Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
It’s been more than two years since Michigan fired co-offensive coordinator Matthew Weiss in connection to an investigation involving “computer access crimes” that transpired on campus. Now, we have some insight into what those crimes were after he was hit with a slew of charges linked to a disturbing hacking scheme involving thousands of college athletes across the country.
Matthew Weiss was a punter who played football at Vanderbilt in the early 2000s before pivoting to coaching, and he spent more than a decade working his way up the ranks with the Ravens before trading one Harbaugh brother for another when Jim tapped him to join him at Michigan in 2021.
Weiss initially served as a quarterbacks coach and was eventually promoted to co-offensive coordinator. He spent three seasons in Ann Arbor before things took a turn in the wake of the season that saw the Wolverines lose to TCU in the College Football Playoff, as the university announced it had placed him on leave due to his alleged links to unspecified computer crimes orchestrated on its campus before he was fired in January of 2023.
On Thursday, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office representing the Eastern District of Michigan shed some light on that development after announcing Weiss has been charged with 24 crimes after hitting him with 14 counts of “unauthorized access to computers” and another 10 linked to “aggravated identity theft.”
Prosecutors say the scheme began as early as 2015 (when he was still employed by the Ravens) but note Weiss used his position at Michigan to gain unauthorized access to databases that allowed him to obtain “personally identifiable information and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes. ”
Weiss allegedly used that information to gain access to social media and email accounts as well as the cloud storage files of 2,000 different college athletes as well as 1,300 other students and alumni in a quest to obtain “personal, intimate digital photographs and videos that were never intended to be shared beyond intimate partners” (the indictment notes he “primarily targeted female college athletes”).
The case attracted the attention of the FBI, which worked alongside the police department at the University of Michigan to track down the evidence that led to Weiss being charged. He faces up to five years in prison for each count of unauthorized access and another two for the identity theft charges.