EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh’s reaction was muted after the NCAA announced a four-year restraining order against the former Michigan coach a day earlier for improper contact with recruits and players during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’ll end the engagement here with comments. My only hope is that one day college sports will be about what’s best for the young men and women who participate in it. That’s really all I have to say about it,” Harbaugh said Thursday after practice.
The injunction effectively bars Harbaugh from participating in college sports until August 2028.
The reaction to the punishment was significantly different from his reaction on Monday, when he continued to deny knowledge of the illegal scouting Operation that sparked an NCAA investigation into Michigan’s championship run last year.
“Never lie. Never cheat. Never steal. I grew up with that lesson. I raised my family with that lesson. I preached that lesson to the teams I coached. Nobody is perfect. When you stumble, you apologize and you make it right,” Harbaugh said. “Today, I make no apologies. I did not participate. I was not aware of or involved in those allegations. So for me, it’s getting back to work and attacking with a gusto that humanity has never known before.”
The recruiting case is unrelated to the NCAA’s investigation into allegations of improper personal scouting and sign theft that rocked Michigan’s 2023 championship season and led to Harbaugh’s three-game suspension by the Big Ten Conference.
The NCAA said Harbaugh, who left his alma mater to coach the Chargers, “failed to create an atmosphere of compliance and violated his responsibilities as head coach.”
“Harbaugh acted unethically and failed to cooperate when he denied any involvement in improper recruiting contacts despite having substantial information to the contrary,” the NCAA said in a 48-page decision that repeatedly suggested the coach had not been honest with investigators.
Harbaugh will only face the penalty if he unexpectedly returns to college football within the next four years.
The order is in effect until Aug. 6, 2028. It requires that any school that hires Harbaugh over the next four years suspend him for the first full season. After that, Harbaugh would continue to be barred from sports-related activities such as team travel, practices, video study, recruiting and team meetings until the order expires.
Harbaugh’s attorney Tom Mars said Wednesday that the coach was neither invited to participate in the settlement process nor did he know that an agreement had been reached between the school and the NCAA. He sharply criticized the NCAA’s punishment.
“From Coach Harbaugh’s perspective, today’s COI decision is to me like being in college and getting a letter from high school saying you were suspended for not signing your yearbook,” Mars posted on social media. “If I were in Coach Harbaugh’s shoes and had an $80 million contract as the Chargers’ head coach, I would pay no attention to the findings of a sham court claiming to represent the principles of the most blatant and repeat violator of the federal antitrust laws in the country.”
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