The writer, an FBI agent for 31 years, retired as resident agent in charge of the Ann Arbor office in 2006. He has a law degree from the University of Nebraska College of Law. He is the author of "FBI Case Files Michigan: Tales of a G-Man."
By Greg Stejskal
“Bo” Schembechler and FBI agent Greg Stejskal in 2006, many years after Schembechler retired.
As an FBI agent, my relationship with Michigan football began in 1982 and continued until 2014 -- eight years after I retired and more than two decades after Bo Schembechler stopped coaching.
I wrote about that relationship and the story below was excerpted from my book, but first I’ll recount some current events.
The last few weeks have not been the best of times at Schembechler Hall, the headquarters of Michigan football named for Glenn “Bo” Schembechler, the winningest coach in Michigan football history. A program that has notched more wins than any college program - over 1000 wins.
Michigan had a reputation of winning and doing so cleanly, but that reputation has been under fire in the last few years. There have been allegations and sanctions for recruiting violations and the infamous “sign stealing” scandal which may have again proved the adage, the coverup is worse than the crime.
Fired Coach Sherrone Moore, 39
In the last week, a new scandal has emerged that resulted in the firing of Michigan Head Coach Sherrone Moore. Then he was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors and a felony. Reportedly, Moore had been having a “years-long affair” with a subordinate football staff person.
Following the announcement of his firing, Moore went to the apartment of his former paramour who had ended the affair and self-reported it to the athletic department. Allegedly Moore forced his way into her apartment and told her that she had ruined his life and threatened to commit suicide in her presence. He then took off and was arrested later that night.
More Serious Scandal
This scandal was decidedly more serious than the various NCAA violations, and naturally the media has had a field day. Much has been made of the “change of culture” in the Michigan athletic department since the days of Bo Schembechler.
Specific mention has been made of Schembechler’s term, a “Michigan Man.” CNN defined the term, “(it) meant to indicate a successful way of doing things.” I think Schembechler’s definition was somewhat more profound - an individual of good character who exhibited honor and integrity on and off the field.
But that wasn’t really Schembechler’s mantra. His mantra was “the team, the team, the team” – no individual whether coach or player is bigger than the team. He stressed teamwork, selflessness and shared goals above personal glory.
In 1981, Texas A&M wanted to hire Schembechler away from Michigan. They offered him a 10-year contract for $2.25 million ($225,000/year) with additional benefits. It would have made him the highest paid coach in the country. He was making $60,000 at Michigan. He was tempted to take the Texas A&M offer, but he believed he had made a commitment to his players and future players he had recruited – “the team.”
The TV Money
The culture of college football has changed. It started with the influx of TV money and ever bigger coaches’ contracts leading to coaches going from one college to another like a game of musical chairs in search of more money. Then players became involved with payments for Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). This coupled with the almost unlimited ability to transfer to other colleges via the portal.
So far there is very little regulation of the NIL payments, and the players are not bound by contracts. So, if a player knows he can get a bigger NIL payment at another school, he can transfer to that school without penalty. This means coaches have to re-recruit players every year. The days of loyalty to the team are, if not dead, on life support.
Yes, the culture has changed, but not just at Michigan. I was witness to the transition. Here is my story.
The Annual Talk with the Michigan Football Team About Sports Gambling
Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. -Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) to Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains) the closing line of “Casablanca”
In 1982, legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler asked the Ann Arbor FBI office to talk to his team about the perils of illegal sports gambling.
The Senior Resident Agent, Tom Love, agreed to make the presentation. Love, knowing I had played college football at Nebraska (read: mostly practiced), asked me to help. We explained that sports gambling is not about who wins but about covering the point spread. Gamblers need to get inside information as an edge to better divine how a team will perform and, the Holy Grail of bookmakers, have a cooperating player or referee with the ability to control the point spread: point shaving.
Sports gambling was and is a potential threat to the integrity of sports. The huge amount of money bet illegally in the United States, estimated at more than $300 billion, is an incentive to control the outcome of a game. (Federal law no longer prohibits states from allowing sports gambling. So, it is now legal in many states.)
When I started making presentations, Michigan’s football team was housed in a relatively small, one-story building.
Michigan’s transition to the state-of-the-art facilities it has today is emblematic of the change in Division I football in the past 30 years. In those days, college teams such as Michigan might be on TV once or twice a year. Now, a dedicated fan or gambler can watch just about any game played anywhere in the country.
With the increase in TV coverage, sports gambling also has increased. And with the advent of the internet, gamblers have access to more current information and can place bets online.
The FBI recognized the need for educating players early on and developed a sports presentation program. I went through the training and attended periodic conferences with representatives from the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NCAA.
Over the years, I have talked to pro and college teams. (I talked to the Michigan basketball teams several times, including the “Fab Five” teams. That might have been a case of a failure to communicate.)
The FBI program still exists, in theory, but priorities have changed, and it is no longer as active as it once was.
Schembechler invited us back the next year, and Love asked me to give the presentations on my own. (Over the years, I would bring other FBI agents and Assistant US Attorneys to help with the presentations: Marty Torgler, Lou Fischetti, Jim Brennen and Hugh Shanahan from DEA. (Hugh did a very entertaining talk about illegal drugs.) Little did I know that it was to be the “beginning of a beautiful friendship” between Bo and me — one that would have a substantial effect on my career. Schembechler had a concept of a “Michigan Man,” a student-athlete who not only demonstrated traditional values such as integrity, honor, and responsibility on the field, but lived them, as well.
We worked together on several FBI cases — notably the investigation of Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom, two notorious sports agents, who bribed and signed about 20 blue-chip college football players while they were still eligible to play college ball. Walters and Bloom postdated the contracts and kept them secret, a clear violation of NCAA rules. Under those rules, once a player signs with an agent, his college eligibility ends.
Schembechler would be the “star” witness in the successful federal prosecution of Walters and Bloom. Walters had organized-crime connections, and it was believed that the ultimate goal of signing so many star athletes was to get some of the players involved in point shaving.
Schembechler also convinced me to pursue an undercover operation targeting the illegal trafficking of anabolic steroids. That operation, called Equine, was international in scope and resulted in the successful prosecution of more than 70 dealers. We also learned that many Major
League Baseball players were using steroids. Ironically, I first warned MLB about the steroid problem in 1994 at an FBI sports presentation conference.
Although illegal sports gambling continued to be the primary topic over the years, other concerns were discussed, such as drugs, steroids, domestic violence and, more recently, the improvident use of social media.
Something I didn’t always do, but learned was important, was to ensure that the head coaches stayed during the presentations, because if the coaches didn’t think it was important to be there, the players wouldn’t, either. (Bo would have the assistant coaches and trainers attend as well.)
After Schembechler retired in 1989, I continued to talk to the Michigan football teams. Later, I was fortunate to become friends with Lloyd Carr during his 13-year tenure as Michigan coach.
Carr coached my son when he was a walk-on from 2000-03. Those presentations were special for me: I was not only an FBI agent speaking to Michigan’s football team, but a father seeing his son in a group of men representing a program that I had come to respect.
I retired in 2006, but I continued to talk to the Michigan football teams until 2014. The topics changed, but the overall message stayed the same: making good choices based on good values.
There were some outstanding men and players (numerous All-Americans and two Heisman Trophy winners) in those audiences. Many would go on to careers in the professional leagues, but most would have successful careers in all walks of life. It was great opportunity to project a positive image of the FBI.
I always ended my talks with a quote attributed to John Wayne: “Life is tough. It’s tougher if you’re stupid.”
