NCAA hits Jim Harbaugh with 4-year show cause

The NCAA slapped former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh with a four-year show-cause order on Wednesday for impermissible contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 dead period in 2021.

The order runs through Aug. 6, 2028. "Subsumed in the show-cause order is a one-season suspension for Harbaugh," the NCAA said.

Harbaugh, who led the Wolverines to the national championship last season, left Michigan in January to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. He signed a five-year contract.

In its 48-page report, the NCAA said Harbaugh "engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations."

The school had already agreed to a three-year probation in April and was fined by the NCAA.

The NCAA charged Harbaugh with a Level I violation of "misleading investigators."

"During the investigation in this case, Harbaugh denied meeting with the two prospects," the report reads. "Initially, he told Michigan and the enforcement staff that he had no recollection of meeting either prospect or their fathers.

"In a subsequent interview he went further, unequivocally disputing that either meeting happened. Despite his denials, the weight of the factual information -- including statements from the prospects, their fathers, and other football staff members, as well as documentation such as receipts and expense reports -- demonstrates that Harbaugh was physically present and engaged in these meetings."

Harbaugh's longtime attorney Tom Mars ripped the decision by the Committee of Infractions.

"Today's COI decision is like being in your college and getting a letter from your high school saying you've been suspended because you didn't sign the yearbook," Mars said in a post to X.

"If I were in Coach Harbaugh's shoes and had an $80 million contract as a 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."

Wednesday's discipline is separate from the sign stealing allegations against Michigan that led to a three-game suspension for Harbaugh at the outset of the 2023 season and the related impermissible in-person scouting allegations surrounding former recruiting staffer Connor Stalions. That case remains open and could take months for the NCAA to complete its investigation.

--Field Level Media