Bruce Feldman questions timing of Jim Harbaugh suspension, says Tony Petitti was in 'no-win situation'

Friday, as Michigan was on the plane en route to Penn State for Saturday’s game, the Big Ten announced a suspension of head coach Jim Harbaugh under the league’s sportsmanship policy as a result of the ongoing sign-stealing investigation. The timing surprised some, including The Athletic and FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman, considering the Wolverines were in the air when the news came out and the saga entered its next chapter.

Feldman joined Big Ten Network shortly after the news broke and spoke about multiple aspects of the situation. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti had the authority to punish Harbaugh and Michigan under the league’s sportsmanship policy, and the expectation was something was coming soon.

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However, the Big Ten announced Harbaugh’s suspension while Michigan was on its way to Happy Valley. That surprised Feldman, and he pointed out the optics for the conference. In addition, though, he noted Petitti was in a tough spot considering the mounting pressure from others around the league and the expected legal battle.

“I think that the timing of this is the baffling part,” Feldman told BTN’s Dave Revsine on B1G Today. “Literally, Michigan, I think was wheels up at 3 p.m., and their players and the team is traveling when this comes down. The timing, honestly, I don’t think could’ve been worse from an optics standpoint for the Big Ten. This has been such a messy story on so many levels. Michigan’s obviously looked really bad in it, from all the Connor Stalions stuff and all the video that people can pull from it and everything else during games.

“I wondered how this was going to play out because Tony Petitti, to me, was in a no-win situation. The one scenario I could envision earlier in the week was that there would be some kind of suspension, maybe an indefinite suspension of Harbaugh, because you don’t want to punish the players. And then, ultimately, there would be some kind of injunction that I think Michigan’s legal side feels like that it will be able to get to get Jim Harbaugh back on the field. And then, if you’re Tony Petitti and have had all this uproar from Big Ten coaches … then, I think he’d say, ‘Look, I did the best I could and here’s where it is. You have to let due process play out.'”

One of the key parts of the Big Ten’s announcement was the suspension is “not a sanction” against Harbaugh, but rather against the school. Feldman said that was the other interesting part of the announcement, especially considering the league admitted it didn’t have evidence Harbaugh knew about the scheme allegedly led by former analyst Connor Stalions.

“The part that was puzzling, to me, a little bit here was was not to see in the Big Ten release was that Tony Petitti said they couldn’t prove that Jim Harbaugh had knowledge of this situation with Connor Stalions, but also beyond that, it was like this was not a sanction against Jim Harbaugh” Feldman said. “Well, clearly it is. So, going forward … from all the conversations I’ve had with coaches about how what, apparently, Stalions was doing and having somebody do to attend games and do the in-person scouting on campuses or during rival opponents’ games crosses a line into the normal signal-stealing that we expect.

“But again, right now, the timing of this is so awkward. It feels like a Friday news dump. And again, is this a case where Michigan ends up getting some kind of injunction at the last minute and then, Jim Harbaugh is back on the sideline anyway? This is just such a bizarre story as it’s playing out.”