
As part of the Big Ten‘s sportsmanship policy, Michigan’s coach Jim Harbaugh has been suspended for the rest of the regular season. This comes amid the NCAA’s ongoing investigation into the school’s personally sign-stealing ring.
As the third-ranked Wolverines (9-0) prepare for a crucial road game against Penn State (8-1) on Saturday, the decision was made on Friday afternoon.
With “conducting an unlawful, in-person scouting operation across multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive edge that compromised the integrity of competition,” Michigan was found to have violated the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy, according to a statement released by the conference.
Though the punishment is against Michigan, the Big Ten cited Harbaugh’s serving the penalty as a way to protect the team’s ability to finish the season and his role as the program’s public face.
The conference stated in its report that “Coach Harbaugh is not being sanctioned.” “It is a sanction contrary to the University that, under the unusual circumstance presented by this offensive actions, best fits the violation.”
Harbaugh is still permitted to coach the team the rest of the week; his suspension only prevents him from being on the sidelines on game day.
Whether or not he plays for Michigan against Penn State could depend on a court decision. The school is attempting to obtain a court order “preventing this punishment from taking effect,” according to a statement released by Michigan President Santa Ono.
In the statement, Ono also voiced his dissatisfaction with what he believes to be a hurried Big Ten process.
“Like all members of the Big Ten Conference, we have a right to a fair, deliberate, and thoughtful procedure to determine every aspect of facts before a judgment is rendered,” Ono stated in his statement. “Today’s action by Commissioner Tony Petitti establishes an untenable precedent of imposing penalties prior to the conclusion of an investigation, disobeys the Conference’s own handbook, and breaches fundamental principles of due process. We completely cooperate with the NCAA investigation, but we are shocked by the Commissioner’s snap decision.”
More than three weeks have passed since the Big Ten announced, in a rare move, that the NCAA is looking into Michigan’s alleged illegal sign-stealing on October 19. This is when Harbaugh was suspended.
The league imposed this deadline in part because Michigan requested an extension for their response to the Wednesday afternoon notice of possible discipline. Because the school’s and Harbaugh’s responses were so long, the Big Ten had to consider them and decide whether to reply.
Sources claim that the Big Ten delayed the final decision by requesting documents from the NCAA on Thursday that needed Michigan’s approval.
The Wolverines still have three games left in the regular season: on Saturday in Happy Valley against Penn State; on Tuesday at Maryland; and on Wednesday at home against Ohio State, their rival.
Before Harbaugh’s three-game suspension was revealed on Friday, most sportsbooks had the Michigan-Penn State game’s point spread at Wolverines -4.5. Following the first report, the line moved down to Michigan -4 (-115) at ESPN BET, but most sportsbooks were still listing it at -4.5. (PENN Entertainment provides the ESPN BET odds).
The NCAA is still looking into claims that former Michigan employee Connor Stalions engaged in off-campus scouting and signal stealing. The Big Ten’s punishment does not put an end to this investigation.
The NCAA outlawed scouting prospective opponents off-campus and in person during the same season in 1994. In November 2016, when Oklahoma played Baylor, then-assistant coach Jeff Lebby was suspended for the first half of the game after watching Oklahoma play Tulsa the week before. This is the only known instance of the policy being broken in major college football.
Stalions, a 2022 graduate of the Naval Academy who rose to the rank of captain in the Marine Corps before joining Michigan’s staff, resigned this past Friday following an initial period of paid suspension pending the conclusion of the investigation. According to sources who spoke with ESPN, the Stalions declined to cooperate with the NCAA’s investigation and to meet with Michigan officials—possibly due to legal advice. Attorney Brad Beckworth for the Stalions said in a statement provided to The Athletic that neither the team nor any other Michigan staff members had advised anyone to break the rules pertaining to off-campus scouting.
“I will continue to support the team and I do not want to take away from their potential championship run,” Stallions said in a statement to The Athletic.
The Big Ten and Michigan were informed by the NCAA on October 18 that the off-campus signal theft claims made by the Wolverines were being looked into. After initially alerting Michigan State and Michigan’s other league opponents, the Big Ten issued a statement stating that it would “continue to track the [NCAA] investigation.”
The athletic department at Michigan, according to athletic director Warde Manuel, is “committed to maintaining the highest levels of ethics and integrity for every member of our community” and will work with the NCAA to the fullest extent possible. “I have no knowledge or information about the University of Michigan football program illegally theft signals, nor have I directed any staff member or other people to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment,” Harbaugh said in a statement, adding that he and his staff would also cooperate.
Through the sportsmanship policy, which gives Petitti “exclusive authority” to identify violations and propose discipline, the Big Ten hinted that its involvement would increase after ESPN reported that Stalions had purchased tickets to games at 12 of the 13 other Big All Ten stadiums and for games that could potentially be Michigan’s College Football Playoff opponents. A Big Ten source told ESPN on October 24 that, should the league decide to take action, it would like “as full of a picture regarding what the facts actually are, if we were to act.” The league could intervene before the NCAA’s protracted investigation and infractions process concluded.
Since ESPN first revealed on October 30 that Central Michigan was looking into a man it could not identify who looked like a Stallion and showed up on the team’s sideline wearing CMU-issued gear for the team’s opening game on September 1 against Michigan State, there has been more pressure on Petitti to take action. One of the 50 bench credentials that teams are permitted to use for non-roster players belonged to the unidentified man.
Following that, Petitti conducted calls with Big Ten coaches as well as athletic directors on a few different days. During those calls, a number of them expressed their disgust with Michigan (Harbaugh and Manuel were not present) and urged the commissioner to take punitive action. At their campus meeting on Friday, Petitti presented the evidence he had gathered regarding the signal stealing to Michigan’s president, Ono. The night before their meeting, Ono sent Petitti an email, which he shared with the other chancellors and presidents of the Big Ten. In the email, he asked the commissioner to observe due process and the current NCAA investigation before penalizing Michigan.
The second ongoing NCAA investigation involving Michigan, which was informed in January of suspected recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period, is the off-campus signal-stealing probe. In August, Michigan suspended head coach Jim Harbaugh for three games starting in 2023 and suspended offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and quarterback Grant Newsome for one game each. It is anticipated that Michigan’s first NCAA investigation will be concluded in 2024.
Harbaugh may face Level I charges as a repeat offender under head coach responsibility in addition to charges related to his alleged refusal to assist NCAA investigators.