BREAKING: Michigan Wolverines, Jim Harbaugh Presented with New NCAA Allegations Notice; 2nd NCAA Investigation this Year

Head coach Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines were given an allegations notice from the NCAA that will investigate potential recruiting violations that occurred during the COVID recruiting dead period, two university officials told ESPN.

On top of the initial allegations notice, it is also alleged that Harbaugh did not properly cooperate with and/or misled NCAA investigators, according to an article from ABC News. In the same article, NCAA vice president of hearing operations Derrick Crawford addressed the downplay of these allegations.

“The Michigan infractions case is related to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities — not a cheeseburger,” Derrick Crawford, NCAA vice president of hearing operations, said in the statement, referring to the simplistic characterization of the violations in some media reports.

“It is not uncommon for the [committee on infractions] to seek clarification on key facts prior to accepting. The COI may also reject an NR [negotiated resolution] if it determines that the agreement is not in the best interests of the Association or the penalties are not reasonable. If the involved parties cannot resolve a case through the negotiated resolution process, it may proceed to a hearing, but the committee believes cooperation is the best avenue to quickly resolve issues.”

After receiving a draft of the future notice in January, self-imposed punishments were used to attempt to soften the blow of the proverbial NCAA hammer. A three-game suspension and a one-game suspension were given by Michigan to Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Sherron Moore, respectively. The suspensions were served at the beginning of the season.

Michigan made an agreement to a four-game negotiated settlement, but the NCAA committee on Infractions rejected it. Although there is a judicial process to endure, the NCAA can still accept the self-imposed three-game suspension as a proper punishment.

Michigan will not have to address the allegations until the season is over. They have 90 days to respond, but the NCAA’s subsequent 60 day response window could see this process bleed into the summer.

In another ongoing investigation that involves an analyst on the Michigan football team, the Wolverines are being investigated for stealing signs with former analyst Connor Stalions at the forefront of the investigation.

For these allegations, Harbaugh served another three-game suspension. This time, the suspension was imposed by the Big Ten rather than Michigan itself. The NCAA punishment for said investigation is yet to come to fruition.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was sidelined for the team’s biggest victory against their rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes. This win is thought to have silenced the idea that sign-stealing was the only reason Michigan was able to win big games in the past, but Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban was still asked if he considered changing things up in an On3 article.

“Not really,” Saban said. “We always change things up a little bit. We’re focused on what we have to do to try to get good execution. We’re not really concerned about any of that stuff.”

“I do think the helmet communicator is probably a real powerful thing for the game,” Saban said back in October. “Everybody should — you can’t steal signs or do any of this stuff if you have a helmet communicator and I think it’s, I think it would be a good thing.

“It’s worked out well in the NFL and I also think it’s good to have one guy on defense that you could tell that guy what the call is without having to go through all this signaling process.”