Jim Harbaugh may have left Michigan after winning a national championship last season to return to the NFL, but he’s still revered by fans — and Athletic Director Warde Manuel.
Days after the NCAA announced it is punishing Harbaugh with a four-year show-cause and a one-year suspension — meaning if he were to return to coach any school in the next four years, he would be suspended the entirety of the first season — Manuel has revealed plans for Harbaugh to return to campus this fall.
Harbaugh will serve as the team’s honorary captain for the Wolverines’ season opener against Fresno State on Aug. 31, Manuel said on the 1 Star Recruits Podcast.
"I look forward to having him back in Ann Arbor for that game," Manuel said on the episode.
The NCAA said Harbaugh “engaged in unethical conduct” and “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.” The punishment centers around impermissible recruiting contacts and inducements during the COVID-19 dead period.
The punishment is separate from the ongoing probe into the program’s alleged sign-stealing and off-campus, in-person scouting scandal. Also this week reports surfaced that new head coach Sherrone Moore could be among those connected to the Wolverines’ program to face punishment, as the NCAA reportedly sent the school a draft of its notice of allegations.
The NOA draft reportedly alleges that Moore deleted a thread of 52 text messages he exchanged with Connor Stalions, the former Wolverines staffer at the center of the scandal, according to a report from ESPN.
The messages were later recovered via “device imaging” and Moore "subsequently produced them to enforcement staff."
Moore is accused of committing a Level 2 violation, according to the draft, while Stalions, Harbaugh, ex-linebackers coach Chris Patridge, and former assistant director of personnel Denard Robinson are all accused of committing Level 1 violations — the most serious category in the NCAA’s enforcement process, according to ESPN’s report.