It sure would be silly if one of the best coaches in the country was forced to miss a chunk of the season after being suspended for buying a meal for recruits. After years of universities being punished for seemingly minor transgressions relating to improper benefits, we thought the NCAA had finally moved on from wasting their time and energy on such trivial things. Well, nothing that happened this week indicates that they haven’t.
It was reported this week that polarizing Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh will soon be suspended four games for a level one recruiting violation that took place during the 2021 offseason. That violation is tied to the belief that Harbaugh lied to or misled NCAA officials during their investigation of alleged improper contact made with recruits during a Covid-19 dead period prohibiting teams from making any contact with prospective recruits. That means despite the jokes online and conversations on podcasts about Harbaugh being suspended over a few cheeseburgers, the violation didn’t really have anything to do with the coach picking up the tab at Ann Arbor institution The Brown Jug. The violation was instead related to the coach’s conduct during a NCAA investigation; one that was based on improper contact, not improper benefits.
OK – now that I am done caping for the NCAA (gross), we can move on to the real point. The punishment is downright excessive. Regardless of how you feel about the viability of the dead period itself, it was likely the correct and most prudent choice to implement one during a time filled with so much unknown. The idea that members of Michigan’s staff allegedly violated this dead period certainly warrants some type of punishment and the one game suspensions suspected for assistants Sherrone Moore and Grant Newsome fit the bill. Where I draw the line is at Harbaugh receiving four times the punishment on the grounds of not adequately complying with the investigation. In my opinion this is yet another display of the NCAA abusing its power to send a message. It’s fair that he would not be helping his cause by refusing to cooperate, but in no way should he be punished extra for doing so.
Anyone who brushes off the suspension due to the Wolverine’s weak early schedule is minimizing the importance of every second of the college football season. Of course it’s likely that Michigan goes undefeated during the stretch and wins by comfortable margins, but in a sport that is ultimately decided on so much subjectivity, a few points of differential here and there could make all the difference in their quest for a national championship.
Superior CFB 