Pete Thamel: Jim Harbaugh extension would be 'ultimate middle finger' to NCAA investigators

ESPN’s Pete Thamel joined The Pat McAfee Show to drop some knowledge on Jim Harbaugh and Michigan’s sign-stealing investigation.

First, Thamel touched on the ramifications of Harbaugh’s potential extension, the one that the Wolverines are reportedly attempting to get done at an expedited rate amid all the drama.

“I was cautioned the other night to not report that the contract offer has been rescinded. It did seem logical that there would be a bit of a pause,” Thamel reported of Harbaugh’s situation. “I will say this, if you go back to last year, when he had his flirtation with the Broncos, and then the year before on signing day, when he interviewed with the Vikings, there’s been some flirtations. There’s a new president at Michigan. … I think he realizes that Jim Harbaugh is an asset to the University of Michigan, in a significant way. Look, Bill Self got a lifetime contract while they were under NCAA investigation from the federal basketball scandal.

“If there is a contract given to Jim Harbaugh in the upcoming weeks, it would really be one of the ultimate middle fingers to the enforcement folks in Indianapolis. Basically saying what the NCAA says and rules doesn’t matter, the University of Michigan is just going to plow on. It doesn’t really care about your multiple investigations.”

Meanwhile, Central Michigan was involved in the Wolverines’ drama on Tuesday, when an alleged photo of Connor Stallions — the man in the middle for Michigan — dropped, featuring him on the sidelines for the Chippewas.

That prompted Thamel to report that if that is Stallions, the NCAA would have the chance to investigate those on Central Michigan’s sidelines, as opposed to other’s involved.

“The NCAA has gone to Ann Arbor in part because they want to show that this is a priority, and that this is a big deal,” Thamel added. “NCAA enforcement has been through a half-decade of just perpetual inertia. … They completely fumbled the federal basketball investigation. So there’s a sense of out Indianapolis that they don’t want enforcement to just be viewed as completely incompetent, so they have been up there. … Say hypothetically they’re going to want to talk to Jim Harbaugh at some point. They would have to set up an interview with Jim Harbaugh. They’d have to go through his lawyers. They would have to give times and dates. They just can’t show up and knock on his door.

“… So I think the central figures, the high-profile figures, the figures that can afford these fancy, expensive lawyers that are going to come into play in this, they have not yet spoken to them. … If they wanted to talk to a random Central Michigan, fill-in-the-blank assistant coach, he is compelled, because he’s under the per-view of the NCAA to talk to them. Now he can lawyer up and do all those types of things, but you’re not — if it was just, he hired some guy and paid him $50 to go tape a random Indiana game, that guy would not be compelled, because he’s not under NCAA per-view. So those are I guess the lines of delineation there.”

Alas, there’s a lot more to figure out in Michigan’s future, but Pete Thamel has been right in the middle of all the drama, having us covered every step of the way.