Al Goldis/AP
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh watches during warmups before an NCAA college football game against Michigan State, on October 21, 2023, in East Lansing, Michigan.
CNN
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The University of Michigan’s football program has been found to have conducted “an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years,” thus violating the Big Ten sportsmanship policy, the conference announced on Friday.
The announcement came with only three games remaining in the regular season and less than 24 hours before Michigan was due to face Penn State.
As part of the sanctions, Wolverines’ football head coach Jim Harbaugh is suspended for the three remaining games of the 2023 regular season, including Saturday’s game against Penn State.
In October, the conference announced the NCAA was investigating the program for alleged sign-stealing.
The conference said in an email on Friday addressed to Michigan’s athletics director, Warde Manuel, that it believed the university violated the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy “because a university football staff member engaged in an organized, extensive, years-long in-person advance scouting scheme that was impermissible.”
Harbaugh will be allowed to attend practices and other football team activities, but cannot be in the stadium on game days, according to the conference’s statement.
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A view of the Big Ten logo on a yardage marker during the game between the Maryland Terrapins and the Indiana Hoosiers at SECU Stadium on September 30, 2023, in College Park, Maryland.
“Sign-stealing,” the practice of gathering information on the signs a team uses to call offensive and defensive plays, is technically not prohibited under NCAA rules unless electronic communication is intercepted in-game. However, in-person scouting is explicitly outlawed by the rule book.
After the Big Ten announced it was investigating, Harbaugh denied the program had illegally stolen signals, adding that he and his coaching staff would fully cooperate with the investigation into the matter.
“I do not condone or tolerate anyone doing anything illegal or against the NCAA rules,” Harbaugh said. “No matter what program or organization that I have led throughout my career, my instructions and awareness of how we scout opponents have always been firmly within the rules.”
CNN has reached out to Michigan for comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
