More than 900 Michigan alumni, dating back to the late 1950s, have joined the legal battle to have a judge overturn the Big Ten’s suspension of head football coach Jim Harbaugh. Ryan McCarl, a California-based attorney and 2010 Michigan alum, has filed an amicus brief in Washtenaw County Circuit Court ahead of Friday’s hearing, which could determine whether Harbaugh will coach at Maryland on Saturday and at home against Ohio State next week.
The first of three games for which Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten was last Saturday’s game at Penn State.
Lawyers for Harbaugh and the University of Michigan Board of Regents sought a temporary restraining order to allow him to coach, but a judge refused to rule. An amicus brief is typically filed on behalf of a group of people who are not directly involved in a legal proceeding but want to be heard before a decision is made.
“The Big Ten’s midseason suspension of head coach Jim Harbaugh effectively branded the Michigan football program and its leader as having run a cheating scheme even though no evidence supports that conclusion and the NCAA has not completed its investigation,” the brief said.
“Casual fans may hear commentators talking about ‘sign-stealing,’ see that Coach Harbaugh isn’t on the sideline, and incorrectly assume that after appropriate processes were followed and a thorough investigation completed, Coach Harbaugh was found to be culpable.”They are much less likely to be aware that the Big Ten admitted in the letter announcing Coach Harbaugh’s suspension that it had ‘not yet received information indicating that head football coach Harbaugh was aware’ of any wrongdoing.
With two games remaining in the regular season and Michigan’s path to a national championship on the line, interim relief is required to avoid irreparable harm not only to Coach Harbaugh and the student-athletes he leads, but to the entire University of Michigan community.”
In the introduction to his brief, McCarl stated that approximately 1,700 Michigan graduates signed on to support the brief; more than 900 of those signatures were verified, with names included at the end of the 46-page filing with the 22nd Circuit Court in Washtenaw County. The Big Ten suspended Harbaugh last Friday afternoon, as the Michigan football team and Harbaugh were flying to State College, Pa.
The suspension was announced after first-year Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti spoke with the conference’s football coaches and athletic directors and met with Michigan president Santa Ono. The conference acknowledged that it had no evidence that Harbaugh was aware of the scheme.
However, the conference stated that as the head of the football program, he must be held accountable. The Big Ten said it had enough evidence of the scheme to act after receiving it from the NCAA, which is also investigating. Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s offensive coordinator, served as acting head coach in the Wolverines’ 24-15 victory over Penn State, improving the Wolverines to 10-0 on the season. The latest College Football Playoff rankings place Michigan third.
“The Big Ten’s midseason suspension of Coach Harbaugh threatens to derail Michigan Team 144’s undefeated season and pursuit of a Big Ten title and national championship,” McCarl wrote in the amicus brief filed with the court.
“However, saying so does not begin to describe the impact of these actions.” Millions of people are interested in these games.” McCarl also argued that carrying out the plan without Harbaugh would put the Michigan football team at a disadvantage, and that the entire ordeal diminishes the value of Michigan degrees, which “alumni worked hard to attain.”
The alleged sign-stealing scheme revolves around Connor Stalions, a low-level staffer who is accused of purchasing tickets for a network of associates to attend games of future Big Ten opponents and film the opposing sidelines, reporting back to Stalions so he could decode the signs.
Sign-stealing is legal, but doing so in person is not, according to the NCAA. In its correspondence with the Big Ten, Michigan has not disputed the Stallion’s actions. According to his personnel file, which The Detroit News obtained earlier this week, Stallion has declined to participate in the NCAA investigation.
Michigan suspended Stallion before he resigned earlier this month. He stated through his attorney that Harbaugh was unaware of any sign-stealing operation, and Harbaugh has maintained his innocence. Harbaugh stated earlier this week that he will attend Friday’s hearing; it is unclear whether Petitti will attend.
On Friday, attorneys for Harbaugh and the Board of Regents will seek a preliminary injunction to overturn the Big Ten’s decision. To obtain a preliminary injunction, lawyers must demonstrate that there will be “irreparable harm” if one is not obtained. The arguments will be heard by Judge Timothy Connors, a UM Law School lecturer. He’s also the judge who turned down a temporary restraining order hours before last Saturday’s game at Penn State, leaving Harbaugh watching the game on TV at the team hotel while Moore and the Wolverines went on without him.
This is Harbaugh’s second three-game suspension of the season; he also missed the first three games as a self-imposed punishment following NCAA allegations of a recruiting violation and failing to cooperate with investigators. Moore served as interim coach for the third game of his suspension. “Neither Coach Harbaugh nor the athletes he leads nor the University and alumni they represent deserve to be arbitrarily punished for the benefit of rival schools without the benefit of due process,” the letter stated.
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