Jim Harbaugh reportedly steadfast he didn't lie to NCAA investigators

Michigan Wolverines football head coach Jim Harbaugh is reportedly expected to be suspended the first four games of the 2023 season due to a Level I violation stemming from his alleged attempt to mislead investigators who were looking into minor violations within the program. Yahoo Sports reported this week that Harbaugh and the NCAA are working toward a negotiated resolution to the investigation.

ESPN.com reporter Pete Thamel dished some updated information Wednesday on Get Up. Thamel revealed that Harbaugh, while he’s conceded that NCAA rules were broken, is still adamant that he didn’t mislead investigators. That was the hang-up back in January, when reports said the 2022 Big Ten Coach of the Year was digging his heels in on that stance. Per reports, Harbaugh told the NCAA that he did not recall the aforementioned minor violations from prior years.

“They’ve gone back and forth for months,” Thamel said of the Michigan coach and the NCAA. “In January, we reported that he refused to tell investigators that he lied to them, so this negotiated resolution basically comes down to Jim Harbaugh admitting recruiting violations — although a source told me yesterday he still did not put in the document that he did lie. It’s a little bit of semantical gymnastics here, and Jim Harbaugh will miss likely the first four games.”

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Thamel added, confirming other reports, that Harbaugh is expected to be allowed to coach Michigan practices in between the games in which he’ll miss. The Wolverines’ first four contests are home tilts versus East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green and Rutgers. The game Harbaugh will likely return for is Sept. 30 at Nebraska.

“He will be able to coach the team during that time, so the identity of Michigan will stay Michigan,” Thamel pointed out.

On the same show, pundit Paul Finebaum, one of the most vocal Harbaugh critics in the media, came to the defense of the Michigan head coach, saying the NCAA is turning him into a “sympathetic figure.”

“Which is like saying that Hannibal Lecter is a warm and fuzzy guy. It just doesn’t compute,” Finebaum added.

One of the violations against Michigan was watching recruits work out via Zoom, like Thomas Fidone and his cousin Sebastiano, who was battling Leukemia and proved he could execute a one-handed plank. pic.twitter.com/CqRBmdKAnn

— Clayton Sayfie (@CSayf23) July 27, 2023

Continued Finebaum: “People at home say, ‘Why do you guys always beat up on the NCAA?’ Because it’s an inept, inefficient organization. And Jim Harbaugh could’ve gotten out of this easier, but to his credit — and I mean that, to his credit — he said, ‘I’m not dealing with these characters. I’m not going to admit that I did something that I don’t think I did.’

“Essentially, he bought a player a hamburger. That’s really a big deal now in a world where players are walking around with seven-figure deals — but the NCAA has to instill the integrity of the student athlete.”

What about Jim Harbaugh contract extension?

For the second straight offseason, Harbaugh explored the possibility of taking the leap back to the NFL, where he won 49 games in four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-14. He interviewed with the Denver Broncos before taking his name out of consideration and deciding to return to Michigan.

Harbaugh is reportedly set to receive a contract extension with a significant pay bump, but the NCAA investigation has been a hold-up. With the investigation seemingly soon to be in the rear-view mirror, this could mean Michigan receives Harbaugh’s signature on the dotted line.

“Well, the one thing about NCAA investigations is that they’re slow,” Thamel said, discussing how this week’s Harbaugh news could impact Michigan going forward. “So when this arose in January and Harbaugh initially met with the NCAA and refused to admit that he lied, my initial reaction is that he would just punt on this and grind it through the NCAA’s notoriously slow process and push it past this season to next season.

“So that’s a long way to say, Harbaugh taking this punishment now, as he’s expected to sit these first four games, is a sign a little bit that he’s not definitely going to try to run from Michigan at the end of this year.

“Now, remember, he interviewed with the Vikings two years ago; last year, he went deep with the Broncos and their process. There’s been some tension with administration at Michigan, so the fact that he’s taking this now, in a weird way, is a little bit of a sign of his commitment that he isn’t just running to the door.”