When it comes to backing Michigan against Ohio State, alum Rich Eisen has no filter. It’s either calling them out for their tweet about the 2025 schedule naming Michigan TUN or showing confidence in them before every rivalry game. Eisen always stood by them. Now, when ESPN Cleveland’s host, Tony Rizzo, took a shot at their dark past, Eisen didn’t hesitate to call him out.

The moment the Ohio vs. Michigan stance comes up, the conversation turns into a massive argument. Just when Rizzo took a direct shot at Michigan’s sign-stealing controversy, saying, “we did win four games without cheating,” Rich Eisen lost his cool.

“Our coach got suspended in flight to Penn State. That’s a game, just in case you’re wondering, that happened three weeks before we took on Ohio State. Three weeks is more than enough time for you to change whatever signals you had, whatever you wanted to do. You had a full month’s heads-up.

We also had a full month without that system. Supposedly, we get ourselves in a better position to not have a lead at the end of the first quarter in the year before, when we were in the horseshoe. If we were cheating on you guys, I wish we cheated better.”

Michigan’s 2023 season won them a national championship, but it also gave them the “sign-stealing” tag that is still haunting them. It all started when Michigan was accused of illegally scouting other teams in person to learn their hand signals. Their former staffer Connor Stalions bought tickets to many games, sent players to film sidelines, and helped Michigan decode signals.

Officials couldn’t confirm whether former head coach Jim Harbaugh was personally aware of the process. But he still bore responsibility, so the team suspended him before Penn State’s game. Here’s the bigger question: if their win relied entirely on sign stealing, how did they win other games, including beating Ohio State and Alabama?

Michigan did have to pay a price for the accusations, as the NCAA fined them $20 million, reduced scholarships, limited recruiting time, and even put them on probation. But the wins remained and so did the Natty. Ultimately Michigan fans can live with that. The skepticism deepens when you look at the broader picture. The NCAA made it clear how Stalions, including other staff members like Sherrone Moore, tried to destroy the evidence.

“Stallions himself described smashing his phone into 1,000 pieces and throwing it into a pond; providing false and misleading information during interviews; telling a potential witness to lie when interviewed; and some staff members, most notably Harbaugh, not participating in interviews at all,” Division I Committee chief hearing officer Norman Bay said.

Even Sherrone Moore deleted his 52 text message threads with Stalions from his personal phone. Harbaugh refused to cooperate with the officials and also denied providing the necessary records to the NCAA. No matter how much Rich Eisen backs Michigan, their shady behavior will always keep them in the public eye.

Michigan’s controversial past

Along with the sign-stealing scandal, Michigan faced a series of scandals that affected its reputation over time. Back in 2023, their offensive coordinator, Matt Weiss, was fired just a few weeks before their game against TCU.

The FBI charged Weiss with hacking into the computer systems of more than 100 universities and spying on personal data. Authorities said Weiss allegedly downloaded confidential information of more than 150,000 student-athletes. He also gained access to the social media, email, and/or cloud storage accounts of more than 3,300 people.

Then comes the firing of Men’s hockey coach Mel Pearson in August 2022 after a complaint was filed against him and then-director of hockey operations Rick Bancroft in the beginning of 2021-22 season.

Allegations included “pressuring students to lie on their COVID-19 tracing forms” prior to the 2021 NCAA tournament. Pearson was alos accused of creating a “toxic work environment” for female support staff and retaliating against a former player for bringing up issues with team culture.

Men’s basketball coach Juwan Howard was suspended and fined in February 2022 after he fought with Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft at the end of the game. Howard struck Joe on the head, causing a scuffle between the two teams. He was suspended for the remainder of the regular season, which was five games, and was fined $40,000. Two Michigan players also got suspensions. Eventually, Howard was fired in March 2024 after five seasons.

In 2010, Rich Rodriguez had came in, spending only three years in the program, but during that time, his team broke the rules. In 2008 and 2009, players exceeded the allowed workout limits. As a consequence, the school penalized itself in 2010. Subsequently, Rodriguez was dismissed in 2011.

So, Michigan is no stranger to controversy, and even if Rich Eisen doesn’t agree, the history speaks for itself.