One of the most heated controversies in college sports history reached an unprecedented climax Friday when Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti suspended Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh from game-day duties for the rest of the regular season. That takes Harbaugh out of the Wolverines’ game at Penn State Saturday, a game at Maryland Nov. 18 and their showdown against Ohio State Nov. 25—although expected emergency legal action from Michigan could permit him to coach against the Nittany Lions, at least.
Michigan was “found in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy for conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition,” the conference said in a three-paragraph release that was time-stamped at 3:31 p.m. ET, less than 21 hours before the Wolverines kick off against the Nittany Lions.
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The ruling in the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal did not come down until after Michigan had left Ann Arbor for its trip to State College, Pa., for what should be the Wolverines’ toughest game of the year to date. Harbaugh was on the bus to Detroit and presumably the charter flight to Pennsylvania, even if he does not enter Beaver Stadium and coach the game.
“Like all members of the Big Ten Conference, we are entitled to a fair, deliberate, and thoughtful process to determine the full set of facts before a judgment is rendered,” Michigan said in a statement. “Today’s action by Commissioner Tony Petitti disregards the Conference’s own handbook, violates basic tenets of due process, and sets an untenable precedent of assessing penalties before an investigation has been completed. We are dismayed at the Commissioner’s rush to judgment when there is an ongoing NCAA investigation—one in which we are fully cooperating.
“Commissioner Petitti’s hasty action today suggests that this is more about reacting to pressure from other Conference members than a desire to apply the rules fairly and impartially.
“By taking this action at this hour, the Commissioner is personally inserting himself onto the sidelines and altering the level playing field that he is claiming to preserve. And, doing so on Veteran’s Day—a court holiday—to try to thwart the University from seeking immediate judicial relief is hardly a profile in impartiality. To ensure fairness in the process, we intend to seek a court order, together with Coach Harbaugh, preventing this disciplinary action from taking effect.”
The decision doesn’t provide closure, but it does at least clarify the direction of the rest of the season for Michigan and its opponents. This will be an NCAA infractions case for months to come and might not even be fully resolved before the start of the 2024 season.
The Big Ten’s decision is fraught with peril, carries massive stakes and will generate fierce blowback. Michigan—undefeated, ranked No. 3 by the College Football Playoff selection committee and having one of the most dominant seasons in the school’s gilded history—might have the league’s best chance for a national title since Ohio State won in 2014.
Petitti, a first-year commissioner with no experience as a college administrator and little background in campus politics, was thrust into an excruciating position. Go after a flagship school, and in the process jeopardize the league’s hopes for a title? Or ignore the outcry from other member schools who feel defrauded by Michigan’s attempts to spy on their teams this season? The urgency of the situation created tension around the conference and built to a crescendo this week.
Big Ten Coaches and athletic directors in separate conference calls with Petitti earlier this month urged the league to take action now, instead of waiting for an NCAA investigation to play out over the course of several months. Rather than avoiding a ruling that could set problematic precedent, inspire a quest for a temporary restraining order from Michigan and turn one of the largest fan bases in the country against him, Petitti took decisive action.
The case is virtually without precedent, which triggered some of the uncertainty about what sanctions were applicable, how soon they could be applied, and by whom. Few, if any, coaches can recall ever hearing about a staffer developing an extensive espionage ring for the purpose of in-person recording of opponents’ signals. Beyond that, accusations over the potential—and seemingly likely—presence of Stalions dressed as a Central Michigan staff member at the Chippewas’ season opener against Big Ten member Michigan State has taken the scheme to yet another level of brazen disregard for the rules.
Perhaps the only other time such a prominent football program was embroiled in a controversy like this that could derail their championship run was the Auburn 2010 team. Quarterback Cam Newton was under NCAA investigation in the latter weeks of that season, with Auburn at one point defying an NCAA recommendation that the school bench Newton while the investigation played out. He played the entire season and the Tigers won the national title. The Southeastern Conference largely stayed on the sideline and let that play out.
Harbaugh has stated that he had no knowledge of Stalions’ alleged scheme, and sources have told Sports Illustrated that investigators have not yet discovered any evidence tying the Michigan head coach or any of his assistants to the sign-stealing endeavor. However, that doesn’t clear him of accountability under NCAA rules (which hold coaches responsible for their programs regardless of knowledge)—or, clearly, in the eyes of the Big Ten.
The story erupted on Oct. 19, when Yahoo Sports reported that the NCAA had informed the Big Ten that it was investigating potential impermissible, in-person scouting of future opponents by Michigan. Stalions, a staff analyst, was quickly identified by multiple media outlets as the focus of the probe, and was suspended by the school on Oct. 20. (He resigned Nov. 3.) As revelations spilled out in the following weeks, the excessively ambitious Naval Academy graduate and former Marine earned himself a niche in college sports infamy.
What followed has been a contentious three-week saga that pitted Michigan against its own conference, with many of the member schools aligning against the Wolverines and urging Petitti to take punitive action. With an NCAA investigation in its infancy, both Michigan and the Big Ten were better positioned to act. The school has not applied any internal discipline to anyone other than Stalions, so the weight of action (or inaction) fell heaviest on the conference.
Michigan’s pushback this week against what it perceived to be a likely punishment of Harbaugh was vigorous. In written responses from the school and Harbaugh’s lawyer, Tom Mars, Michigan claimed that the Big Ten lacked the authority within its own bylaws to suspend Harbaugh for a sportsmanship violation, and declared that attempting to do so during the season was a rush to judgment that deprived the coach and school of due process.
Also this week, Michigan sources disclosed information they had received about other Big Ten schools—reportedly Ohio State and Rutgers—sending copies of the Wolverines’ play signs to Purdue before the Boilermakers played Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten championship game. The school argued that sharing signs in that manner was virtually the same act as what Stalions is accused of, and charged that this was a sign of “collusion” by other conference schools against Michigan.
Ultimately, those arguments did not sway Big Ten judgment. Now we will see how well the Wolverines fare (barring legal intervention) without Harbaugh coaching the games—they were 3-0 to start the season without him, but that was against far lesser competition than what is to come against Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State.
Harbaugh missed those first three games as a school suspension for Michigan’s other ongoing NCAA investigation, into impermissible recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching by non-designated staff members. That inquiry has been in motion for about two and a half years and appears headed for a full hearing in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, likely in 2024.
Harbaugh could be facing additional sanctions from that probe. With the signal-seating piece added to that, he could be facing major penalties—if he’s still the Michigan coach next year.
For Michigan, it merely will be trying to finish the regular season 12-0 with its head coach missing half those games. Many of the Wolverines boarded the bus for Detroit Friday wearing shirts that read, “Michigan vs. Everybody.” We will see how far that rallying cry can take them.
