Jim Harbaugh sanctioned by NCAA in Michigan recruiting probe

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Former Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh has been punished by the NCAA with a four-year show-cause order and a one-year suspension for violating head-coach responsibility obligations, “unethical conduct” and a failure to promote “an atmosphere of compliance” for his role in an investigation into impermissible recruiting in 2021 during a COVID-19 dead period.

The NCAA released its final 52-page public decision from the Division I Committee on Infractions on Wednesday and said Harbaugh failed to “meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation.” The show-cause order is from Aug. 7, 2024, through Aug. 6, 2028, and if hired during the show-cause order, Harbaugh would be suspended for 100% of the first season of employment.

A show-cause penalty is the way the NCAA makes certain a punishment of a coach is transferred to any other member school that hires the individual while the sanctions remain in effect. The school and coach must report to the NCAA every six months until the end of the show-cause penalty.

Harbaugh, now head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL, left Michigan in January after nine seasons that included the 2023 national championship. During the show-cause order, Harbaugh, if he were to return to coaching NCAA college football, would be “barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings,” according to the release.

Harbaugh can appeal the decision per NCAA bylaws.

“The way I see it, from Coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s COI decision is like being in college and getting a letter from your high school saying you’ve been suspended because you didn’t sign the yearbook,” Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, said in a statement he shared Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter).

“If I were in Coach Harbaugh’s shoes and had an $80 million contract as head coach of the Chargers, I wouldn’t pay any attention to the findings of a kangaroo court which claims to represent the principles of the nation’s most flagrant, repeat violator of the federal antitrust laws.”

Michigan and five staff members — Harbaugh was not one of them — earlier this year reached an agreement with the NCAA enforcement staff regarding recruiting and coaching by non-coaching staff members, and Michigan agreed it failed to monitor the football program. Michigan was given three years’ probation, a fine of $5,000 plus 1% of its football budget and a number of recruiting limitations.

Harbaugh was not part of that agreement.

“Today’s announcement mirrors the resolution we negotiated with the NCAA enforcement staff that was subsequently accepted by the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions in April 2024,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in a statement. “We have accepted the sanctions and have already served many of the penalties outlined in the findings. Our staff has worked to improve processes and we are focused on the future and our commitment to integrity and compliance.”

According to the NCAA release, Harbaugh’s violations during the recruiting dead period were Level II but “his provision of false or misleading information” is a Level I — the harshest levied by the NCAA — and is defined as a violation that seriously undermines or threatens the integrity of the Collegiate Model.

Harbaugh “refused” to participate in a hearing before the infractions committee.

“Head coaches are presumed responsible for violations that occur within their programs,” the release reads. “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 COI panel, in the release, noted Harbaugh’s “intentional disregard” for NCAA legislation and his “unethical conduct amplified the severity of the case.”

With that, the NCAA classified Harbaugh’s case as Level I-Aggravated.

In response to this investigation, Harbaugh served a three-game school-imposed suspension at the start of the 2023 season. Michigan’s football program remains under NCAA investigation for a separate issue involving an alleged sign-stealing scheme for which the school recently received a draft of a Notice of Allegations. Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for the final three regular-season games in 2023 as a result of the second investigation that launched last October.

After Harbaugh left for the Chargers job, Sherrone Moore, who served a one-game suspension in the season opener last fall as part of a negotiation resolution with the NCAA in response to the investigation into impermissible visits during the COVID-19 recruiting dead period, was hired as Michigan’s head football coach.