Big Ten under mounting pressure to punish Michigan football

This is getting out of hand. #GoBlue

On Wednesday, the Big Ten coaches aired their grievances about Michigan football and the alleged sign-stealing scandal to commissioner Tony Pettiti. On Thursday, it was the athletic directors.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel, the athletic directors continued to push the Big Ten to take action, even before the NCAA issues any sort of notice of allegations. The NCAA’s investigation started in earnest last week Thursday.

Yahoo:

In a meeting Thursday with commissioner Tony Petitti, Big Ten athletic directors continued to encourage action from the league over Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal and gave their support for any decision that is made, sources tell Yahoo Sports.

For the second time in a week, school administrators met with Petitti over the NCAA’s investigation into what has become an elaborate scandal from at least one Michigan staff member to scout future opponents in-person in an effort to learn their play-call signals.

One of the most vocal proponents of invoking a severe punishment on the Wolverines comes from a rival: Michigan State AD Alan Haller.

ESPN:

The most powerful message, according to sources familiar with the call, came from Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller. He mentioned the alterations Michigan State needed to undergo in order to prepare for its game with Michigan after receiving a call Wednesday of that game week about Michigan having Michigan State’s signals.

Haller worried about players potentially getting hurt because Michigan players, in theory, knew where they’d be going on plays.

He also referenced last year, when he said the Big Ten forced Michigan State to suspend numerous players after the tunnel incident in Ann Arbor before the league finished investigating the incident. He pointed out that it was hypocritical that this year, with Michigan under investigation, the league is now waiting for an investigation to unfold.

Haller is not typically one of the more vocal athletic directors on calls, so both his voice and the passion he spoke with resonated with the athletic directors and Big Ten officials on the call, sources said.

According to The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach, Pettiti will be meeting with University of Michigan president Santa J. Ono on Friday.

More on this story as it develops.