Reports surfaced on Tuesday that a resolution between Michigan Football head coach Jim Harbaugh and the NCAA is expected to be reached in the coming days – one that would see Harbaugh suspended for the first four games of the 2023 season.
The punitive action originally stems from an investigation into recruiting violations in 2021, for which Harbaugh is accused of meeting with two recruits during an extended COVID-19 dead period, as well as claims that members of the Michigan coaching staff had monitored players workouts via Zoom.
These actions fall under the NCAA’s ‘Level II’ violations – which are defined as “less than a substantial or extensive recruiting, competitive or other advantage.”
However, things would escalate this year, when Harbaugh’s denial of having any knowledge of the initial infractions would prolong the NCAA’s investigation (as first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel).
According to the NCAA, “during an attempt to expedite the case and achieve a ‘negotiated resolution’, Harbaugh refused to acknowledge that he had lied to NCAA investigators, a source confirmed. He has maintained that he doesn’t remember the incident in question, which has led to a standstill in the case.”
Weeks prior, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel released a statement acknowledging that the program had been notified by the NCAA of a potential Level I violation for misleading investigators.
“Yesterday, we received draft allegations from the NCAA regarding our football program. We have cooperated and will continue to cooperate with this investigation. Out of respect to the NCAA’s enforcement process, we will not offer further comments,” said Manuel.
In the months that followed, a discourse would arise about the veracity of the investigation – arguing that the original sin of Harbaugh’s Level II violations, reported to be as benign as taking some kids out for hamburgers, doesn’t meet a fair standard of wrongdoing when compared to significantly more gaudy transgressions that have become synonymous with bad practice in college football recruiting.
Or, as espoused by ESPN college football personality and sports author Paul Finebaum, “the NCAA has done the impossible – they’ve made Jim Harbaugh a sympathetic figure.”
All the same, yesterday’s news of a likely resolution signals that some concessions have been reached between the NCAA and the Michigan head coach. Potentially carrying a penalty of up to a six-game suspension, a Level I violation is considered the most serious by the overseeing body of college football.
Michigan’s season begins on September 2, at home against East Carolina – with the suspension projected to run through the Wolverine’s September 23 meeting at the Big House against Rutgers. It is also important to note that the suspension will not bar Harbaugh from coaching the team at practice sessions, it only pertains to the Michigan head coach’s ability to act in his established role on the sidelines and all other gameday obligations.
