Back in the good old days, when Jim Harbaugh was taunting someone in college football almost daily, nothing could get him circulating on social media faster than an allegation of cheating.
“If Georgia coach is implying we intend to break the rules, he’s barking up the wrong tree,” Harbaugh tweeted on February 24, 2016, after Kirby Smart suggested the NCAA would be forced to ‘come after the Michigan spring. practice at the IMG Academy.
The following year, when ESPN’s Paul Finebaum suggested that Michigan’s hiring of the father of one of its coaching staff’s top recruits was unsavory (although allowed), Harbaugh fired back with a Tweet calling him “Pete Finebaum, the SEC’s shameless water carrier.”
But when you play in the gray area of the NCAA rules and walk around like you’ve just been blessed by the Pope, you tend to make a lot of enemies.
And now that Michigan resides near the top of college football again, all the fangs come out.
For the second time this year, Harbaugh is in the middle of a dispute with the NCAA about possible rule violations that were trivial, completely avoidable, and ultimately pretty stupid if they actually took place.
Harbaugh served a three-game suspension earlier this season for misleading or failing to cooperate with NCAA investigators during an investigation into prohibited contact with recruits and coaching activities during the period. died of COVID-19.
Now, in an article reported Thursday by Yahoo! Sports and confirmed by the Big Ten, Michigan is under another investigation for in-person screening of opponents, which has been against the rules for nearly 30 years and is entirely unnecessary in this day and age unless that the objective is to glean additional information about an opponent’s play. -calls that teams often try to hide on the sidelines.
Now I know what you’re thinking, knowledgeable college sports fan. If the NCAA I couldn’t attribute anything to Kansas basketball coach Bill Self last week for asking Adidas to help him recruit players despite years of investigative work and ample evidence pointing to significant punishment, how on earth is Harbaugh going to get arrested for relatively minors?
The answer is that NCAA enforcement is a lot like traffic cops. They’re not going to catch everyone. They may choose a speeding car to turn on the siren over another for biased reasons. But when they put you on the radar going 90 miles an hour on the highway, they’re going to give you a ticket – especially if you act difficult and indignant when they pull you over.
If all of this turns out to be true, Harbaugh has made it easy for them. And given his propensity for Michigan Man self-righteousness, the rest of college football laughs.
Selective application? Maybe.
But the rules Michigan allegedly violated are so clear and simple — and ultimately offer so little benefit — that any suspicions about the way Harbaugh runs his program are now completely legitimate.
In 2020, as the world learned about COVID-19 one day at a time, NCAA schools agreed it was best for everyone to take a break from recruiting and other normal off-season activities.
Would it be a big deal if Harbaugh went to a restaurant with a few recruits who were in town at the time? Not really, but this is a deliberate violation aimed at gaining a competitive advantage. And then not being honest or upfront about it with the NCAA? This is another bright red line that the NCAA has repeatedly used to penalize coaches, because catching them lying is one of the few hammers they actually have.
This alleged violation of scouting is even stupider. Michigan is 7-0 and has won its games by 27, 28, 25, 24, 38, 42 and 45 points.
If, as The Athletic reported Thursday, the Big Ten has proof that a “vast network” is being used to steal signs, it would be the most comical use of espionage since Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase teamed up in “Spies Like Us.”
If you need to steal signs to beat Nebraska and Rutgers, you’re more of a crook than Michigan Man.
Much of the focus now will be on whether these dual investigations will ultimately chase Harbaugh into the NFL, especially if the Wolverines — who truly might be the best team in the country — end up winning a national title.
It’s an interesting topic, but honestly, trying to predict Harbaugh’s state of mind or his next move is a lost cause. Before this story was revealed, there was talk of another expansion in the works. But Harbaugh said that before he stayed at Michigan for a week, he interviewed with an NFL team the next week, and then he came back to say it was a one-time thing (at least until the next one-time thing).
When you’re this elusive, distance is a useful trait – and Harbaugh uses it to his advantage time and time again.
But the most interesting part of the story is really how this award has been in the works since Harbaugh returned to college football.
You can stand up and say you’re playing by the rules and be very offended by accusations that you’re bending the rules, but make no mistake: Michigan’s Harbaugh has absolutely moved into the gray area while tacitly accusing everyone world in the sport of being cheaters.
In 2019, author John Bacon – someone who is closely associated with the Michigan program and wrote a book about Harbaugh – claimed that Rashan Gary was offered $300,000 by another school during his recruitment before to choose the Wolverines (that is, before the name, image and likeness were revealed). allowed similar arrangements).
Most college athletes would view this statement with skepticism – not of the offer itself, but of the idea that someone would choose to play for a school offering nothing other than the scholarship standard when he could have pocketed $300,000 elsewhere, even if it was against the agreement. rules.
Why even post this other than to glorify Mr. “Do it the right way” while bashing competitors? This is not only inappropriate, it’s bogus. Because another big part of Gary’s recruiting story was that Harbaugh hired Chris Partridge in 2015 as director of player personnel and recruiting. Who is Chris Partridge? Well, he was the head coach at Paramus Catholic High School in New Jersey, where Gary played until he enrolled at Michigan in 2016.
Again, just like the example that put Harbaugh in conflict with Finebaum, this is not against the rules. Partridge was qualified for the job and is now in his second stint on Michigan’s staff after working as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach the past three seasons.
But hiring the high school coach of the nation’s No. 1 prospect and then bringing that prospect in from multiple states is a gray area decision. Just as Harbaugh runs “satellite camps” for recruits in Southern states, stays overnight at a recruit’s house, or even this summer, when former tight end Jake Butt recounted via X (formerly Twitter) how Harbaugh exploited a Flaw practice time limits to get more reps in the spring.
“Harbaugh is very good at taking advantage of gray areas,” Butt wrote.
How long does it take to go from gray to outright breaking the rules – even if the rules are picayune? Maybe not so long.
But it’s worth returning to Kirby Smart’s prescient words from seven years ago, when his little argument with Harbaugh began on the IMG trip.
“They’re obviously trying to gain a competitive advantage, and that’s their right,” he said. “But I think the NCAA will have to step in in due time. I don’t know how that’s going to happen. It’s going to be interesting to see, too, though.”
Quite.
