Jim Harbaugh recalls sitting on North Carolina’s Bald Head Island with his brother, John, perhaps five or six years ago. The siblings, who are both coaches, raised the elephant in the room for every program builder: how long do you coach? When do you put the whistle down?
So they turned to their father, five-decade coach Jack Harbaugh.
“He said, ‘I’ll tell you what you do, boys: you coach as long as you possibly can.'” “You coach until you don’t feel like you can coach another day, you can’t make another script, you can’t go out to the practice field,” Jim explained. ‘And that’s when you know, when you get to that place – coach for two more years.”
It’s a fitting parallel for Harbaugh’s current predicament.
According to a Michigan official, the Big Ten sent Michigan a notice of disciplinary action. The charges revolve around in-person scouting infractions involving the theft of opponents’ signs, which is also being investigated by the NCAA. Michigan has until Wednesday to react to the conference-level claims before the Big Ten makes a decision on possible punishment.
Despite the swirling allegations, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh is gearing up for this week’s heavyweight matchup with Penn State. Harbaugh is keeping practices as normal as possible for as long as he can, even as the Big Ten conducts its disciplinary process.
Under pressure to take action against Harbaugh, first-year commissioner Tony Petitti met with Big Ten athletics directors last week to discuss sanctions. He also met with Michigan leaders on Friday, including University president Santa Ono, who had earlier that day wrote Petitti a now-leaked letter encouraging the Big Ten to wait for the NCAA’s probe to end.
However, according to Yahoo Sports, some of that process has concluded. According to Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel, the NCAA findings did not link Harbaugh to in-person scouting or opponent recording. It is unknown whether the Big Ten took these findings into account.
Connor Stalions, a seven-year volunteer coach who became a full-time analyst in 2022, is the focus of that probe. Several reports linked Stalions to the purchase of dozens of football game tickets, as well as the hiring of individuals to attend such games and record teams’ play call signals.
Central Michigan most recently initiated an investigation Nov. 1 into whether the Stalions attended their Sept. 1 game against Michigan State. The NCAA has since joined that procedure. Stalions left the program on Friday, in what was initially reported as a termination but was later changed to a resignation by Michigan and Stalions.
Instead of following Ono’s recommendation and waiting for the NCAA’s findings, the Big Ten informed Michigan of probable disciplinary action on Saturday, according to The Detroit News. A notice of this nature is required “at the earliest reasonable opportunity” before the conference can impose any official penalty. Essentially, it is an opportunity for Michigan to react to the Big Ten’s allegations before the conference decides how to proceed.
Michigan administration appear to be bracing for a fight over disciplinary actions. Warde Manuel, the athletic director at Michigan, said in a statement Monday that he is restructuring his timetable to deal with the problem.
“I want to provide an update regarding my participation with the College Football Playoff Committee this week,” he stated. “I will not be traveling to our weekly meeting in Dallas but instead will stay in Ann Arbor, attending to important matters regarding the ongoing investigation into our football program.”
Manuel has a lot on his plate, to say the least. Petitti has several options for punishment under the Big Ten’s sportsmanship rules. He can face what his conference refers to as ordinary disciplinary action, which includes penalties of up to $10,000 or suspensions of no more than two games. He can also consider a major move that goes beyond those limitations and requires approval from the Joint Group Executive Council of the conference. If a vote involving the Wolverines occurs, any Michigan-affiliated members of the council will be replaced by a representative from another school.
According to various sources, Michigan intends to sue Harbaugh if he is fired, but that may not be that straightforward. According to the Big Ten’s sportsmanship code, both standard and serious disciplinary penalties are “not subject to appeal,” therefore any resistance must take place in court. This might lead to an ugly and lengthy battle for both parties.
In other ways, the situation has already deteriorated. According to Larry Lage of the Associated Press, a former employee of another Big Ten team said they were recruited to steal Michigan’s own play call signs using information from a variety of Big Ten teams. According to the ex-staffer, they provided Michigan with evidence of their involvement in the sign-stealing, including text logs. They apparently provided these materials in the hope that it would help Harbaugh resist discipline for what they considered as renegade Stallion behavior.
Similar to the scenario in Michigan, these documents could lead to further investigation into potential infractions for the persons involved.
You don’t have to read between the lines to know that things are moving quickly. When he was considering his coaching career six years ago, Harbaugh could not have foreseen his current situation. But, as back then, he’s not ready to put down the whistle just yet.
Whether a suspension forces him to do so temporarily could define his team’s season.
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