Heather Dinich reveals new details about Michigan's new NCAA investigation, explains Jim Harbaugh's culpability

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh is embroiled in controversy once again this season as the Big Ten announced the NCAA had started an investigation into the Wolverines program for stealing signs. The allegations are that Michigan sent people to conduct in-person scouting on opponents, which is prohibited.

Harbaugh released a statement Thursday denying the fact that he knew about the sign stealing. ESPN insider Heather Dinich explained on Friday’s episode Get Up that if the NCAA does find evidence of illegal sign stealing — including on an already confiscated laptop from a Michigan staffer – Harbaugh could be in really deep trouble.

“You saw that statement from Jim Harbaugh saying that he has no knowledge of this,” Dinich said. “They, being the NCAA, confiscated that staffer’s computer. If they do find evidence of this, and Jim Harbaugh said he had no knowledge of it, the NCAA bylaws state that there’s a presumption the college football coaches know what is going on in their program. If they find something, Jim Harbaugh has to explain why he did not know about it and that he does enforce compliance in his program.”

Harbaugh was already suspended for the first three games of the season for alleged recruiting violations. That suspension was self-imposed by the school as the investigation into the potential recruiting violations has not yet been finished by the NCAA.

While sign stealing can be legal in football, the allegations against Harbaugh and the Wolverines are that is was done illicitly by attending have people attend games in person, which is illegal.

“While the fans at home are sitting there saying, ‘Every coach steals signs. This is normal.’ Yes, that’s correct,” Dinich said. “I’ve even had people tell me some teams are better at it than others. The difference here is the allegation of going physically to another opponent’s stadium, videotaping, taking notes, whatever it might be, and patch-working that. I had one Big Ten coach compare this to the 2007 Patriots and Spygate in terms of piece-mealing signs together. That’s the difference.”