NCAA president offers up solution to sign-stealing in wake of Michigan football scandal

PULLMAN, Wash. – The head of the NCAA is looking to revive discussions about implementing helmet radio technology in college football as a way to address the ongoing controversy currently engulfing the Michigan Wolverines.

Charlie Baker, the new NCAA president, shared in an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Friday that “my goal is going to be to try to get it back on the agenda” after prior discussions didn’t lead to any changes.

He declined to comment on the NCAA’s investigation into Michigan, which is facing allegations of violating an NCAA rule prohibiting in-person advance scouting of opponents to steal play-calling signals. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh this week accepted a three-game suspension as part of a settlement with the Big Ten Conference.

“Michigan has been a very collaborative partner all the way through the process, and we’re gonna pursue it until we finish interviewing everybody that is scheduled to be interviewed and review all the documents that we’ve asked for,” Baker said. He was visiting Washington State University at the time of the interview.

Other forms of sign-stealing are not against the rules, such using game film to decipher signals. But using video recordings to decode coaches’ signals from the sidelines is illegal under NCAA rules. So is in-person advance scouting, which violates an NCAA rule instituted in 1994. Some have argued that the rule is outdated in an era of $77 million coaching buyouts and conference realignment driven by lucrative television contracts.

What can the NCAA do about this?

Helmet technology could make old-fashioned handmade play signals obsolete with the use of audio communication from coaches through players’ helmets, which is used in the NFL. Such communication couldn’t be stolen by scouting a team in person to steal hand signals and signs made by coaches on the sideline to their players on the field.

“I think it’s a rule that people expect schools to comply with,” said Baker. He further expressed his intent to engage Power Five conferences in creating a framework and a structure around the helmet technology. He acknowledged that not every Division I program may be able to adopt this technology.

Baker said he’s not exactly sure why such technology has not advanced at the college level, but he hopes to change that with NCAA intervention.

“The NFL has rules for both how you use them and how you can’t use them, what you use them for, and you’d also want to come up with some sort of universal design for how you’re gonna do this stuff around the stadium,” Baker said. “You need a framework for it.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA’s Charlie Baker has solution to college football sign stealing