What Jim Harbaugh suspension means for Michigan football
Jim Harbaugh will reportedly be suspended for four games this season due to NCAA infractions but will it even hurt Michigan football?
Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh isn’t the first big-name head coach to be suspended and he won’t be the last.
Urban Meyer is one name that comes to mind, although the circumstances were a little different. Meyer agreed to serve a three-game suspension for the way he handled allegations regarding an assistant coach and domestic abuse on the Ohio State football team.
Jim Harbaugh will also be away from a good part of the Michigan football season for buying kids hambugers as Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports reported he agreed to a four-game suspension.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and NCAA are working toward a negotiated resolution that is expected to see him suspended four games this season in penalties stemming from alleged false statements he originally made to investigators, sources tell @YahooSports.https://t.co/4oJYVNxmFu
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) July 25, 2023
This stems from the NCAA’s allegations that Harbaugh mislead investigators as they were looking into infractions that Michigan contacted players outside of allowed time periods, watched workouts over Zoom and that Harbaugh took out recruits for lunch during a dead period.
Harbaugh has agreed to the suspension, according to reports. Sherrone Moore and Grant Newsome will also be suspended for one game. However, much like when Meyer was suspended, you have to ask, will this really hurt the Wolverines?
Source confirms: Michigan is working toward a four-game suspension for Jim Harbaugh and one-game suspensions for Sherrone Moore and Grant Newsome as part of a negotiated resolution to its NCAA infractions case. First reported by @RossDellenger
— Austin Meek (@byAustinMeek) July 25, 2023
What Jim Harbaugh suspension will mean for 2023
Moore is the offensive coordinator and he will likely miss the first game too, meaning Michigan football will be short two of its best coaches against East Carolina.
Yet, the opponent is East Carolina. The Wolverines also play UNLV, Bowling Green, and Rutgers during the proposed suspension for Harbaugh.
Rutgers has made things difficult on Michigan over the past couple of years, but those aren’t the heavyweights such as Ohio State, Penn State, or Michigan State. Harbaugh will be back for the first road game at Nebraska.
Surely, it will motivate a Michigan team that’s already motivated to win a national championship after getting upset in the Fiesta Bowl by TCU. Plus, Harbaugh has said before he feels like there are numerous head coaches on the staff.
Mike Hart, Jesse Minter, and Jay Harbaugh would all make sense as interim head coaches. Moore too except that he’ll miss the first game.
Michigan fans are up in arms right now and they should be. This is ridiculous on the part of the NCAA with all the other cheating going on, especially in the NIL space.
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But when Michigan football opens the season 4-0 and dominates everyone in its path, a lot of the anger will melt away, even though the injustice of it all is clear to see.