‘Embarrassed’ NCAA was never going to let Jim Harbaugh go away unscathed

Jim Harbaug h may have left Michigan without fighting the NCAA, but the organization that took unprecedented steps to go after him was never going to let him go without a shot after the bell. From a speedy investigation to a negotiated suspension and violating its own gag order rules when a member declared in the media,”it’s not [just] a cheeseburger,” they were hellbent on making an example of the U-M coach.

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Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel essentially predicted this day back on Aug. 13, 2023, in his column titled “’ Not a cheeseburger’ comment suggests the NCAA is hellbent on hitting Jim Harbaugh hard .”

It proved to be prophetic. The NCAA nailed Harbaugh with a 4-year show cause and 1-year suspension effective immediately, more a “we showed you!” than anything given he’s now the Los Angeles Chargers’ coach.

“’Not a cheeseburger’” suggests the NCAA is so embarrassed by the dragging it receives online, that it is hellbent on hitting Harbaugh even harder than its own enforcement staff thought was acceptable,” Wetzel wrote. “How can anyone, let alone Jim Harbaugh, take this seriously or expect a fair process?”

The obvious response today — it couldn’t. Harbaugh knew it, and so did those in his inner circle. It’s one of the reasons Harbaugh pursued the NFL even more diligently this year when he reportedly felt the athletic department wouldn’t have his back in fighting any potential over-the-top punishment … something for which his lawyer, Tom Mars, said amounted to not recalling buying burgers for prospective student-athletes during a dead period.

“And how should he be expected to?” was one of Mars’ rebuttals, noting Harbaugh is a 59-year-old ex-football player who has taken so many shots, his memory isn’t what it once was … not to mention he’d had 100s, if not thousands of interactions with recruits.

In addition, Mars noted, the NCAA demanded Harbaugh turn over 6,200 personal emails, along with texts and phone logs immediately. Harbaugh’s attorney said it would have cost his client over $38,000 for the time it would take to go through each one to find out what was relevant.

“Interestingly, in the same investigation, the NCAA allowed other Michigan coaches to withhold emails and text messages ‘that are not relevant or potentially relevant to the investigation, as determined through a meet and confer process with the NCAA,’” Mars added in another tweet.

He then offered his advice to Harbaugh as to how to proceed.

“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,” he said.

What’s next for Harbaugh, Michigan?

This verdict doesn’t come as any surprise to school insiders who told us several days ago the NCAA was coming after Harbaugh (and potentially Michigan) with threats they considered “massive overreach.” And if anything, it shows how selective, dangerous, and vindictive a group of people many now deem “irrelevant” and fighting for their existence can be. As Wetzel wrote then and some with knowledge of the NCAA’s tactics told us recently, they weren’t guided by facts, but embarrassment. As we noted in our first article on the subjec t, “some believe the NCAA is ‘looking to make an example of Michigan’ for what the association believes was Michigan ‘thumbing its nose’ at them throughout the investigation.

The Harbaugh punishment seems to indicate just that.

But will they stop there, or continue to push back at Michigan? This might be their Battle of Little Bighorn, after all. With many in belief that NCAA football and basketball have outgrown an organization whose existence is about working with amateur sports, will they try to prove their relevance by overreaching?

As noted, U-M is prepared for the possibility. And if so, it could take “years” to resolve. We hope Michigan would follow through but stop short of saying we’d “expect” it given recent history.

As for Harbaugh, he’s on to other ventures, so maybe he’ll take Mars’ advice. That doesn’t seem like Harbaugh, though, especially given the negative publicity it’s caused one of football’s most esteemed football families. He could choose to appeal, per NCAA bylaws, and it wouldn’t surprise us either way. The coach has a national title that’s not going away (again — no talk of vacating wins or removing championships), and he looks happy and comfortable in L.A. He also continues to maintain his innocence.

“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal,” Harbaugh said before the punishment was levied. “I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams I’ve coached. No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and you make it right.

“Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate. I was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So, for me, it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”

Now it’s up to Michigan to do the same in dealing with an organization even many of the program’s biggest critics are saying needs to move on.

“This is all a continuation of a long, drawn-out story that in many people’s eyes, probably other than the NCAA, is over. Let’s not forget that Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA — and this may sound out of context, because it probably is — but after Michigan won the national championship, he said they won fair and square,” ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, one of Harbaugh’s biggest critics last year, said. “I remember that, and I think a lot of lawyers are going to remember that too, if this case goes very far and puts Michigan in the crosshairs.

“… The point is that in the big picture of college athletics, nobody respects the NCAA. Nobody really cares about the NCAA. And there are a team of lawyers ready to drag this out and to threaten the NCAA if they dare do anything to Michigan other than a slap on the wrist.”

Maybe they’ll continue to hammer at Harbaugh (remember, this is for “burgergate,” not “signgate) instead of U-M. Many have said that for all the NCAA’s big threats, they don’t expect much punishment over the latest NOA Draft.

So … we’ll see what comes next. At this point, however, the kangaroos seem to have nothing to lose, and nothing should surprise.

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