Paul Finebaum sides with Bret Bielema on 'disingenuous fraud' Jim Harbaugh: 'Michigan didn't want him to stay'

Late Tuesday night, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema didn’t mince words about Jim Harbaugh and Michigan after a report said UM planned to fight the allegations in the Connor Stalions scandal. Less than 24 hours later, SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum sided with Bielema.

Bielema raised eyebrows Tuesday when he quoted an old clip of Harbaugh – then the San Francisco 49ers head coach – talking about his desire to be “above reproach” and avoid cheating. The Fighting Illini head coach then asked why Harbaugh ran to the NFL with the Los Angeles Chargers.

Bielema’s series of tweets came after Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reported Michigan’s plan to fight the NCAA’s allegations in the Stalions investigation. Finebaum agreed with him, though, and called Harbaugh a “disingenuous fraud” in the process.

“I’ve always liked Bret,” Finebaum said on The Paul Finebaum Show Wednesday. “He was fun when we were together. But he is right. Harbaugh is just a disingenuous fraud about all the things he used to say. He didn’t want to face the music. By the way, Michigan didn’t really want him to stay.”

A few minutes after his initial tweet, Bielema found another clip of an old Harbaugh quote. This one was Harbaugh explaining it’s important to tell the truth, especially when being considered a leader. He used an example of his favorite daytime television judge to get his point across too. Bielema chose three emojis to make his point in a repost.

“Be honest,” Harbaugh said in the video. “Tell the truth. If I want them to tell the truth then I have to tell the truth all the time when you’re in a leadership position. Judge Judy, I got 90 episodes of Judge Judy tivoed on my TV and that’s what I watch. One thing about her courtroom is — if you lie in Judge Judy’s courtroom, it’s over.”

According to the 137-page document obtained by Yahoo Sports, Michigan pushed back on many of the allegations. The school also accused the NCAA of “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” the program with a lack of credible evidence about the alleged sign-stealing scheme run by Stalions. The person who tipped off the NCAA to the situation came from UM’s campus and, at one point, worked for the school, the document said.

Michigan received an official Notice of Allegations from the NCAA in August, but the school said it made “numerous factually unsupported infractions, exaggerates aggravating factors and ignores mitigating facts,” according to the document. UM also asked the NCAA to treat the case as a “Level II standard case” instead of a Level I infraction – which is the most severe NCAA violation – and apply “common sense and [a] commitment to fairness.”

Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.