BREAKING: NCAA hits Jim Harbaugh with 4-year show-cause, 1-year suspension

The NCAA has determined former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh "violated recruiting and inducement rules" and "engaged in unethical conduct" among other violations relating to the COVID-19 recruiting dead period...

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh watches from the sideline in the second quarter during the College Football Playoff national championship game against Washington at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. / Melanie Maxwell / USA TODAY NETWORK

The NCAA has penalized former Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh with a four-year show-cause penalty and a one-year suspension over recruiting violations relating to the COVID-19 dead period in 2021.

The NCAA's committee on infractions released its ruling on Wednesday and said Harbaugh "violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations" during the time period. The NCAA also determined that Harbaugh failed to “meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation.”

The show-cause order against Harbaugh begins on Aug. 7, 2024 and continues until Aug. 6, 2028. If he were hired by any NCAA institution during that time period, the 60-year old head coach would be suspended for the entirety of his first season at that institution. After winning the 2023 national championship at Michigan, Harbaugh left this offseason to become the new head coach of the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers.

Michigan and five of it's staff members reached an agreement with the NCAA earlier this year regarding recruiting violations and impermissible coaching by non-coaching staff members. The university agreed that it had not properly monitored the football program in its resolution with the NCAA. As a result, Michigan was given three years' probation, a fine of $5,000 plus 1% of its football budget and a number of recruiting limitations. Harbaugh was a participant in that agreement between the university and the NCAA.

The NCAA's full press release regarding its findings and punishment of Harbaugh can be read below, or by clicking here.

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Michigan committed NCAA violations in football program

Committee on Infractions issues penalties for former head football coach Jim Harbaugh, who failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation

A Division I Committee on Infractions panel determined former Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh violated recruiting and inducement rules, engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations, resulting in a four-year show-cause order.

Michigan and five individuals who currently or previously worked for its football program earlier reached agreement with NCAA enforcement staff on violations concerning recruiting and coaching activities by noncoaching staff members that occurred within the football program. The school also agreed that it failed to monitor the football program. The committee issued a statement on April 16 confirming resolution of the case for the school and the participating individuals. The committee's bifurcation of the case permitted those parties to immediately begin serving their penalties while awaiting the committee's final decision on the remaining contested portion of the case.

Harbaugh was not part of that agreement, so his case was resolved separately.

Today, the committee issued its decision resolving that portion of the case. The underlying violations in this case are centered around impermissible recruiting contacts and inducements during the COVID-19 dead period. Throughout the investigation, Harbaugh denied his involvement in the violations, which were overwhelmingly supported by the record. Harbaugh also refused to participate in a hearing before the committee.

Harbaugh's violations of the COVID-19 recruiting dead period are Level II violations, but his unethical conduct and failure to cooperate with the membership's infractions process — specifically, his provision of false or misleading information — is a Level I violation.

Head coaches are presumed responsible for violations that occur within their programs. Due to Harbaugh's personal involvement in the violations and his failure to monitor his staff, he could not rebut the presumption, resulting in a violation of head coach responsibility rules.

The panel noted that Harbaugh's intentional disregard for NCAA legislation and unethical conduct amplified the severity of the case and prompted the panel to classify Harbaugh's case as Level I-Aggravated, with penalties to include a four-year show-cause order. Subsumed in the show-cause order is a one-season suspension for Harbaugh.

During the show-cause order, Harbaugh would be barred from all athletically related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings, at any NCAA school that employed him. Additionally, if hired during the show-cause order, Harbaugh would be suspended for 100 percent of the first season of employment. The results of those contests during Harbaugh's suspension would not count toward his career coaching record.

Members of the Committee on Infractions are drawn from the NCAA membership and members of the public. The members of the panel who reviewed this case are Rich Ensor, former commissioner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference; Kendra Greene, senior woman administrator and senior associate athletics director for internal operations at North Carolina Central; Jeremy Jordan, dean of the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics at Syracuse; Susan Cross-Lipnickey, senior associate athletics director for compliance and student-athlete resources/senior woman administrator at Xavier University; Stephen Madva, attorney in private practice; and Dave Roberts, special advisor to Southern California and chief hearing officer for the panel.