Jim Harbaugh Suspended 3 Games by Michigan Amid NCAA Investigation

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh received a three-game university-imposed suspension as he remains the subject of an NCAA investigation.

“While the ongoing NCAA matter continues through the NCAA process, today’s announcement is our way of addressing mistakes that our department has agreed to in an attempt to further that process,” athletic director Warde Manuel said in Monday’s announcement. “We will continue to support Coach Harbaugh, his staff, and our outstanding student-athletes. Per the NCAA’s guidelines, we cannot comment further until the matter is resolved.”

Michigan has yet to identify Harbaugh’s interim replacement.

After news of the suspension broke, Harbaugh noted that he will try to “get better.”

“I will continue to do what I always do and what I always tell our players and my kids at home: ‘Don’t get bitter, get better,'” Harbaugh said, via Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.

Rivals’ Josh Henschke and the Detroit News’ Angelique S. Chengelis first reported the length of the ban. The Athletic’s Austin Meek previously reported the school was discussing a self-imposed suspension.

This comes after Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel reported on Aug. 12 that negotiations between the school and the NCAA over a potential four-game suspension had run aground.

While that development meant Harbaugh could coach the entire 2023 season, it meant a punishment of equal or perhaps higher severity was waiting in 2024.

Meek and The Athletic colleague Nicole Auerbach reported in January the NCAA sent Michigan a draft Notice of Allegations in connection to the investigation. The program is looking at four Level II violations and one Level I violation, the latter of which is reserved for the most serious infractions.

Among the allegations against Harbaugh is that he had impermissible contact with recruits and bought them cheeseburgers at a local restaurant, according to Ari Wasserman of The Athletic.

The Level I violation stems from him allegedly failing to be totally forthcoming with NCAA investigators. It’s the classic cliché of the cover-up being worse than the crime.

NCAA vice president Derrick Crawford was seemingly addressing those who argue the organization is being overzealous when he said in a statement that the current inquiry “is related to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities, not a cheeseburger.”

Wetzel took those comments to mean the NCAA intends to follow the letter of the law.

“Crawford is correct,” he wrote. “The case is not about a cheeseburger; it’s about Harbaugh allegedly being mistruthful with investigators. If he’s guilty, then NCAA rules—which Harbaugh has agreed to adhere to—say he should be punished at least six games.

“And the rules he violated are legit. Every sports league—NFL, NBA, etc.—has statutes on when you can work out players, bring in potential free agents or what is allowable at practices. This may not be a major case, but this is not a ‘nothing’ case, either.”

Self-imposing a suspension that’s less than what had been the proposed settlement may not get the NCAA off Harbaugh’s back entirely. Perhaps Michigan is hoping his three-game absence will limit any additional damage in 2024.

The Wolverines host Texas in their second game next year and have an away clash at USC falling somewhere on the calendar as the Trojans and crosstown rival UCLA officially join the Big Ten.