Michigan football: Is proposed Jim Harbaugh suspension an overreaction?

What a day it was for Michigan football fans. They woke up feeling great about their 2023 season, but then reports surfaced about Jim Harbaugh getting a four-game suspension this season for an incident that happened after he bought recruits burgers and reportedly lied about it.

Details emerged about the suspension on Tuesday and it came out of nowhere.

Because he bought recruits burgers and then lied to NCAA compliance about it, he is under fire and is negotiating a suspension that could cost him the first month of the 2023 season.

The potential missed games would include Bowling Green, Rutgers, East Carolina, and UNLV. So not exactly a murderer’s row of opponents, but it’s still a lengthy period of time to be without your head coach roaming the sidelines, especially for a serious playoff contender.

Is this an overreaction by the NCAA?

Should Jim Harbaugh feel slighted by the NCAA?

The first example that Michigan fans would use is the Tennessee violations that they were caught for but barely penalized from the Jeremy Pruitt era but the university complied and didn’t lie for Pruitt so that could be the rebuttal from the NCAA.

They also like to point to the SEC for being dirty for years and they’re not entirely wrong. It does feel like the SEC gets away with murder while Harbaugh lies about buying burgers and gets four games. It’s a slight overreaction for sure.

It does show that the NCAA is trying to send a message: don’t lie to them.

Unfortunately, Harbaugh is getting the brunt of the punishment to send this message. He knows that Michigan will be 4-0 without him, but he’s just going to take his medicine and move on.

The precedent is set for coaches who decide to lie to the NCAA about anything and while four games is definitely steep, it’s hopefully going to clean up recruiting a bit (it probably won’t).