College football world reacts to Big Ten's suspension of Jim Harbaugh
On Friday, the Michigan sign-stealing scandal took a dramatic turn with the news that the Big Ten had suspended Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for the remainder of the regular season for the program's alleged involvement. At the same time, the school has promised to take legal action against the conference in response.
Unsurprisingly, the latest developments provoked a passionate response from the college football world.
Most criticized the Big Ten's decision to hand down punishment on Friday afternoon of a federal holiday, Veteran's Day. While a report claims that delayed documents "pushed" the Big Ten's announcement back, the timing is curious, coming less than 24 hours before Michigan will take the field to battle No. 10 Penn State.
Meanwhile, others were more vocal about the Big Ten's handling of the investigation or reveled in the coming legal battle and its potential repercussions.
The Big Ten announced Harbaugh's suspension, ruling that Michigan had violated the conference's Sportsmanship Policy for conducting illegal in-person scouting of opponents over multiple years. According to the Big Ten, the punishment was for the program's involvement and not because of what Harbaugh knew or did regarding the situation. Michigan responded, intending to seek a court order, along with Harbaugh, in order to prevent any action against the head coach.
This is seemingly only the beginning of what could be a long and messy battle between Michigan and the Big Ten. The NCAA is also engaged in its own investigation into the matter, meaning further discipline for the program and perhaps Harbaugh could be on the way.
While Friday saw a significant development in matters, the next is potentially right around the corner – whether or not Harbaugh will be coaching on the sidelines for Michigan on Saturday.
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