Michigan has received its Notice of Allegations from the NCAA. Four Level II violations and one Level I violation
Michigan has received its Notice of Allegations from the NCAA. Four Level II violations and one Level I violation, a source has confirmed…Yahoo first. The Level I violation is on Harbaugh for "providing false or misleading information" to investigators.
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1611202887983456256?t=eyhRdv52kCqT-rqbr0b4WA&s=19
January 6th, 2023 at 8:58 AM ^
My counterpoint is that "breaking the rules" is needlessly reductive. I jaywalked twice taking my kids to school today; I broke some rules and did so without any concern. A former mayor near us go convicted of tax evasion; that's also breaking a rule even if we're "only" talking about money. And yet, one feels more impactful and damaging than the other.
I'm not going to argue that giving money to recruits is some cosmic wrong; it isn't. But I'm also comfortable saying that if the point of these rules is to not create a competitive disadvantage for one side over another a member of the football staff watching a video of Dominick Giudice working out during a COVID dead period isn't nearly as beneficial as paying guys to attend your school and play for you. And a brief Google search shows that a number of schools have been hit recently with these types of minor violations so clearly it's pretty common and that's why everyone self-reports.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:19 PM ^
The NCAA has no credibility after they helped create this Wild West college football landscape we now have. Michigan is by far one of the most compliant programs out there. I’m not sure what the NCAA is trying to prove here, but these allegations are bullshit. The NCAA can kiss the collective asses of all of Wolverine Nation.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
I don't know guys, I was reading RCMB and this is serious, possible Death Penalty violations.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
Hashtag blue wall.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:52 PM ^
Lol. It's legitimately hilarious that a group with Graham Couch, Chris Solari, Matt Charbenaeu, and Jim Comoeroni on the beat think Michigan has a media bias.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
Meh.
Athletes are openly talking about tampering, non-NIL payments and other shenanigans - but the NCAA is focused on campus visits or zoom sessions during Covid? The NCAA is a joke.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:29 PM ^
The NCAA can suck a fat dick.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:31 PM ^
This is the shit that happens when you pistolwhip the bucknuts in back to back years. They call up the ncaa to investigate and find something.
January 6th, 2023 at 10:25 AM ^
UM self reported the level 2 recruiting violations and self imposed restrictions for said recruiter. It has nothing to do with the level of violations it’s the affidavit every coach signs before the season begins that they have no knowledge of any ncaa violations. Or he just flat out lied to ncaa after they started the investigation. The only one that bothers me is hiding a nfl level Coach on the sidelines as a analyst. That’s is definitely a competitive advantage.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:34 PM ^
They definitely caught him on Zoom
January 6th, 2023 at 12:13 AM ^
All Jim is doing here is asking "Who's Zoomin' Who?".
January 6th, 2023 at 12:28 AM ^
The face you make when everyone else on the call says "Jim, I think you're on mute".
January 6th, 2023 at 8:22 AM ^
My super duper engineering laptop unbelievably does not have a built-in camera, and I prefer it that way.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:34 PM ^
I’d leave too if I were him. They’re like the snitching ass hall monitor or freshman ra.
They lead you to believe that they have power, but all they have is a notepad and too much time on their hands.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
Michigan's response to this better be to point out the comic hypocrisy of the organization (citing specific, recent details and cases) via press release or press conference.
Make it a public fight and they will go away, as they should. They want to show they still have teeth after the government just bashed them all out the past two years. Don't accept it. Fight.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:59 PM ^
I agree. If the NCAA wants to try to “make an example” of one of the cleanest programs in power 5 football when there is so much shadiness going on at programs all across the country, then Michigan needs to prepare for public battle. Let’s all have a conversation about the state of ethics in college football shall we? I don’t know if the courage is there, but I’d love to see a program like ours challenge the NCAA on this horseshit stuff.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:18 AM ^
Agreed. Eventually we might just get some help from other ADs (those not quite corrupt and hell maybe some that are) and the process of nuking the NCAA and creating a better governing body can be expedited.
January 6th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
Yeah, the NCAA has lost every legal battle since the beginning of time. Get some big time MLaw alums to make a big deal about this and see if the NCAA wants to take another L in court. Also make some noise about the NCAA possibly losing their anti-trust exemption, and throw in some statements about how they should be investigated for RICO charges for selectively enforcing the rules and fixing the outcomes of games, and see who has more to lose.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:37 PM ^
Flip them off and promise to reduce the number of kettle corn vendors by 1 for home games next year.
January 6th, 2023 at 6:25 AM ^
No not the kettle corn
January 5th, 2023 at 11:39 PM ^
I hope that Harbaugh just slowly raised the Fab5 banners while staring at emmert and his investigators when they questioned him
January 6th, 2023 at 8:06 AM ^
Someone make a gif of this. It would be epic!!!!
January 5th, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
I say punish him by having lunch at the Pizza House weekly on Wednesday's for each game. In which, afterwards he signs one free autograph on the way out the back door or side door. Punishment valid.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
Apparently the illegal contact during COVID dead period (if you follow the timeline) was related to watching/speaking with Dominick Giudice during a workout over Zoom. And Harbaugh apparently wasn't completely forthright with the investigators about it.
So yeah, it's absolutely as dumb as you think it is and everyone trying to act like this Level I violation is the same as other Level I violations like paying players when it was illegal, covering up for years of sexual assaults, and encouraging academic fraud are being purposely obtuse. This is the NCAA being mad Harbaugh wouldn't build their case for them and so they're throwing a tantrum.
January 6th, 2023 at 10:16 AM ^
While I agree with your larger point, the fact that Harbaugh wasn't completely forthright i.e. lied about it, doesn't sit well with me. I know, nobody cares. But if you're going to preach about integrity....
January 5th, 2023 at 11:44 PM ^
even congress is more credible than the NCAA
January 6th, 2023 at 12:27 AM ^
Now that's, funny!
January 6th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
Can the NCAA do what Congress is doing now, except permanently?
January 5th, 2023 at 11:45 PM ^
The B1G, Pac12, SEC, Big12 and ACC need to start their own collegiate athletic governing body.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:15 AM ^
They’re moving in that direction. They don’t need the NCAA. The ncaa needs them. The cfb playoff isn’t an ncaa title
January 6th, 2023 at 7:09 AM ^
Start their own basketball tournament and the NCAA loses their funding. Done.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:47 PM ^
Checking my list of possible responses. I'm guessing Harbaugh went with #5.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:12 AM ^
Love it.
January 5th, 2023 at 11:50 PM ^
The NCAA can go fuck themselves. I'd actually like that to be the universities official response.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:05 AM ^
This is just so stupid... Level 1?
January 6th, 2023 at 12:10 AM ^
The context around that level I violation is light years harsher than the context around this one, though.
I assume Harbaugh will be hit with some level of punishment but people are getting caught up in the NCAA's limited severity scale here. Guys who handed bags of cash to players, covered up years of sexual assaults, oversaw widespread academic fraud, and helped cheat on games for gambling purposes also committed Level I violations. Harbaugh likely lied about something watching a workout live stream. Tressel lied about not knowing players were selling gear at a tattoo parlor/drug den, amongst other things. That's a huge difference.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
And what we’re details of that level I violation? Just curious how they compare.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:05 AM ^
the NCAA is a joke.
Everyone said as much with the basketball violations at other schools that had zero ramifications and now the NCAA issues Level 1 charges for 'improper contact' over a Zoom call?!
As bad as stretch gate was.
Absolutely the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
No wonder Harbaugh was pissed off at the NCAA. Michigan really needs to circle the wagons and call out the NCAA's hypocrisy.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:07 AM ^
Fight every charge whether it was done or not. The NCAA has let off worse offenders.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:07 AM ^
Bahahahaha....NCAA is a joke and there is nothing they can do...LMAO
January 6th, 2023 at 12:10 AM ^
Honest question - without more details, isn’t “lying to investigators about COVID stuff” what Mel Pearson got fired for? Why should I be confident this is a nothingburger when that was an obvious firing offense earlier this year?
January 6th, 2023 at 12:21 AM ^
I don’t think the COVID stuff factored much into that decision. Did you read any of the report that came out? It was more about the culture of the hockey program, covering up some egregious, bullying behavior, gender discrimination, etc..
January 6th, 2023 at 12:37 AM ^
I thought it was the “lying to investigators” part that the bloggers here (namely Seth) latched onto as the “obviously fireable” part though.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:25 AM ^
Lying about contact tracing in a way that was potentially dangerous and could lead to infections for both Michigan and their opponents is a bit different than lying (or not being 100% forthcoming or whatever) about a fucking Zoom call.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:39 AM ^
On the one hand, I want to agree with you. On the other “lying about breaking rules is fine if the rules are bullshit and breaking them doesn’t hurt anybody” has been basically the logic of SEC bagmen for time immemorial, and we’ve held ourselves above that standard.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
Basically NCAA rules became meaningless to me after the UNC academic scandal was found to be not a violation.
Rules of common decency and not being a fucking asshole still apply though, so Pearson's actions bothered me.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:16 AM ^
Watch this be the time the NCAA tries prove they still have teeth.
They can go fuck themselves.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:17 AM ^
Not to sound like a Spartan fan and compare everything to Jawan Howard’s slap, but if Warde Manual stood by Jawan when he embarrassed himself and the University on a national telecast for the whole country to see, he better shrug his shoulders at this when it comes to the language in Harbaugh’s contract, and do everything possible to fight this annoyance from the NCAA.
January 6th, 2023 at 8:50 AM ^
Not to sound like a Spartan fan and compare everything to Jawan Howard’s slap
You sound like a Spartan fan by calling him Jawan.
January 6th, 2023 at 12:18 AM ^
Whew, I'm just glad it's not about extra stretching time.