Vincent Frank
Jim Harbaugh’s tenure as the Michigan Wolverines head coach was up-and-down. It culminated in the program earning the national championship this past January. Harbaugh had been suspended multiple times throughout the season due to a sign-stealing scandal.
Harbaugh, 60, has since moved on to be the Los Angeles Chargers‘ head coach. But this is not stopping the NCAA from continuing to lay the hammer down on him.
In what is an unprecedented move, the college governing board announced on Wednesday that it has handed Harbaugh a four-year show cause penalty.
“Today, the committee issued its decision resolving that portion of the case. The underlying violations in this case are centered around impermissible recruiting contacts and inducements during the COVID-19 dead period. Throughout the investigation, Harbaugh denied his involvement in the violations, which were overwhelmingly supported by the record. Harbaugh also refused to participate in a hearing before the committee.
“Harbaugh’s violations of the COVID-19 recruiting dead period are Level II violations, but his unethical conduct and failure to cooperate with the membership’s infractions process — specifically, his provision of false or misleading information — is a Level I violation.
Head coaches are presumed responsible for violations that occur within their programs. Due to Harbaugh’s personal involvement in the violations and his failure to monitor his staff, he could not rebut the presumption, resulting in a violation of head coach responsibility rules,” the NCAA announced.
“The panel noted that Harbaugh’s intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct amplified the severity of the case and prompted the panel to classify Harbaugh’s case as Level I-Aggravated, with penalties to include a four-year show-cause order. Subsumed in the show-cause order is a one-season suspension for Harbaugh.”
What The Jim Harbaugh Suspension From The NCAA Means
Technically, Harbaugh will be suspended for a year if he decides to make his way back to college football from the NFL.
This is not necessarily a huge deal given that Harbaugh signed a five-year deal with the Chargers that pays him roughly $16 million per season. He obviously has no intention of returning to college ball.
Even then, the NCAA has had it out for Harbaugh over the past couple years. This latest penalty prove that to an absolute T.
Harbaugh posted an 89-25 record during his nine-year run with Michigan. He had previously been the Stanford Cardinal head coach from 2007-2010 before making his way to the San Francisco 49ers. As the 49ers’ head coach from 2011-2014, he put up a 44-19-1 record. Certainly, Harbaugh’s success can’t be overstated. Anything the NCAA does won’t put that into question.