Joel Klatt says Jim Harbaugh suspension is example of NCAA ineptitude

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt couldn’t believe the Jim Harbaugh suspension at Michigan in the sense of NCAA ineptitude.

The former Colorado quarterback said regardless of what you think of the suspension, the NCAA’s time could’ve been spent better elsewhere. Harbaugh’s self-imposed suspension by Michigan (three games) stems from alleged recruiting violations in 2020, during the COVID season of college football.

It was almost flat out ridiculous according to Klatt.

“This incident that this all stems from is kind of I mean, there’s a bit of nuance to it … but can I just say that the incident for me doesn’t matter at all,” Klatt said on The Herd. “The lie, if he misinformed or wasn’t completely honest with the NCAA, doesn’t matter to me. If you’re focused on that, if you’re focused on the suspension, whether it was self imposed or what the NCAA is going to do in the future, whether you think it’s fair or not, you’re looking in the wrong spot. It’s a diversion.”

Klatt then summed up the inconsistencies in the NCAA’s policies and looked back three years ago.

“You’re probably a Michigan fan or Ohio State fan. And the reason I say that is because this is essentially a picture of why the NCAA is so bad. So bad. A lack of consistency, a lack of rule enforcement, total ineptitude across so many levels, including the COVID schedule and what was permissible, what wasn’t permissible during that time … how are they enforcing that? Like, it was a mess, right? 

“Every school had to come up with their own COVID philosophy and what the rules were as far as masking and how many students were going to be back on campus, or how many fans were going to be allowed into it had nothing to say about they they never take a tough stance, but boy, (they NCAA will) get involved and be like ‘hey, wasn’t there a recruit when he wasn’t supposed to be there and didn’t you feed him? And what, are there coaches that are coaching a practice when they shouldn’t have been or?’ I don’t care about any of that. This is a picture of NCAA ineptitude.”

Joel Klatt says NCAA is inept amid Jim Harbaugh suspension at Michigan

With that, football breaking off from the NCAA seems like a better solution each day, as Klatt says.

“This is a picture of why this organization, the NCAA needs to go away,” Klatt said. “And that’s actually somewhat exciting for me. Just to give you a quick analogy, remember when I told you that the demise of the Pac-12 was over the course of a decade, right? Decisions made a decade ago and some of them even further, were the first dominoes in a long line of dominoes that we saw ultimately collapsed a couple of weeks ago. 

“We are in the middle of the string of dominoes of the NCAA. That’s why I’m excited because there’s an end in sight. They have been showing up to when it came to getting a foot in front of an NIL, they only move when it’s when it’s litigation and they lose litigation and they spend millions of dollars on litigation.”

Klatt also revealed a conversation he had with the NCAA about the future of the sport amid NIL becoming bigger and bigger.

“I told (people at the NCAA), this is what I said verbatim, so they would ask me about name, image and likeness,” Klatt said. “And I said, you take two steps that you don’t want to right now or you’re going to be forced to take 10 In four years that you can’t and you won’t be ready for and it’ll all collapse. And that’s exactly what’s happened … 

“In the future is that what we’re gonna see at this end of the line of dominoes, is that the SEC and the Big Ten are going to garner enough power through their size through their revenue, where they’re just going to say like you know what, thanks but no thanks. Yeah, we don’t need you and college football will be better for it. (The NCAA is) not involved when it comes to crowning a champion and, and quite frankly, they’re not really involved when it comes to governance because they govern in some areas and not others.”