Michigan Football 'Champions' FOREVER Tainted With *Asterisks* On 2024 'Title'
Mike Kersmarki
Secretary, Hillsborough County Industrial Development Authority, in a career spanning financial journalism to politics.
August Update: NCAA BANS HARBAUGH FOR FOUR YEARS
Let's hope Jimbo Does Well in the NFL Because the NCAA Has Effectively BANNED HIM FROM COLLEGE FOOTBALL until Aug. 2028 for impermissible contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NCAA said Harbaugh “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations.”
“Harbaugh engaged in unethical conduct and failed to cooperate when he denied any involvement in impermissible recruiting contacts despite substantial information to the contrary,” the NCAA said in a 48-page decision that several times suggested the coach was not truthful with investigators.
??Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith, who retired as AD at the end of June, strongly contends that the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal benefitted the University of Michigan, creating an unfair advantage for the Wolverines that has damaged the integrity of collegiate football. ?
There definitely should be an asterisk next to the three straight wins that U-M had over the Buckeyes in football under Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, Smith said earlier this spring (May 9, 2024) on WOSU Public Media’s “All Sides with Anna Staver”.
??“Yeah, of course I do. The rules are in place to protect the integrity of the game and (you) try your best to create a level playing field. And when those rules are violated, then it affects those principles. And so, we have to keep that in perspective.”
HARBAUGH UPDATE, AUG. 5, 2024
... Judge for Yourselves Whether Jim Harbaugh is a LIAR With This Quote Below (See Update at the top of this story).
“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal,” Harbaugh said. “I was raised with that lesson. I have raised my family on that lesson. I have preached that lesson to the teams that I’ve coached. No one’s perfect. If you stumble, you apologize and you make it right. Today, I do not apologize. I did not participate, was not aware nor complicit in those said allegations. So for (me), it’s back to work and attacking with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.”
- Jim Harbaugh — the former Michigan football coach now with the Los Angeles Chargers — did not back down from denying his involvement in the Wolverines’ sign-stealing scandal when he spoke to reporters on Monday (Aug. 05, 2024).
Whatever Harbaugh knew and whenever he knew it, many sports journalists - and Big Ten coaches - remain convinced that Wolverine players and coaches gained a significant competitive advantage over many teams by stealing signs - which could forever taint the U-M's controversial national football championship for its 2023 season.
One of the most outspoken is Tim Montemayor, host of The Monty Show. He said in a podcast earlier this year that "the evidence against Michigan was and is uncontrovertible and it is overwhelming."
" ... If Jim Harbaugh is innocent why is he facing three separate different investigations? Why is he self-admitted to level one and level two violations? Why did he self-suspend for those level one and level two violations? ... Jim Harbaugh goes to the Detroit News where he knows he will be asked no difficult questions ... That (was) absolutely a shine job on Jim Harbaugh."
In addition to the cheating scandal, the NCAA also found that there were numerous recruiting violations under Harbaugh, according to several media reports.
In April, Michigan was placed on probation for the next three years and other penalties from college football's regulatory body. These were due to recruiting violations during a COVID-19 dead period. The violations also came from having non-coaching staff members?participate in impermissible roles under Harbaugh .
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Harbaugh served a self-imposed three-game suspension ?when the 2023 season began because of these violations, which are separate from the sign-stealing saga involving Stalions , which broke in the second half of the year.
“Today’s joint resolution pertains to the University of Michigan Athletic Department and several former and current employees. We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward. We have no additional information and cannot comment further on other aspects of the NCAA’s inquiries.”
? Harbaugh, who was suspended for six total games during the 2023 'championship' season has since fled Ann Arbor and college football to become head coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. Harbaugh was 86-25 in his nine seasons as U-M head coach (.781 winning percentage).
Many in the sporting world have long been suspicious of involvement in sign-stealing by Harbaugh - who claimed innocence for himself and his team as he continues to portray himself as a victim of a 'smear campaign.'
These claims came during post-championship interviews in January with various media - including CBS , the Detroit News and others - as he was trying to distance himself from the shameful cheating scandal involving the University of Michigan and its controversial 2023 national football championship.
In March, MLive . com reported that Michigan's sign-stealing scandal may have influenced the NCAA to make multiple rule changes for the 2024 season.
Those include allowing player-to-coach helmet communications that could hinder a team’s ability to decipher opponents’ play-calls when signals are relayed from the sideline to the huddle.
DID MICHIGAN DESERVE ITS 'MEDIA' NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN 1997?
??As for the U-M's other national football championship for the 1997 season, some feel that Nebraska likely would have defeated what they saw as a weaker Michigan team. But there were no college football playoffs back then, so conflicting No. 1 teams were chosen (AP Sports Writers Poll, Michigan No. 1; UPI Coach's Poll, Nebraska No. 1).
Indeed, Nebraska clearly had a tougher schedule that season, according to TipTop25 . com.
The AP reported that the Cornhuskers played five top-25 opponents to just three for Michigan. Also, two of Nebraska's opponents were ranked higher than any team Michigan played.
Nebraska outscored their opponents by an average of 30.2 points per game, compared to only 17.3 points by Michigan. And after the bowls, Nebraska had the No. 1 offense and No. 5 defense, while Michigan had the No. 45 offense and No. 2 defense.
"And all of this was well displayed under the biggest magnifying lens: the bowl results. Playing highly comparable opponents, Michigan defeated PAC 10 champ Washington State (No. 9, 10-2) 21-16 in the Rose Bowl, while Nebraska defeated SEC champ Tennessee (No. 7, 11-2) 42-17 in the Orang Bowl. So, why was Michigan voted No. 1 at all?"
??Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne also had a better overall record - including two national championships earlier in the '90s - than Lloyd Carr, who coached the Wolverines in 1997.
??Osborne was the head football coach for 25 seasons at Nebraska, where he mounted a 255-49-3 record - the sixth-most wins in major college history. Osborne's .836 winning percentage ranked fifth all-time.?
By comparison, Lloyd Carr was 122-40 (.763 winning percentage) in 13 seasons at Michigan, which made him the third-most-winning football coach in U-M's history behind Bo Schembechler at No. 1 and No. 2 Fielding Yost.
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