Michigan, head coach Jim Harbaugh, and the Big Ten have all agreed to a resolution on their pending litigation that was supposed to take place tomorrow in a Washtenaw County courtroom. The University and Jim Harbaugh will accept the three-game regular season ban while the Conference will drop its investigation into the sign-stealing scandal.
“Coach Harbaugh, with the university’s support, decided to accept this sanction to return the focus to our student-athletes and their performance on the field,” Michigan said in a statement.
“The conference has confirmed that it is not aware of any information suggesting coach Harbaugh’s involvement in the allegations. The university continues to cooperate fully with the NCAA’s investigation.”
Harbaugh will now miss the next two games for Michigan, starting this weekend in Maryland and against Ohio State the final weekend. If Michigan wins out these final two weeks it’s expected that Harbaugh will return for the Big Ten Championship Game and a probable appearance in the College Football Playoff if the Wolverines do end up winning the conference.
In the meantime, Sherrone Moore will likely remain in charge of Michigan for two more weeks after leading the Wolverines to an impressive 24-15 victory over Penn State on the road last Saturday.
As far as the Big Ten goes, they released the following statement in the wake of the resolution:
Ok…
The NCAA’s investigation is ongoing and the resolution between Michigan and the Big Ten is unlikely to affect it.
It is interesting though how much success Michigan has had this season when you consider Harbaugh has been gone for half of it. It makes you wonder looking ahead to the future.
