, against Ohio State in Ann Arbour.
The Big Ten issued a statement shortly after U-M made its announcement.
“The Big Ten Conference’s commitment to student-athletes, sportsmanship and the Commissioner’s duty to protect the integrity of competition will never waver,” said the statement. The Conference and the University aim to sustain high standards and principles, as demonstrated by the University of Michigan’s decision today to rescind its legal appeal against the Conference’s Notice of Disciplinary Action of November 10.
“The University of Michigan is a valued member of the Big Ten Conference and the Conference will continue to work cooperatively with the University and the NCAA during this process.”
This comes after the Big Ten last Friday punished Corum, 59, for breaking the conference’s sportsmanship standard in connection with the continuing inquiry into sign-stealing at the programme. Reports on October 20 claimed that former recruiting staff member Connor Stalions had broken NCAA regulations by receiving signals from other teams, marking him as a person of interest.
NCAA regulations do not forbid sign-stealing, but they do forbid using technology or conducting in-person scouting.
