By LARRY LAGE
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The NCAA announced a four-year show-cause order for former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday for impermissible contact with recruits and players while access was restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NCAA said Harbaugh, who left his alma mater to coach the Los Angeles Chargers after last season’s national championship, “engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations.”
The NCAA had already put Michigan on three years of probation along with a fine and recruiting limits after reaching a negotiated resolution in the case.
Harbaugh did not go along with the agreement, disputing allegations he failed to cooperate with investigators. Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, has said the coach was not invited to participate in the settlement process or aware that an agreement had been reached between the school and the NCAA.
“The panel noted that Harbaugh’s intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct amplified the severity of the case and prompted the panel to classify Harbaugh’s case as Level I-Aggravated, with penalties to include a four-year show-cause order. Subsumed in the show-cause order is a one-season suspension for Harbaugh,” the NCAA said.
The order covers 2024-28 and would require a school wanting to hire Harbaugh to suspend him for the first full season. After that, Harbaugh would be barred from athletics-related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings until the order expires.
The recruiting case is separate from the NCAA’s investigation into impermissible in-person scouting and sign stealing that roiled Michigan’s championship season in 2023 and resulted in a three-game suspension of Harbaugh by the Big Ten.
That case is still open and multiple cases could open up Michigan to being deemed a repeat violator by the NCAA, which could trigger harsher sanctions.
New Michigan coach Sherrone Moore is facing allegations he violated NCAA rules related to the investigation into scouting and sign-stealing, three people briefed on a pending notice of allegations told The Associated Press on Sunday. All spoke on condition of anonymity because the notice was confidential.
Two of the people said Moore has been accused of deleting text message exchanges with Connor Stalions — the former low-level recruiting staffer who coordinated an off-campus, advance-scouting operation — around the time the investigation was opened.
One of the people said the NCAA has recommended a Level 2 violation for Moore — Level 1 is the most serious — and that messages between Moore and Stalions were recovered and that the coach provided them to the NCAA.
The 38-year-old Moore was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach when Harbaugh bolted to lead the Chargers, making his return to the NFL after a successful run with the San Francisco 49ers.
Moore filled in as acting head coach four times last season while Harbaugh served suspensions, winning all four games, including the season finale against rival Ohio State.
In-person scouting is banned by the NCAA, which investigated Michigan’s alleged system to determine how organized it was and who knew about it. Stalions, who has not cooperated with the NCAA in its investigation, will break his silence Aug. 27 on Netflix when the documentary “Sign Stealer” makes its debut on the streaming service.
“I do not apologize,” Harbaugh said Monday when asked about the NCAA’s sign-stealing notice to the Wolverines. “I did not participate. I was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations.”
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AP College Football Writer Ralph D. Russo contributed.
