Michigan Wolverines were crushed by NCAA for violations caused by Jim Harbaugh

The NCAA announced that the Michigan Wolverines football program during Jim Harbaugh’s tenure as a head coach committed a breach of multiple recruiting violations.

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 noncoaching staff members that occurred within the football program, and the appropriate penalties for those violations. Jim Harbaugh was not named, but they did say former head coach in their claims.

The announcement stated that the university accepted the violations and agreed to penalties of “three years of probation for the school, a fine and recruiting restrictions in alignment with the Level I-Mitigated classification for the school.”

The announcement revealed that the violations included “impermissible in-person recruiting contacts during a COVID-19 dead period, impermissible tryouts, and the program exceeding the number of allowed countable coaches when noncoaching staff members engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities.”

Harbaugh coached Michigan for nine seasons and led the team to three conference titles and the 2023 national championship, which was the program’s first title since 1997. After the 2023 campaign, he returned to the NFL after accepting a head coaching position with the Los Angeles Chargers.