Michigan and Five-of-Six Former or Current Employees Agree To NCAA Penalties

April 17, 2024 by ncaa.org and collegefootballpoll.com staff

Michigan and five individuals who currently or previously worked for its football program have reached an agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on recruiting violations and coaching activities by non-coaching staff members that occurred within the football program, and the appropriate penalties for those violations. A Committee on Infractions panel has approved the agreement. One former coach (believed to be Jim Harbaugh) did not participate in the agreement, and that portion of the case will be considered separately by the Committee on Infractions, after which the committee will release its full decision. 

The agreed-upon violations involve impermissible in-person recruiting contacts during a COVID-19 dead period, impermissible tryouts, and the program exceeding the number of allowed countable coaches when non-coaching staff members engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities (including providing technical and tactical skills instruction to student-athletes).  The negotiated resolution also involved the school's agreement that the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation and the former football head coach failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation. The school also agreed that it failed to deter and detect the impermissible recruiting contacts and did not ensure that the football program adhered to rules for non-coaching staff members.

The committee will not discuss further details in the case to protect the integrity of the ongoing process, as the committee's final decision — including potential violations and penalties for the former coach — is pending.

By separating the cases, the Division I Committee on Infractions publicly acknowledges the infractions case and permits the school and the participating individuals to immediately begin serving their penalties while awaiting the committee's final decision on the remaining contested portion of the case. That decision will include any findings and penalties for the former coach. This is the fourth case where the committee has used multiple resolution paths. 

The agreed-upon penalties in this case include three years of probation for the school, a fine and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-Mitigated classification for the school. The participating individuals also agreed to one-year show-cause orders consistent with the Level II-Standard and Level II-Mitigated classifications of their respective violations.