Now what? Now that Michigan has completed its unabashed undefeated season, hoisting a College Football Playoff trophy tainted by evidence of an extensive spying operation, how will the sports stewards reconcile the Wolverines clear superiority with their surreptitious shenanigans?
Will victories be vacated? Will a national championship be revoked? Will head coach Jim Harbaugh be suspended yet again while insisting on his innocence?
Louisville fans, in particular, would like to know.
Still smarting over being stripped of its 2013 NCAA men basketball championship for sleazy doings in the team dormitory, U of L is entitled to expect punishment consistent with crime and, in time, appropriate justice for the Maize and Blue.
Though theres absolutely no defense for a basketball staff member supplying hookers for college athletes and recruits (some of them underage), it would be difficult to identify any competitive advantage U of L derived from Andre McGees escort service. By contrast, Michigans multi-year advance scouting operation, expressly forbidden by NCAA rules, was clearly designed to steal signals and could have contributed to the Wolverines recent return to college footballs elite.
At first, Harbaugh and the Michigan administration were indignant and combative about the allegations.
Athletic director Warde Manuel responded to Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petittis decision to suspend Harbaugh as unethical, insulting to a well-established process within the NCAA, and an assault on the rights of everyone (especially in the Big Ten) to be judged by a fair and complete investigation.
Yet, presented with additional evidence, reportedly of a university booster funding the sign-stealing efforts of former staffer Connor Stalions, Michigan abruptly retreated, firing linebackers coach Chris Partridge and swallowing Harbaughs suspension without further protest.
We stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent, Harbaugh said after his Wolverines overwhelmed Washington, 34-13, Monday night. Harbaugh said, “I’d just like to point that out.”
Judging by its performances after news of Stalions spying broke, Michigan may not have needed any illicit edge. Still, the NCAAs investigation is ongoing. Where it will go will say a lot about the organizations consistency and integrity.
Though the NCAA does not exert direct control of the College Football Playoff, it can still impose significant penalties and influence other entities to follow suit. Two weeks after USC lost its appeal of NCAA sanctions stemming from Reggie Bush-related infractions, the Trojans were stripped of their 2004 national championship by the Bowl Championship Series.
The BCS arrangement crowns a national champion, and the BCS games are showcase events for postseason football, BCS executive director Bill Hancock said at the time. One of the best ways of ensuring that they remain so is for us to foster full compliance with NCAA rules.
When the BCS was subsumed by the College Football Playoff, Hancock remained in charge. Without addressing the Michigan case specifically, Hancock said Tuesday his commitment to complying with NCAA rules has not changed.
I think what I said on Reggie Bush was, We will follow the NCAAs lead, Hancock said. At that time, it wasnt automatic. We looked at what the NCAA did and how we might do something similar because we dont have all the weapons at our disposal that they do. Our only weapon is vacating.
Louisville fans can be counted on to monitor developments closely, as they did when the NCAA failed to punish the University of North Carolina for the rampant academic fraud that caused the school to be placed on probation by its accrediting agency.
In that case, UNC essentially escaped NCAA sanctions on a technicality; that the fraud benefitted athletes disproportionately but not exclusively. If any such legalistic wiggle room exists in the Michigan case, though, it has yet to be articulated publicly.
Bill Stone, a Michigan graduate who later served as a Louisville trustee, says U of L suffers from a double standard vis-à-vis his alma mater, but that neither school should have been singled out for punishment.
I think its insane that the University of Louisvilles championship is not restored, Stone said. It is one of the great acts of injustice Ive ever seen. At the same time, UNC a blue blood got away with the NCAA saying honesty in academics has no interest to us.
Stone regards Michigans alleged rule-breaking as irrelevant.
Every son of a bitch who has a cell phone can be a spy, he said. They proved later by who they beat that was not essential or important to their success.
The same could be said of strippers in the dorm. Not that that mattered to the NCAA.
This article appears in Dec 21, 2023 – Feb 13, 2024.
