One of the most heated controversies in college sports history reached an unprecedented climax Friday when Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti suspended Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh from game-day duties for the rest of the regular season. That takes Harbaugh out of the Wolverines’ game at Penn State on Saturday, a game at Maryland on Nov. 18 and their showdown against Ohio State on Nov. 25—although expected emergency legal action from Michigan could permit him to coach against the Nittany Lions, at least.
Michigan was “found in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy for conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition,” the conference wrote in a three-paragraph release that was time-stamped at 3:31 p.m. ET, fewer than 21 hours before the Wolverines kick off against the Nittany Lions.
Junfu Han/USA Today Network
