Update on Harbaugh suspension from ESPN: "NCAA deal with Michigan's Jim Harbaugh rejected"
Source: ESPN
From the article:
"The Michigan infractions case is related to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities -- not a cheeseburger," said Derrick Crawford, the NCAA vice president of hearing operations, in reference to a common over-simplification of the case in some media circles that distilled it to buying burgers. "It is not uncommon for the COI to seek clarification on key facts prior to accepting."
[my own comment: sounds like Derrick is an asshole]
Harbaugh's lawyer also is quoted:
Tom Mars, Harbaugh's attorney, also issued a statement Saturday, saying, "Pursuant to the NCAA's internal operating procedures, and under threat of penalties, Michigan, the involved coaches, and their lawyers are prohibited from uttering a word about this ongoing case. Yet the NCAA can issue a public statement putting its spin on the case?"
[my own comment: I like Harbaugh's lawyer]
So, the saga continues, and it looks like the NCAA is digging in their heels, unlike speculation from the previous thread.
August 13th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Did such an update mention anything about Keith Jackson?
Edit: I now see you're adding additional context, thanks for the details. Move along!
August 13th, 2023 at 2:15 PM ^
I just spoke with Keith and he said, and I quote," the NCAA is full of shit and should go the way of the pac12"
August 13th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
Can you ask Orlando what he thinks about my autumn sunrise hairdo?
August 13th, 2023 at 4:07 PM ^
Why Oscar, it's Autumn Sunrise! Don't you like it?!
August 13th, 2023 at 4:27 PM ^
Whoa Nellie, that is not fair, what did the PAC-12 do to deserve that association?
August 13th, 2023 at 8:09 PM ^
Keith added, "I look forward to telling the NCAA that to its face very soon, but I'm afraid it will be relegated to another place."
August 13th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
Woah, Nellie!
August 13th, 2023 at 5:31 PM ^
ha trust me dude, when i post i like triple check because otherwise it's pile on the OP time...
not that I don't like a good pile on
August 13th, 2023 at 9:32 PM ^
A/S/L?
August 13th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Seems like they’re opening themselves up for a lawsuit if they’re violating their own bylaws and continue to pursue this, no?
August 13th, 2023 at 11:51 AM ^
It sounds like the bylaws don't prohibit the NCAA at all but they do stop all of the participants from speaking on the topic. I believe that hypocrisy is what Mars is calling out. They have stacked the deck in their favor intentionally with their rules that they got to make.
August 13th, 2023 at 12:20 PM ^
Harbaugh is Oppenheimer confirmed. NCAA investigation is being controlled by Jim Schwartz behind the scenes.
August 13th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
Someone has to pay for all the illicit benefits, drugs, strippers and illegal activity going on at Tennessee, Bama, UGA, OSU.
Entire thing is like an Onion article. Just look at Kirby, Saban, Meyer over the years and compare to Harbaugh...and this is the guy they choose to go after? LOL
Hopefully Warde and admin back him up and tell NCAA to go fuck themselves.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:01 PM ^
Is this the NCAA's indirect attempt to get rid of the annoyance the see in Harbaugh, pushing him to the NFL?
August 13th, 2023 at 1:42 PM ^
I think so. There could be all kinds of reasons we may not know about. Maybe Harbaugh’s relationships with the athletic department have soured. Maybe Harbaugh’s known political positions are not palatable to the NCAA. Whatever it is, it seems personal.
August 13th, 2023 at 4:09 PM ^
What are Harbaugh’s known political positions? I would love to know because he seems like someone who has his own views on topics.
August 13th, 2023 at 5:11 PM ^
Are you unaware that Harbaugh holds certain political views that are unpopular with a lot of people?
August 13th, 2023 at 5:54 PM ^
Are you not aware that about half the population holds certain political views that are unpopular with the other half?!?!?
August 13th, 2023 at 9:34 PM ^
Only one of those halves is correct. Everyone knows that.
August 13th, 2023 at 6:56 PM ^
I am not aware of that at all. This is not politics here as I am not even stating my own views - just stating publicly known facts...
1. Jim Harbaugh is a close, personal friend of Michelle Obama and was personally invited by Michelle to one of Barack Obama's State of the Union speeches.
2. Harbaugh was a big supporter of the BLM marches in the summer of 2020 both participating himself and encouraging his team to participate.
3. I assume you are referring to the "choose life" comments from last year. I have no clue what his views were on the Prop vote last year but I am ok with other people's view regardless of whether they agree with me or not.
To summarize, I believe that Jim Harbaugh, like most thinking people, have complicated / nuanced views on political and social issues. More people should have nuanced views vs. just falling in line with their "side" (whatever "side" they are on).
August 13th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
Ok. Maybe it isn’t political. Whatever. I don’t care in the least what Harbaugh’s political stances are but some people are insane about that stuff and don’t do nuance well.
All I am saying is I feel like the NCAA is after Harbaugh for some reason personally. I don’t know why it is but that is how I feel.
August 14th, 2023 at 8:35 AM ^
If the NCAA has an ax to grind with JH it may come from his position of giving players more power and freedom of choice. He pushed publicly for the one transfer rule and spoke openly about the current rule pushing kids to have to fabricate or exaggerate conditions at their current school to get a waiver.
just a thought. Lots of coaches bitch about the portal also.
August 14th, 2023 at 2:05 AM ^
As long as he's delivering the goods, the institution will remain happy to overlook the fact that for much of the time that he was in California he was a member of the American Communist Party. I mean, it's not even really a secret.
Wait - who were you talking about?
August 13th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
What the absolute Fuck!?!?!?!?
August 13th, 2023 at 1:32 PM ^
Hypocrisy, unlike defamation, is not actionable. If Harbaugh truly did not lie and is being accused unjustly, a libel action is available.
I wouldn't screw around with someone being represented byTom Mars.
August 13th, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
They 100% explicitly prohibit the ncaa from commenting on it. See mars follow up tweet today
August 13th, 2023 at 1:13 PM ^
And Tom Mars is just the guy to give it to them.
August 13th, 2023 at 8:19 PM ^
I love that UM/Harbaugh is using Mars - perhaps the most experienced person in overturning ridiculous ncaa policies.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:58 PM ^
Pretty standard procedure for any prosecutor. They say they can’t comment on ongoing investigations, unless they feel like they are losing the PR war, then they comment and spin away.
August 13th, 2023 at 7:24 PM ^
Problem is the NCAA is the prosecutor, jury and judge. Its a stacked deck when they decide to make you an example. Meanwhile, OSU and the SEC can skate away with wrist slaps.
August 14th, 2023 at 7:48 AM ^
I don't think it breaks their own bylaws - only the other party (UM/JH) can't comment. They just generally don't walk into the weeds like this. And the cheeseburger statement really nails it b/c UM/JH NEVER said a damn thing about cheeseburgers. Interweb msg boards did.
Which means, the 'lawyers' who work for the NCAA are getting 'barrassed about their bullshit by reading about it on this and other boards. Sad, considering most of them are 'lawyers' who couldn't find a realy 'lawing' job and go stuck playing pretend law with the NCAA. They are fretting about having to find a real job in 5 years when the NCAA dissolves. Polish up those CVs NCAA people, you may have to move back in with Omma and Appa.
August 13th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
Lawyer is saying if they push it to an actual court of law, it will not be good for the NCAA. They have no leverage here.
August 13th, 2023 at 12:39 PM ^
Just out of curiosity, could you elaborate please?
August 13th, 2023 at 1:11 PM ^
I don’t know if this is what is being referred to specifically, but my understanding is the NCAA is punishing Jim/Michigan for knowingly providing false or misleading information to their investigators. The issue is, from what I’ve heard, that Harbaugh essentially answered “I don’t recall who paid” when questioned about the burger. Which, it’s reasonable that you wouldn’t remember who paid for a specific meal that occurred 2 years ago, especially given a schedule as busy as a college football coach.
If that is the case, the burden then falls on the NCAA to prove that Harbaugh DID recall who paid and then lied about it. Which, proving what someone does or does not remember is a pretty tall task. (“I don’t recall” is a common answer in many Congressional hearings for this exact reason) So arguing that in an actual court of law gives the NCAA very little to stand on. In addition to the inconsistency in NCAA rule enforcement.
It is easy for the NCAA when they are both the prosecution and the judge in these cases, but if it gets taken to an actual court of law they lose that leverage. The further this goes past the NCAA, the less power they actually have.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:27 PM ^
What JonnyHintz said is totally fair and accurate, I believe, but in the moment I was thinking more generally.
There's a lot of stuff the NCAA does that's just not legally sound. If they get challenged like this in court, there's a lot of procedural stuff (e.g. asymmetrical gag order) that threatens all the foundations of the NCAA's bureaucracy, issues far bigger than the allegations against Harbaugh.
Usually, the NCAA is sanctioning activity that would be far worse for the school if it made it to an actual court. (Think Ole Miss' head coach hiring prostitutes for underaged recruits, the criminal implications are grave.) But in this case, Michigan and Harbaugh didn't break any laws at all, they have no fear of criminal prosecution. They would happily walk into a courthouse and explain all the details to a judge.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:33 PM ^
Yes, a large part of the NCAA’s “power” is centered around the school’s simply accepting the ruling of the NCAA.
The Penn State/Sandusky scandal was horrendous, don’t misunderstand me here. BUT, what jurisdiction does the NCAA actually have to impose sanctions on Penn State in that situation? To my understanding, and maybe I’m wrong, but no NCAA rules were broken there. It was a legal matter, and Penn State deserved harsh, harsh penalties for it. But I don’t know that the NCAA itself had any real power to do anything. Penn State simply accepted the penalties, but likely had a strong legal case if they had taken it to a court of law.
August 13th, 2023 at 9:55 PM ^
Penn State accepted the penalty because it is much worse for them if every disgusting and embarrassing detail got on national media for another round.
In this case, it is NCAA that will be embarrassed.
August 14th, 2023 at 5:35 AM ^
I’m not arguing that they should have fought it. It certainly would have been a PR nightmare for them to do so. But the NCAA oversteps quite often and the schools either self-punish or accept the NCAA penalties when they’d have a strong case against the NCAA if they fought back.
August 13th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
This is going to be a *great* bit of drama. Get 'em, Jim.
August 13th, 2023 at 8:39 PM ^
Fuck all them wool-suit wearin hoes
August 13th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
Did they stick another fork in the deal this morning?
The NCAA was, is, and always will be a clown operation. Maybe they're not quite as corrupt as FIFA or the IOC but they're easily dumber.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
"The NCAA was, is, and always will be a clown operation."
Clowns are offended.
August 13th, 2023 at 1:39 PM ^
Honestly, if the NCAA were an international organization, I suspect we'd see FIFA-level corruption come to light.
August 13th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
I will tell you I am shocked that the NCAA's Vice President of hearing operations is an Alabama grad.
August 13th, 2023 at 11:55 AM ^
I also interpreted Derrick to be a flaming asshole as well. He must like the power this gives him to put Harbaugh "in his place" for the serious wrongdoing and huge competitive advantage Michigan gained for the alleged "more than cheeseburger" violations.
August 13th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
MEANWHILE the SEC continues to lie and CHEAT for decades while the CORRUPT NCAA looks the other way...got it!
August 13th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Harbaugh's lawyer with the mic drop.
August 13th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^
And he’s definitely not wrong. Harbaugh wants to explain his side yet is sworn to silence. Meanwhile the brass at the ncaa can try and set the narrative. Hopefully they screwed themselves by taking to the Twitter.
August 13th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
I'm only asking you because yours is the second comment I've seen to the same effect. As the prosecutor, judge, jury, and executioner, what narrative does the NCAA have to set? People are implying that the NCAA needs to convince themselves that Harbaugh did something wrong LOL.