The Michigan Wolverines are currently in the midst of an NCAA investigation into allegations of illegal sign stealing. And it sounds like one college football expert expects head coach Jim Harbaugh to be punished as a result.
During a recent appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show, ESPN college football insider Adam Rittenberg explained that he believes the Big Ten thinks there should be consequences as a result of violations they believe happened.
“I don’t think the Big Ten has concrete evidence that Jim Harbaugh was aware or orchestrating any of these activities. But they do believe that they happened,” Rittenberg said on the show, according to On3. “That part – they think there are enough facts that have been presented to them by the NCAA, by media, by other outlets, that they believe these violations happened and someone has to suffer the consequences.”
But even though there might not be hard evidence providing that Harbaugh was aware of the wrongdoing, Rittenberg explains that he can still be punished as someone whose job is to oversee the program.
“The way that even the NCAA’s penalty structure is now, you can have an assistant coach that you have no knowledge what he or she is doing, and as the head coach you still can face penalties,” Rittenberg said. “So I think it’s very much along those lines, that Michigan the team won’t be punished, but Jim Harbaugh, the head coach of the team, who oversees everything in the program, could be punished, even if he was not aware that any of this was going on.”
We’ll have to see what the Big Ten decides to do.
[On3]
