Assessing the repercussions of Jim Harbaugh’s show-cause, Michigan’s notice of allegations
The first of two NCAA rulings against Michigan came down last week. Jim Harbaugh received a four-year show-cause as a result of recruiting violations committed during the COVID-19 dead period – a punishment which comes after he left his alma mater.
Harbaugh, of course, is now back in the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers. That means the show-cause, along with the one-year suspension during that time, might not affect him since he won’t be at the college football level.
In fact, according to The Wolverine’s Clayton Sayfie, Harbaugh didn’t end up getting much of a penalty from the NCAA. Plus, part of his alleged lack of cooperation with the NCAA came after he left Michigan following the national title.
“Pretty harsh punishment on the surface, but when you consider the fact that he’s not going to be in college football in the next four years, it’s really not much of a punishment at all,” Sayfie told On3’s Kaiden Smith on On3 Roundtable. “And part of the lack of cooperation there was his failure to hand over thousands of emails after he had already taken the Chargers job.
“So basically, once he was outside the jurisdiction of the NCAA, he didn’t cooperate anymore in late January. And Tom Mars – his attorney – released some of that correspondence with the NCAA.”
That’s not the only investigation Michigan is dealing with, though. There’s also the sign-stealing investigation centered around former analyst Connor Stalions.
According to a draft of a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA reported by ESPN, Sherrone Moore allegedly deleted texts with Stalions after news broke of the inquiry. He turned the messages over, and said he “looks forward” to their release.
As for whether a suspension could come for Moore, Sayfie said it depends on how serious the allegation is. Early indications, though, appear to suggest they might not meet the level of a suspension.
“On the Sherrone Moore front, that news, obviously, coming out of the leaked draft of the notice of allegations, – not the final draft – that he deleted text messages with Connor Stalions once news came down that he was at the center of the investigation into sign stealing. Those were eventually turned over by Sherrone Moore,” Sayfie said. “They were able to find them through his device after they were deleted, and it wasn’t a serious allegation coming from that.
“So I know that it was reported by ESPN that a potential suspension could come down. I mean, obviously that seems possible, but I would bet against it just because it seems like the texts don’t really contain anything damning against Sherrone Moore. And Michigan likely knew about this before they hired him as the head coach, which is also good news for Michigan fans. And really, nobody knows what the texts say at this point. They haven’t been released. But I think the indicators are there that it’s really not all that serious.”