Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel didn’t mince his words in the wake of Jim Harbaugh’s suspension for the school’s alleged sign-stealing scandal.
Manuel even sent a stern warning to other coaches and athletic directors in the Big Ten.
“All of the Head Coaches in the Big Ten (some who have been accused of actively participating in the trading of signals of opponents) and my Big Ten AD colleagues can rejoice today that someone was ‘held accountable,’ but they should be worried about the new standard of judgment (without complete investigation) that has been unleashed in this conference.”
The Associated Press reported on Monday that a former employee at a Big Ten football program told the outlet that it was his job to steal signs and that he was given details from multiple schools in the conference before his school played Michigan in order to compile a spreadsheet of Michigan’s signals.
The employee, who spoke to the outlet anonymously, said he shared the documents with Michigan as well as screenshots of text messages between staffers from a handful of Big Ten schools that he believes prove others are guilty of the same misconduct Michigan is being punished for.
The Big Ten announced on Friday that Harbaugh is suspended from coaching on the sidelines for the rest of the regular season, though he can still coach practices and run team activities during the week.
Michigan sought a temporary injunction that would allow Harbaugh to coach the team’s game against Penn State on Saturday, but the case was not heard in time.
Instead, a hearing is set for Nov. 17.
Michigan is under investigation for an alleged scheme spearheaded by ex-staffer Connor Stalions, who has since resigned, in which he attended and purchased tickets for others to attend games of upcoming Wolverines opponents and recorded their hand signals.
Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore is the acting head coach on Saturday in Harbaugh’s absence.
Manuel believes the punishment was premature without proper due process.
“No one here, and no one at other universities around this country, wants to be convicted and penalized without due process of a complete investigation and with significant harm to our student-athletes,” Manuel said in the statement. “This is a fundamental principle of our justice, NCAA and, until yesterday, our conference systems. Sadly, that is not what happened yesterday.
“Yesterday, under the guise of the NCAA Rule regarding Head Coach Responsibility the Big Ten decided to penalize Coach Harbaugh without knowing all the facts, and I find that completely unethical, insulting to a well-established process within the NCAA, and an assault on the rights of everyone (especially the Big Ten) to be judged by a fair and complete investigation.
“Not liking someone or another university or believing without any evidence that they knew or saying someone should have known without an investigation is not grounds to remove someone from their position before the NCAA process has reached a conclusion through a full NCAA investigative process.”
In their announcement, the Big Ten said Michigan “has been found in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy for conducting an impermissible, in-person operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition.”
They did not claim Harbaugh knew of the sign-stealing scheme in the announcement, which seemingly prompted much of Manuel’s anger.
Manuel made it clear he and the school stand by Harbaugh.
“You may have removed him from our sidelines today, but Jim Harbaugh is our head football coach,” Manuel said. “We look forward to defending Jim’s right to coach our football team at the hearing on Friday. He has instilled his pride, passion, and the team’s belief in themselves to achieve greatness.
“I will continue to support Jim throughout this process, my coaching and staff, and especially our student-athletes as we continue to play this game and fight to win for Michigan and all who love us.”