Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has been suspended for a year and given a four-year show-cause penalty by the NCAA for recruiting violations.
The penalties announced Wednesday by the NCAA are not related to the Connor Stalions advance scouting scandal that got Harbaugh suspended for the end of the 2023 regular season when he was still at Michigan.
Rather, the penalties relate to the three-game suspension Harbaugh served at the start of the season for an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead recruiting period.
The Division I infractions committee determined that Harbaugh “violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations.” The panel also raised the violation to a “Level I-Aggravated,” citing Harbaugh’s “intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct.”
Michigan won the national championship at the end of the 2023 season after a 15-0 campaign. Harbaugh missed six of the team’s games but returned for the Big Ten title game and the College Football Playoff.
The three-game suspension Harbaugh served at the start of the year was self-imposed by Michigan after negotiations with the NCAA for a four-game suspension fell apart. The NCAA has long accused Harbaugh of being uncooperative in its recruiting investigation.
From the NCAA’s decision:
“During the investigation in this case, Harbaugh denied meeting with the two prospects. 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.
“By denying his conduct, which was plainly supported by the record, Harbaugh violated NCAA ethical conduct legislation and thereby amplified the severity of his case.”
The NCAA made clear in its statement that Harbaugh would be banned from all athletic activities at a college for the next four seasons and would serve a complete one-year suspension in the first season. However, it seems unlikely that Harbaugh will coach at the college level in the near future now that he’s returned to the NFL.
And his lack of cooperation with the NCAA reached a new level after the decision was announced via a statement from his attorney Tom Mars.
“The way I see it, from Coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s COI decision is like being in college and getting a letter from your high school saying you’ve been suspended because you didn’t sign the yearbook,” Mars said.
“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.”
