If the sign-stealing scandal involving the University of Michigan football program had not made your head explode yet, it did late Friday afternoon when the Big Ten suspended coach Jim Harbaugh despite acknowledging it had no evidence he had direct knowledge of impermissible conduct by a staff member.
Let me see if I have this right:
Michigan is accused of wrongdoing and later admits the misbehavior, but only to a degree. It acknowledges stealing opponents’ signs but claims ignorance about in-person recordings being used to gather information, then ostensibly says “no harm, no foul” because other conference members had stolen the Wolverines’ signs and shared them with each other before facing Michigan.
The Big Ten, feeling pressure from other conference members to act, sanctioned the university for violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy but — get this — did so by disciplining the person for whom it “has not yet received any information indicating that he was aware of the impermissible nature of the sign-stealing scheme.”
Huh?!
If that’s not bizarre, the discipline is. Harbaugh is precluded from attending games but not practices or other football-related events. More absurd, the suspension runs through only the final three regular-season games, which means Harbaugh would be eligible to work the sidelines if the third-ranked Wolverines reach the Big Ten Championship Game and earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.
I wish my parents had been that “hard” on me when I acted up.
Michigan’s temporary restraining order request has been filed.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti wants to look tough without actually being tough. This was theater, not punishment. It was talking loud but saying nothing.
Either you have the goods to take significant action or you don’t. Playing both sides should not be an option, which is what Petitti is attempting to do. I will give him this, though: He did not throw the players or the program under the bus by vacating victories or banning them from postseason play. He limited his discipline to the face of the program, the person ultimately responsible for everything associated with the team, and that’s precisely what he should have done — setting aside the issue of rushing to judgment or ignoring the claim that others were equally guilty of violating the sportsmanship policy.
I have no idea whether Harbaugh knew that Connor Stalions, a staffer who resigned Nov. 3, two weeks after Michigan suspended him with pay, was breaking rules by recording future opponents’ signs from the sideline or purchasing game tickets and paying others to do the same. That is for the NCAA to determine in its ongoing investigation, which could take a long time to conclude.
What I do know is that the players should not be collateral damage. As best we know, they had no knowledge of what was happening. Staffers and/or coaches were exclusively involved with deciphering opponents’ signs, so they alone should bear the brunt of discipline.
