NCAA couldn’t determine if Jim Harbaugh knew of Michigan sign-stealing
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The NCAA gave former Michigan coach a 10-year show cause for his role in a years-long sign-stealing scheme between 2021-23, but it said in a press conference on Friday that it couldn’t determine whether or not Harbaugh explicitly knew about the scheme.
In a release from the Division I Committee on Infractions, the NCAA levied Level I violations against Harbaugh for failure to cooperate in the NCAA investigation and for violating the principles of head coach responsibility. The NCAA also claimed that Harbaugh failed to demonstrate that he adequately promoted compliance or monitored his program. It also held him automatically responsible for the scouting and recruiting violations that occurred after Jan. 1, 2023.
But, one of the central questions at the heart of Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal is whether Harbaugh had knowledge of the in-person scouting network that was being run by former U-M staffer Connor Stalions.
Harbaugh said last August at a press conference with the L.A. Chargers that he “was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations” when asked about the sign-stealing investigation. In October 2023, Harbaugh also denied knowledge of the operation.
Harbaugh’s name is mentioned more than 120 times throughout the 74-page document the NCAA sent to Michigan on Friday, but the COI concluded that it did not have sufficient evidence to suggest Harbaugh knew about Stalions’ operation.
“On of the problems here was that Coach Harbaugh never turned over any emails or text messages and then refused to be interviewed by NCAA enforcement staff, so the record is incomplete,” the NCAA’s COI panel told reporters on Friday.
“In addition, as I indicated, Mr. Stalions said he destroyed his phone and threw it in a pond along with a hard drive, so we may never know the full extent to which others in the program were aware of what Mr. Stalions was doing.”
Stalions received an 8-year show-cause order from the NCAA for his part in the scandal. Michigan received 4 years probation and financial penalties that could exceed $20 million. However, no postseason ban was put in place, and Michigan was not forced to vacate any wins.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
