Michigan’s Chris Partridge Fired; Reportedly Tried to Cover Up Sign-Stealing Evidence

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Ten games into his first season as Michigan’s linebackers coach, Chris Partridge has been fired.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel issued a statement announcing the firing, with Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports noting university leaders were presented with “new evidence” from the NCAA’s investigation into its scouting scheme that has “presumably” altered its approach to handling the matter.

Dellenger and Wetzel reported part of the NCAA evidence presented to Michigan points to a university booster named “Uncle T” as having partially funded the scouting scheme by giving Connor Stalions “thousands of dollars for expenses” and Partridge allegedly attempted to destroy “evidence on a computer” after news of the scandal became public.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh, who received a three-game suspension last week, dropped his request for a temporary restraining order and agreed to accept the Big Ten’s discipline in a statement released by the university on Thursday.

The Big Ten suspended Harbaugh after finding the football program to be in violation of its sportsmanship policy “for conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition.”

Harbaugh is allowed to attend practices and help prepare the game plan, but he is banned from attending games. He served his first game of the suspension on Nov. 10 against Penn State.

The NCAA investigation into Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing scheme has been centered around Stalions, a staff member who resigned from his position on Nov. 3.

Partridge originally joined the Wolverines as part of Harbaugh’s original staff as director of player personnel in 2015. He took over as special teams coordinator in 2016 and was in that role for four seasons, while also spending time as linebackers coach and safeties coach.

After a three-year stint at Mississippi as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach from 2020 to ’22, Partridge returned to Michigan in February as linebackers coach.

Harbaugh has denied having any knowledge about the alleged sign-stealing operation, while agreeing to cooperate with the NCAA investigation into the matter.

Michigan (10-0) is ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 3 in the College Football Playoff poll. The team is playing Maryland at SECU Stadium on Saturday and will wrap up the regular season hosting No. 2 Ohio State on Nov. 25.

Harbaugh will be eligible to coach on the sidelines after the Ohio State game.