Michigan sign-stealing allegations: Wolverines prepping for likely Jim Harbaugh suspension

The story of this week for Michigan is what the Big Ten could do regarding the ongoing sign-stealing investigation. That answer could come soon.

The Wolverines are preparing for a likely suspension of head coach Jim Harbaugh, The Wolverine’s Chris Balas reported Wednesday night. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti met with league coaches, athletic directors and presidents last week, and the idea of a suspension came up briefly during the ADs meeting, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.

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Michigan received a notice of potential disciplinary action from the Big Ten earlier this week and had until Wednesday to respond. The Wolverines did so Wednesday afternoon, as Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger reported they sent a 10-page document to the league outlining “numerous objections” to the possible punishment.

The center of the conversation is the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy, which is about the “integrity of competition” in the “competitive arena,” if the discipline is “standard” or “major.”

Under the policy, Petitti has the authority to issue a penalty against a program if the situation warrants it. During an appearance with On3’s Andy Staples, though, Wetzel wondered about the precedent a suspension would set going forward.

“Long-term, to me, the most interesting part here — and I know I probably don’t approach this all the way because I’m not a fan of Michigan or Ohio State or whatever — is the response by the NCAA and the Big Ten and how they did it,” Wetzel said on Andy Staples On3. “And I’ve argued all along, like, the precedent here for for the Big Ten is super dangerous for them.

“If they go hardcore on Jim Harbaugh right now. Whether you think he deserves it or not, whether you hate Michigan or not, the idea that you’d start wailing away on a guy like that without due process, guess whose coach it’s going to be next time?”

In its response to the Big Ten, Michigan pointed out multiple documents and pictures of the Wolverines’ own offensive and defensive signs that were stolen by other teams. Reports came out Tuesday that multiple programs decoded Michigan’s signals and shared that information with other programs. In addition, the university said “unadjudicated rule violations cannot be the basis for a sportsmanship action,” Wetzel wrote.

UM also argued Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti doesn’t have the authority to punish Jim Harbaugh under the league’s sportsmanship policy and that disciplinary action would be “highly disproportionate given the broader regulatory context of the case” at this time, according to Wetzel.