Alabama’s Rose Bowl Opponent in NCAA Soup

"Shirtless in Prattville" is what I call Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. I gave him that moniker after he arned it at an impromptu summer camp he held a few years back in Autauga county where he ran around the field with his shirt off.

Nick Saban has owned Harbaugh head-to-head and likely will again come 1 Jan.

All that being said, the Detroit Free Press says Harbaugh and his Wolverine program are in hot water for more than sign stealing.

"Nearly one year after Michigan football received a draft notice of allegations (NOA) from the NCAA around alleged Level II recruiting violations − which later spurred a Level I violation against coach Jim Harbaugh directly − the program has officially received an allegation of wrongdoing," the paper reported Wednesday.

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https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2023/12/20/michigan-football-official-notice-of-allegations-ncaa-recruiting-connor-stalions/71990587007/

The report goes on to say that Michigan Director of Public Affairs Kim Broekhuizen, and Associate Athletic Director Kurt Svoboda both confirmed Wednesday with the Free Press that the university has received the notice of allegations.

That's big news for an unbeaten, top-seeded football team heading into a first round CFP matchup with No. 4 Alabama.

Not to mention the fact that Harbaugh is said to be a top candidate to coach the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers next season. He may not even be around to face the charges.

The report says AD Warde Manuel confirmed the department was first warned of these charges 11 months ago.

"They received a draft NOA in January and the Wolverines are said to have acknowledged their impermissible Level II violations − which include analysts serving in on-field coaching capacities, coaches watching players work out over video chats, and messaging recruits during a COVID-19 dead period − however Harbaugh has maintained his innocence around his Level I charge, that he misled investigators," the Free Press reported.

"[Harbaugh] really doesn't think he did anything wrong," a person close to the situation told the Free Press.

Said errick Crawford, the NCAA’s vice president for hearing operations on social media, “the Michigan infractions case is related to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period and impermissible coaching activities — not a cheeseburger,”

Now that Michigan has received the NOA, they have a 90-day window to respond in writing, to any charges that have been presented and share thoughts on their merit/give their side of the story.

Following that, the NCAA then has 60 days to respond to any potential U-M response.

As the Free Press states: "At one point this summer it seemed as though U-M may wrap this up. It had reportedly agreed to a negotiated resolution with the NCAA that Harbaugh would be suspended four games and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and tight ends coach Grant Newsome each one, but that fell through shortly before Harbaugh took the stage for Big Ten Media Days in late July at Lucas Oil Stadium."

As we know, this is not the sole NCAA investigation regarding the likely NFL-bound  Harbaugh. Word broke of an alleged sign-stealing scandal in mid-October, and within days former recruiting staff member Connor Stalions was identified as the mastermind of the plot. He has since been fired.

Will this latest round of NCAA trouble affect UM's Rose Bowl prep? We shall see.

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