When I think of the people who were most wronged in history, Joan of Arc and Nelson Mandela come to mind. Jim Harbaugh does not.
When I think of the greatest injustices in history, what’s happening to Michigan’s football team doesn’t come to mind.
The wails coming from Ann Arbor, Mich, might make you think otherwise. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Juliet had just found Romeo’s body.
The No. 2 Wolverines are in the middle of a cheating scandal. The Big Ten handed Harbaugh, their coach, a three-game suspension because a low-level member of Michigan’s staff allegedly scouted future opponents’ signs in person, which is against NCAA rules. The employee, Connor Stalions, has resigned. Michigan fans think that’s enough. They’re wrong, but they can’t see it. They’re too busy staring at a potential national title. And they’re too busy gnashing their teeth and rending their garments on social media.
We’ve been through this with Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern. Fitzgerald’s insistence that he didn’t know hazing was going on in his program missed the point. It’s the head coach’s responsibility to know what’s going on with his team.
The buck stops with the boss, especially the big-bucks boss. Harbaugh is making about $8 million this year. When you’re paid like that, the school you work for should expect you to be accountable for everything that’s going on in your program. Michigan’s rush to defend Harbaugh is much more disappointing than any rush to judgment the Big Ten might have made. Sports Illustrated reported that Michigan’s board of regents discussed pulling out of the conference if Harbaugh was suspended.
They’ve lost their collective mind in the pursuit of a national title. Given the history of college football coaches and ethics, why Michigan would choose this hill to die on is almost beyond comprehension. Unless, of course, it’s about the pile of money that comes with winning a national championship.
Hmmm. I might have just stumbled upon something there.
Where is the due process, Michigan, its supporters and many sports media types are screaming. (It’s surprising how many sportswriters and sports talk-show hosts are legal scholars, especially when their training is in economics and foreign affairs.)
This would never happen in the Southeastern Conference, former Michigan star Desmond Howard said in an email to the Associated Press.
“I can’t imagine (commissioner) Greg Sankey — or Mike Slive before him — allowing themselves to be publicly bullied into circumventing the NCAA investigative process by coaches and ADs who insist on immediate punishment before a full investigation is conducted,” he said. “Especially if a potential national championship is on the line for the conference.”
A few questions: Shouldn’t Howard, as an analyst for ESPN’s “College GameDay,’’ recuse himself from this discussion? And to bring up the SEC as a noted champion of the legal system, wouldn’t that be the definition of ‘rich?’ ”
The Big Ten conducted an investigation. It talked with other conference coaches and athletic directors. It determined that the Wolverines violated its sportsmanship policy. The Big Ten’s bylaws allow for fast action in matters pertaining to sportsmanship and competitive integrity. It suspended Harbaugh for being the leader of a team that cheated. It’s reasonable to conclude that Michigan, as part of the Big Ten, signed off on that rule book at some point.
Harbaugh and Michigan have asked a judge to grant a temporary restraining order that would allow him to coach again soon. That judge will hear arguments Friday, and Harbaugh said he hopes to get a chance to speak.
There it is. There’s your due process. That’s how it works.
If a party doesn’t feel like it was treated fairly, it can look for a remedy in the courts. That’s what Fitzgerald has done by suing Northwestern.
So how would Michigan defend itself against the sign-stealing accusation?
“Everybody does it’’ is not a defense.
“The other teams in the conference are jealous of us’’ is not a defense.
“We didn’t cheat’’ is a defense. Now prove it.
But you don’t hear Michigan claiming that there wasn’t cheating. Presumably, the university wants to claim that an employee went rogue and stole opponents’ signals on his own. Also not a defense: “Our head coach didn’t know.’’
Michigan should play the mistakes-were-made card and let Harbaugh finish the last two games of his suspension. The Wolverines beat Penn State without him Saturday. Granted, it will be scary facing No. 3 Ohio State without their coach in a week and a half. But somewhere, he’ll still be dressed up as Bo Schembechler and cheering them on. They can think of that as a sign.
