Michigan State football OL coach: Of course sign-stealing is a big deal. Here's why.
EAST LANSING — The question was broad, but Chris Kapilivoic answered it specifically.
If a defense knows what plays your team is about to run, how much does that disrupt an offense?
“I'll be honest” Michigan State football’s offensive line coach and run game coordinator said Tuesday. “Anybody that's coaching football that says if the other team knows what you're doing is not an advantage, I gotta check them. That's not true.”
What Kapilovic was alluding to was clear.
The Spartans got pulled into the ongoing Connor Stalions controversy at Michigan last week when photographic and video evidence alleged the now-former Wolverines recruiting analyst was on the Central Michigan sideline against MSU on Sept. 1. U-M played East Carolina a day later in Ann Arbor.
Regardless if it was or wasn’t Stalions, who on Friday reportedly resigned from his role as the Big Ten and NCAA investigate, two plays early in the Spartans’ 31-7 victory over the Chippewas became a little more intriguing in hindsight. Running back Nate Carter twice got stuffed for no gain on fourth-and-1 in the opening half that resulted in turnovers on downs, one on MSU’s game-opening offensive possession and one late in the second quarter.
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Did CMU guess the call correctly both times? Or did someone on the Chips’ sideline read the Spartans’ signals? Either way, deciphering other team’s calls from across the field in real time is permissible under NCA rules. What is illegal — and in question with the Stalions allegations — is to use video recordings of another team’s sideline calls or have a member of another coaching staff in person scouting a future opponent.
“I've been part of programs where we have guys trying to steal signals from the sideline during the game,” said Kapilovic, who has coached for 23 years at Colorado, North Carolina, Southern Miss and other smaller schools. “Everybody's listening, you know what the other team's saying. Because why is everybody doing that? Because it's an advantage. Even for an offense, if you even know the coverage, if you know what blitz is coming, you should have a plan of how to react to that and you can put them in a vulnerable situation. It works both ways.
“Everybody wouldn't be trying to hide signals if it wasn't a big deal that the other team knew what you were doing. Let's just put it that way. That's pretty common sense.”
Interim MSU coach Harlon Barnett on Monday was asked about his thoughts on the Stalions allegations and his reaction to his departure from U-M.
“I'm thinking like most people in this room are hopefully thinking,” Barnett said. “I'll leave it at that.”
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More so than in any other sport, football coaches are notoriously hyperfixated on potential leaks of game plans and plays as if they are military secrets (Stalions, coincidentally, was previously a Naval Academy graduate and a captain in the Marines). Their paranoia revolves around having control over every aspect of their program down to having staff members keep an eye out at practices for spies. Teams also will go as far to watch TV broadcast footage in an attempt to read the lips of what opposing coaches and players are saying.
“I think you've got everything. A lot of people watch the TV copy because it shows the sideline a little bit more," Kapilovic said. "I think most people will try to in-game see if they can get an advantage, and that's usually what stays. With most people.”
Neither Barnett nor Kapilovic directly addressed the allegations involving Stalions allegedly being at Spartan Stadium or buying tickets to other venues and reportedly having a network of 65 people filming footage of future opponents’ sideline signals.
Kapilovic said he supports college football adopting the helmet communication technology being used in the NFL between coaches and quarterbacks on offense and usually linebackers on defense.
“I think it'd be great,” he said. “When you watch college games, it's quite the show on the sideline with everybody, from all the different boards to the curtains to guy standing around holding towels, whatever it is, right? So it'd be really great if you could just get rid of that and let's just all play football the way it's meant to be played and let the best team execute and win.”
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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Next up: Buckeyes
Matchup: Michigan State (3-6, 1-5 Big Ten) at No. 3 Ohio State (9-0, 6-0).
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m., Saturday; Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio.
TV/radio: NBC, WJR-AM (760).
Line: Buckeyes by 31½.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football OL coach: Of course sign-stealing is big deal
