The Michigan football program received a notice of Allegations from the NCAA last December in regards to allegations of impermissible contact with recruits within the department during the COVID-19 dead period in 2021; those details are now public.
An 11-page notice of allegations (NOA) was recently released by U-M with a handful of redactions − which removed all staffers named in the NOA other than Jim Harbaugh, as well as specific dates − in response to when the Detroit Free Press filed a Freedom of Information Act last December, which includes examples of impermissible contact with recruits, a staffer who took part in verboten on-field activity and a former head coach who showed “dishonest conduct.”
In the NOA, counts 1, 2, 4 and 5 were all deemed to be Level II violations by the NCAA, or a mid-level offense. According to the document, the first count involved “members of the football staff (who) provided then football prospective student-athlete 1 access to the football facilities and met with him in the football weight room.”
It continues to say that that staffers met a second prospective athlete and his father at a local restaurant and that the football program provided a discounted meal. There was another occasion where the same un-named student-athlete and his father went to meet with staffers “for a cost-free meal at a local restaurant” the investigation found.
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“The enforcement staff believes a hearing panel could conclude that Allegation No. 1 is Level II because the violations (a) were intentional, (b) were not isolated or limited, (c) provided or were intended to provide more than a minimal recruiting or other advantage, (d) involved multiple recruiting violations and (e) compromised the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Model,” the document reads.
The second allegation found there was an un-named staffer who supplied “technical or tactical instruction to football student-athletes” and was confirmed to be “present for on-campus evaluations of 28 prospective student-athletes.”
The document continues that the redacted staffer “provided false or misleading information regarding his knowledge of and/or involvement in the impermissible in-person on and off-campus recruiting… However, the factual information establishes met with the football prospective student-athletes and their fathers.”
Allegation No. 4 surrounded yet another staffer who was found to have “regularly engaged in impermissible coaching activities in the presence of the assistant football coaches”
The fifth allegation connected the dots between the first two together. The sport’s governing body then determined there was evidence, “that the institution did not (a) effectively deter and/or detect the football program’s impermissible in-person on-campus and off-campus interactions with prospective student-athletes and (b) ensure the football program’s compliance with non-coaching staff member legislation during the 2021 period and on-campus evaluation restrictions.”
This is what former coach Jim Harbaugh served his first three-game suspension for in 2023, when athletic director Warde Manuel self-imposed the punishment on his team’s head coach. More recently, the Wolverines have been the subject of another NCAA investigation, which centers on an alleged sign-stealing plot that went on for years and was believed to be masterminded by former recruiting staffer Connor Stalions.
As for the third violation, it claims Harbaugh ““violated the NCAA principles of ethical conduct and failed to cooperate” when he sat down with investigators for an interview and was deemed to give misleading answers. For this, he was cited with the most serious of offenses by the investigators.
“The violations involved unethical or dishonest conduct and a failure to cooperate, which are presumed Level I and seriously undermined or threatened the integrity of the NCAA Collegiate Mode,” the NOA reads.
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Harbaugh left the Wolverines in January just a few weeks after winning the national championship and it was only a handful of days before Sherrone Moore − who served a one-game suspension in his own right in response to the NCAA’s first investigation − took over as the new head man.
A few months later, in mid-April, the NCAA announced that the Wolverines program would be on probation for three years, which included both a fine for the program as well as undisclosed recruiting restrictions, relating to the NOA that was released to the public Wednesday.
“Today’s joint resolution pertains to the University of Michigan Athletic Department and several former and current employees,” Manuel said at the time. “We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: NCAA: Michigan football, Jim Harbaugh showed ‘dishonest conduct’
Detroit Free Press
