Ohio State legend endorses NCAA's move to not go hard on Michigan

As soon as the NCAA’s punishment for the Michigan football program became public, critics were loud and legion that the Wolverines got off relatively lightly in the wake of the sign-stealing controversy.

That argument arose after it emerged that Michigan would not face any postseason ban.

But former Ohio State football great A.J. Hawk believes the NCAA was right to not make any serious decisions that would negatively affect current players.

“I’m personally torn on it, because I don’t think you should -- I don’t want the players there now to get punished,” he said on The Pat McAfee Show.

“I don’t think you should punish players that are there now for something that happened before they even got to school. I think that’s stupid. It rips those dudes off, and the head coach is gone already, coaching in the NFL.

“Ten-year show-cause, might as well be 100-year. Like, who cares? That doesn’t matter.”

Michigan was on the receiving end of multiple disciplinary measures, as the NCAA revealed its full punishment following its probe into the sign-stealing operation allegedly masterminded by former Wolverines football staffer Connor Stalions.

That punishment included several major financial penalties that could amount to more than $25 million, a one-game suspension for head coach Sherrone Moore in 2026, and show-causes for Stalions, former head coach Jim Harbaugh, and staffer Denard Robinson.

But it didn’t include any move to take any Michigan’s wins on the football field, and most importantly leaves the team’s 2023 national championship intact and on the books.

In all, the NCAA’s verdict was about in line with what most analysts predicted.

“I can speak for myself, I guess. I think there’s definitely people that are fans of Ohio State that expected something like this,” Hawk said.

“Especially when we had Pete [Thamel] come on, and Pete basically told us, it’s not going to be some gigantic situation where they, you know, there’s a postseason bowl ban or anything like this.”

It wasn’t anything as gigantic as perhaps Michigan’s rivals would have hoped, but the case is officially closed, and now everyone can move on.

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