Jim Harbaugh’s suspension over literal beef in recruiting, explained

Here’s why the Michigan football coach is set to miss the first four games of the season.

In a bit of a surprising news dump on Tuesday, the NCAA announced that they will be suspending Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for four games as a result of an investigation into statements he made to the NCAA, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.

Before Harbaugh sits out the first four games and Michigan aims to win the B1G again, here’s a brief explainer into the suspension of Harbaugh.

What did Harbaugh allegedly do?

Well, not much apparently. According to Dellenger, Harbaugh is being suspended for alleged false statements made to the NCAA in response to an investigation of recruiting violations he and Michigan staff members made.

So what were those recruiting violations that Harbaugh and staff members committed? The NCAA cited four Level II violations, which include meeting with recruits during a COVID-19 dead period (a time during the calendar year where coaches cannot meet with recruits physically), texting a recruit outside of an allowable time period, and having coaches watch players work out over Zoom.

Where did Harbaugh meet these recruits? Allegedly, at The Brown Jug, a Michigan institution where Harbaugh bought the recruits burgers.

Yes, this beef is over ... well ... beef.

However, the higher, more serious accusation is the Level I violation Jim Harbaugh committed, which is lying to the investigators about the things he allegedly did. That’s the major reason he is getting suspended for four games.

Why only four games?

That’s simple. Harbaugh and the NCAA negotiated an agreed upon suspension, which is absolutely hilarious to me. “Oh you lied to our investigators about some recruiting violations? Yeah we’ll work with you on a fair and reasonable suspension.” Like how often do we hear about that in real life? The negotiated suspension is some sort of proof that Harbaugh did something wrong in lying to the NCAA investigators, so I guess a guilty plea got him only four games.

College football is hilarious.

Was anyone else involved here?

Yes. Former defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald (now the DC of the Baltimore Ravens) was given a one-year show cause penalty, making it more difficult for him to get a job in college athletics if he wanted one. He’s in the NFL though, so he might not want one right now!

In addition, offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and tight ends coach Grant Newsome were given one-game suspensions for their roles in the recruiting violations, per The Athletic’s Austin Meek.

Who is Michigan playing in these four games?

Hoo boy, I hope you got your seatbelts buckled because this is a REAL murderer’s row of opponents to start the season for the Wolverines.

In their B1G title defense, they will open up the season with:

Sep. 2: at home against East Carolina

Sep. 9: at home against UNLV

Sep. 16: at home against Michigan

Sep. 23: at home against Rutgers

How will the Wolverines ever recover without their head coach during this grueling schedule? They have to be shaking in their maize and blue boots seeing this. I mean, nobody takes down a Greg Schiano-led team without a fight.

What does Michigan’s schedule look like after Harbaugh gets back?

I mean...maybe a bit tougher? Maybe?

The Wolverines are going to have the benefit of every powerhouse school in the ability to absolutely decimate very bad teams on the road back to the College Football Playoff. They won’t face a team in the top 50 of Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings until October when they play Minnesota. That one is a road game, but Michigan should win that one with relative ease.

They won’t play a team that finished in the top 25 until November, when they go to Penn State. This schedule is like playing Baby Park on Mario Kart with the game set to easy mode. They can cruise through the first two months of the season without any hiccups, so this Harbaugh suspension won’t even matter in the grand scheme of things.

Michigan will be fine.