Former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh received a four-year show cause order, including a one-season suspension, from the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions, which ruled that Harbaugh “violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations” in connection with violations of the COVID-19 dead period in 2021.
The penalties for Harbaugh are essentially a formality now that he’s coaching the Los Angeles Chargers and represent the final resolution in the NCAA’s investigation of Michigan for hosting recruits on campus during the COVID-19 dead period. The NCAA’s notice of allegations charged that Michigan had impermissible contact with three recruits during that period, including meals and meetings in the school’s facilities.
“The way I see it, from coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s COI decision is like being in college and getting a letter from your high school saying you’ve been suspended because you didn’t sign the yearbook,” Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, wrote on X.
Harbaugh’s underlying actions constituted a Level II violation, the NCAA found, but he received a more serious Level I infraction for providing false or misleading information to NCAA investigators. Harbaugh maintained that he did not remember the impermissible meetings, according to two sources briefed on the investigation, but the NCAA was able to document his presence.
If Harbaugh were to return to college football during the four-year show cause, he would be “barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any NCAA school that employed him,” according to the NCAA. He would also be suspended for 100 percent of his first full season of employment.
Michigan was placed on three years of NCAA probation and received recruiting restrictions in connection with the violations of the COVID-19 dead period. As part of a negotiated resolution to settle Michigan’s portion of that case, the school acknowledged in April that Harbaugh did not meet his responsibilities as head coach.
Michigan and Harbaugh are the subjects of a second NCAA investigation involving former staffer Connor Stalions, who is accused of coordinating a scheme to collect video footage of other teams’ signals. The NCAA sent a draft notice of allegations to Michigan on Sunday outlining potential charges in that case, including a Level I charge for Harbaugh and a Level II charge for new head coach Sherrone Moore for allegedly deleting text messages with Stalions.
“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal. I was raised with that lesson,” Harbaugh said earlier this week when asked about the allegations in the Stalions case. “I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams that I’ve coached. No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and you make it right.
“Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware, nor complicit in those said allegations. So for me, it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
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