Michigan’s football program will serve three years of NCAA probation as a result of violations dating back to the COVID-19 dead period.
The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions approved a negotiated resolution involving Michigan and five current or former staff members, it said Tuesday. As part of the resolution, Michigan agreed to pay a fine and the staff members accepted one-year show cause orders tied to Level II violations.
“Today’s joint resolution pertains to the University of Michigan Athletic Department and several former and current employees,” athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward.”
Michigan committed NCAA violations in football program.https://t.co/FY3qVJnCBV
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) April 16, 2024
Jim Harbaugh, who left to coach the Los Angeles Chargers in January, faces a Level I charge for his alleged failure to cooperate with the investigation, The Athletic reported in December. Harbaugh’s portion of the case will be considered separately by the Committee on Infractions.
As part of the negotiated resolution, Michigan acknowledged that the underlying violations “demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation” and that Harbaugh, who was not named in the release, “failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation.”
Harbaugh contested the allegation that he failed to cooperate with the investigation and said in July he had “nothing to be ashamed of.” The Committee on Infractions previously rejected a negotiated resolution that included a four-game suspension for Harbaugh, and Michigan suspended Harbaugh for the first three games of the 2023 season instead.
Tom Mars, an attorney representing Harbaugh, said he filed a lengthy response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations on Harbaugh’s behalf last month, which “concluded coach Harbaugh’s participation in the case.” Mars took issue with Michigan’s decision to acknowledge the head-coach responsibility violations.
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“I saw from Warde Manuel’s statement that Michigan changed its position for the purpose of ‘moving forward,’ which doesn’t surprise me considering coach Harbaugh is no longer Michigan’s head coach,” Mars wrote in a text statement to The Athletic. “I can almost hear the wheels of the bus going ‘whomp, whomp,’ but sometimes that’s the way things go in college sports.”
The underlying violations included impermissible in-person contact with recruits during the COVID-19 dead period, impermissible tryouts and analysts performing coaching duties in practice. Sherrone Moore, now Michigan’s head coach, served a one-game suspension to open the 2023 season, and Michigan also imposed restrictions on recruiting visits. No current staff members face additional suspensions as a result of the decision, an athletic department spokesman confirmed.
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