ESPN: Tony Petitti can suspend Jim Harbaugh more than two games with Big Ten executive board approval

ESPN’s Heather Dinich reported the Big Ten could suspend Jim Harbaugh for longer than the standard policy of two games, amid the sign stealing investigation.

After the Big Ten reportedly said it expects a response from Michigan Wednesday, a decision could come down on the situation by Thursday. The conference wants to take its time regarding the university’s response.

But as Dinich pointed out, the expectation is that Harbaugh will receive some sort of punishment, but commissioner Tony Petitti can take it a step further.

“So the Big Ten is allowed to standard policy up to a two game suspension and $10,000 fine,: Dinich said on Get Up. “Tony Petitti, he can certainly do more than that. He needs permission from an executive board. My colleague Adam Rittenberg has sources telling him that it could be more than two games and that the approval from the board, which contains members from the Big Ten’s officials, that this could happen and it could be a rubber stamp.”

If Harbaugh is suspended two games by the Big Ten, he’ll miss out on coaching road games at Penn State and Maryland. But he’d be able to return for the most important game of the year: Ohio State.

Now if the suspension is longer, he’ll miss the rest of the regular season, at minimum.

Jim Harbaugh potential suspension could be increased than standard policy

This does not prevent Petitti from going above the standard practice, in terms of a punishment for Harbaugh.

“Now remember, Michigan is going into its most important stretch of the season,” Dinich said. “They’ve got Penn State. They end the regular season against Ohio State sandwiched in between that is a trip here to Maryland. So this is Michigan’s season defining stretch with or without Jim Harbaugh. In the BIg Ten’s sportsmanship policy, it says that they have to act as expeditiously as possible once they have Michigan’s side of the story.”

To pile onto the Michigan investigation, On Tuesday, it was reported by ESPN that three Big Ten teams — Ohio State, Purdue and Rutgers — communicated about Michigan’s signs. 

The Wolverines sent documents to the Big Ten about it, and the new twist comes as they deal with their own sign-stealing scandal.

It’s common practice in college football to steal signs. The Athletic spoke with three Big Ten staffers and one former staffer who helped do just that, including decode Michigan’s signs. One of them pointed out the difference between the Wolverines and their program.

“We didn’t do anything wrong,” the Big Ten staffer told The Athletic. “Zero. They took it to another level. And they can’t hide it. They’re trying to divert it but they can’t hide it.”

Putting all of that information together is surely to create a fascinating solution to this situation, possibly as soon as this week.