In a heated response to the NCAA’s recent penalty announcements, Jim Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, has fired back at the organization’s decision to punish the former Michigan football head coach.
The penalties include a four-year show-cause order and a one-year suspension for violating head-coach responsibility obligations, “unethical conduct,” and failing to promote “an atmosphere of compliance” during a 2021 recruiting investigation in the COVID-19 dead period.
Mars released a strongly worded statement, criticizing the NCAA’s decision.
“The way I see it, from Coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s COI decision is like being in college and getting a letter from your high school saying you’ve been suspended because you didn’t sign the yearbook,” Mars said in a statement.
“If I were in Coach Harbaugh’s shoes and had an $80 million contract as a head coach of the Chargers, I wouldn’t pay any attention to the findings of a kangaroo court which claims to represent the principles of the nation’s most flagrant, repeat violator of the federal antitrust laws.”
Mars’ statement underscores his vehement disagreement with the NCAA’s ruling.
Although the penalties are significant, they currently have no impact on Harbaugh’s NFL career. However, the consequences would be severe should he decide to return to college coaching, which very few people expect him to ever do.
The show-cause order, effective from August 7, 2024, to August 6, 2028, mandates that if Harbaugh is hired by a college during this period, he would be suspended for the entire first season of his employment.
Under a show-cause order, any school hiring Harbaugh during the sanction period must adhere to the terms, reporting to the NCAA every six months until the penalty’s conclusion.
Harbaugh retains the right to appeal the decision, per NCAA bylaws.
If the suspension holds, it would bar him from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting, and team events.
But again, Harbaugh is now onto a new chapter in his coaching career. The most likely scenario is that we never see him on a college sideline ever again – expect for when he’s being honored in Ann Arbor.
What are your thoughts on the ruling???