NCAA hits Harbaugh with one-year suspension
Published
The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions levied a one-year suspension to former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday as part of its determination that the Wolverines football program committed recruitment violations.
The panel determined Harbaugh "violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations, resulting in a four-year show-cause order."
The 60-year-old Harbaugh left Michigan following the team's National Championship victory in January, returning to the NFL as head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Harbaugh's recruitment violations during the COVID-19 dead period are considered Level II violations, but his unethical conduct, failure to comply with the investigation and offering of false information are Level I.
As part of the show-cause order, Harbaugh would be banned from "all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any NCAA school that employed him" and completely suspended for the first season of his employment should another job come to pass.
A native of Toledo, OH, Harbaugh had spent nine seasons at Ann Arbor, going 86-25 and winning three Big Ten titles. He previously coached at San Diego and Stanford.