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\tFormer Michigan Assistant Chris Partridge Sues School<\/p>\n
\n\tEchoes of the Connor Stalions scandal continue to ripple throughout time, and even the Michigan men themselves involved seem to have trouble letting it go despite most of them largely getting away unpunished. That seems to include Chris Partridge despite the fact that the former Wolverines assistant won last month’s Super Bowl as the Seattle Seahawks’ linebackers coach\u00a0to help offset\u00a0getting fired from Michigan two months before the school won the College Football Playoff.\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\tFormer Michigan assistant Chris Partridge, fired in the middle of the sign stealing scandal only to be cleared by the NCAA, has sued the school.<\/p>\n
The complaint offers a window into the contentious dealings between Michigan and the Big Ten. For @espn<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/9gYsD7w36r<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) March 11, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\tIn the complaint, Partridge asserts\u00a0Michigan made him a “scapegoat” during the first month after\u00a0the Stalions scandal went public before being fired on November 17th, 2023. The boldest allegation in his suit revolves around Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, making the claim that the conference’s highest official,\u00a0“presented [Michigan athletic director Warde] Manuel with uncorroborated, second-hand, inflammatory information” that Partridge advised an anonymous\u00a0student-athlete to “not be forthright with information” when addressing\u00a0NCAA reps investigating the matter.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFurthermore, the suit alleges Petitti pressured\u00a0the Wolverines to act on the information by threatening to present it\u00a0during an injunction hearing on the subject of Jim Harbaugh’s suspension while he was still head coach at Michigan. The school and conference each declined comment to ESPN on the matter<\/a> when the story broke Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPartridge has long denied any wrongdoing and received a strong vote of confidence from the NCAA Committee on Infractions last year during review of his\u00a0three alleged violations. The win has inspired Partridge to continue seeking confirmation of the truth through justice as it applies to his previous employer, as he said this week, “I went all the way through the process with the NCAA and the truth prevailed. And I feel I have to go all the way through the process with Michigan for the truth with Michigan to prevail.”\n<\/p>\n
\tBig Ten Seeks Pause From NCAA in Tampering Inquiries<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Wednesday, the Big Ten Conference requested the NCAA\u00a0temporarily stop investigating alleged \u201ctampering\u201d cases \u2014 situations where coaches or schools contact players from another program before those players officially enter the transfer portal. Conference officials argue that the current rules are outdated and difficult to enforce in today\u2019s environment, where athletes can transfer more freely and earn money through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals.\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\tNEWS: The Big Ten has sent a letter to the NCAA to insist the NCAA impose a moratorium on investigations and infractions proceedings related to tampering. The letter lays out the need to comprehensively reevaluate rules, which were designed for a world that no longer pic.twitter.com\/vAXPefDkA0<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 11, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\tIn the letter, the Big Ten claims\u00a0that because\u00a0athletes now make decisions about where to play based heavily on compensation and immediate opportunities, existing tampering rules \u201ccannot be credibly or equitably enforced\u201d and need a full overhaul before schools are punished under them. It also states its belief that the current portal system creates too much \u201cgray area\u201d about what counts as illegal contact with players.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe request has sparked debate across college athletics. Other major conferences, including the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 Conference, oppose pausing enforcement and say tampering rules still must\u00a0be enforced to maintain order in recruiting and the transfer portal. The NCAA has also signaled that it plans to keep investigating potential violations for now, even while a working group reviews possible reforms to tampering policies.\n<\/p>\n
\tFake Emeka Egbuka Duped Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Months<\/p>\n
\n\tIt seems\u00a0hard enough to trust anything at face value on the Internet these days, and that goes double for social media. Still, you would expect an NFL outfit to do a better job taking stock of ways to communicate and interact with its newest employees than what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers demonstrated with former Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka this week.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Wednesday, an account with the handle @EgbukaEmeka on X sent out a tweet that concerned football fans asking, “is CTE even real?” The message immediately drew public attention and concern before the official Buccaneers account felt compelled enough to quote tweet the original post and respond in an official capacity by disavowing the imposter of Egbuka.\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\tThe below account is neither owned nor operated by Emeka Egbuka. It is in no way affiliated with Emeka or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. https:\/\/t.co\/d3uZHhH5Nc<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) March 11, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\tSports fans getting tricked\u00a0by accounts misrepresenting fake athletes and reports is hardly a new phenomenon, but what makes this case particularly unusual is that the Buccaneers had previously acknowledged this account as the real Egbuka several times. The\u00a0NFL Players’ Association also followed the account prior to its suspension following the controversy.\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\tBuccaneers tagged fake Emeka Egbuka X account almost 60 times https:\/\/t.co\/2tevqgqUNr<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Lkkz7Xms8A<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 13, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\tAmong the roughly five-dozen instances of acknowledgement from the Bucs includes the congratulations post the team made when Egbuka proposed to his\u00a0fianc\u00e9 towards the begging of the year. Egbuka eventually clarified via his Instagram account that he hasn’t used X\u00a0since his high school days when it was still officially known as “Twitter.”\n<\/p>\n
\n\n\t\tWhat a year for @EgbukaEmeka<\/a><\/p>\n
Congratulations on your engagement, Emeka & Laney! pic.twitter.com\/6TMUWLmsoT<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) January 3, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\n\t\tFrom Emeka Egbuka re: his X account. Very confusing for a lot of people, I know, as it was widely followed and the team tagged it quite a bit. pic.twitter.com\/2jBcnWTUWY<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\u2014 JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) March 13, 2026<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\tBe careful, sometimes you really have no idea who you could be talking to online!\n<\/p>\n
\tICYMI<\/p>\n
\tNew President at Ohio State: Welcome Ravi Bellamkonda<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\tOhio State announced the promotion of provost Ravi Bellamkonda to president on Thursday as he replaces Ted Carter following the latter’s self-reported misconduct in office. Dan Hope has details concerning the new big man on campus.\n<\/p>\n