After years of wondering when the hammer would come down on Michigan for allegedly stealing signs during the Jim Harbaugh era, the answer was far less exciting than the anticipation.
The NCAA lost its teeth, and Michigan’s football scandal penalties are proof
The NCAA has no teeth, and Michigan’s punishment proves it.
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Michigan’s punishment is less hammer and more wet fart to most CFB fans. Here’s a list of the penalties the Wolverines were hit with:
The NCAA acknowledged that the Wolverine program under Harbaugh wasn’t following NCAA rules or acknowledging rules compliance. And to be honest, why would anyone follow NCAA rules? The NCAA has zero power, and with NCAA president Charlie Baker acknowledging that the Wolverines won the title fair and square, vacating the title was never going to make sense.
So now we’re here, at a point where the NCAA can’t levy serious fines onto the program because they have no teeth. Let me be perfectly clear: at this point, I think trying to suspend people for this is completely worthless. Jim Harbaugh is in the NFL, Conor Stalions is out of football. Sherrone Moore got a one-game suspension, which does next to nothing for Michigan’s 2025 outlook. With the NCAA not able to vacate wins or titles, this is the best they can do? A $20 million fine for Michigan is like a slap on the wrist, they could make that money back in like a week. If all it costs to win a national title is $20 million in fines, I think more teams will end up doing this.
The Wolverines stared directly at the NCAA and said they wouldn’t be able to do anything about this, and the NCAA proved them right.
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