College Football

Jim Harbaugh handed full-season suspension by NCAA for recruiting violations

Updated Aug. 7, 2024 12:54 p.m. ET

The NCAA announced a four-year show-cause order for former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on Wednesday for impermissible contact with recruits and players while access was restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the NCAA will require Harbaugh to immediately face a full one-season suspension if he accepts another college football coaching job.

The NCAA said Harbaugh, who left his alma mater to coach the NFL's Los Angeles Chargers after last season's national championship, "engaged in unethical conduct, failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance and violated head coach responsibility obligations."

The NCAA had already put Michigan on three years of probation along with a fine and recruiting limits after reaching a negotiated resolution that was approved by the committee on infractions in the same matter.

Harbaugh did not go along with the agreement, disputing allegations he failed to to cooperate with investigators. Harbaugh's attorney, Tom Mars, has said the coach was not invited to participate in the settlement process or aware that an agreement had been reached between the school of the NCAA.

"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," the NCAA said.

Mars fired back at the NCAA in a statement soon after the announcement of the punishment, comparing it to a high school suspending a former student now in college "because you didn't sign the yearbook." Mars also called the NCAA investigation a "kangaroo court" and called the organization "the nation's most flagrant, repeat violator of federal antitrust laws."

The show-cause order covers 2024-28 and would require a school wanting to hire Harbaugh to suspend him for the first full season. After that, Harbaugh would be barred from athletics-related activities, including team travel, practice, video study, recruiting and team meetings until the order expires.

The recruiting case is separate from the NCAA's investigation into impermissible in-person scouting and sign stealing that roiled Michigan's national championship season in 2023, and resulted in a three-game suspension of Harbaugh by the Big Ten.

That case is still open and multiple cases could open up Michigan to being deemed a repeat violator by the NCAA, which could trigger harsher sanctions. New Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, Harbaugh's former offensive coordinator, is facing allegations he violated NCAA rules related to the investigation into scouting and sign-stealing, per multiple reports.