Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh suspended for last 3 games

The Big Ten on Friday suspended Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh for the remainder of the regular season as the league disciplines the program under its sportsmanship policy amid the ongoing NCAA investigation into the school's in-person sign-stealing ring.

Hours later, Harbaugh and the university requested a temporary restraining order in Washtenaw County Trial Court. They filed an emergency ex parte motion, which if granted, would give the judge the ability to stop Harbaugh's suspension before hearing arguments from the defendants -- the Big Ten Conference and commissioner Tony Petitti.

The judge could rule on the restraining order before the No. 3 Wolverines' critical road game against No. 10 Penn State (8-1) on Saturday at noon. Michigan's plane landed in Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon, shortly before the suspension was announced. If Harbaugh's restraining order is not granted, a source told ESPN that one possible replacement as acting head coach in Happy Valley would be Mike Hart, the team's running backs coach.

Jim Harbaugh won't be allowed to coach the team from the sidelines during games but will be able to serve as head coach at practices during the week.

In a lengthy statement, the university condemned the punishment.

“We are dismayed at the Commissioner’s rush to judgment when there is an ongoing NCAA investigation—one in which we are fully cooperating," it said.

The conference said in an email on Friday addressed to Michigan’s athletic director, Warde Manuel, 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.

Michigan also argued against the fact that removing Harbaugh removes threats to competitive integrity. In fact, it argues the opposite, saying that suspending Harbaugh “threatens the integrity of competition.”

Michigan expects a ruling one way or the other before Saturday’s noon kickoff, according to a source familiar with university officials’ thinking. Typically, there is a duty judge essentially on call outside of normal court hours to handle situations like this, who would have likely been communicated with earlier today and given a heads up. The judge assigned to the TRO in this case is Timothy P. Connors, a Michigan undergraduate alum and lecturer at the university’s law school, though he will be expected to be impartial.

Michigan has contended that other schools steal signs. A former employee at a Big Ten football program, whose role was to steal signs, said he was given details from multiple conference schools before his team played Michigan to compile a spreadsheet of play-calling signals used by the Wolverines last year. He spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, fearing the disclosures could impact his coaching career.

The person said he also passed along screenshots of text-message exchanges with staffers from a handful of Big Ten football teams with the Wolverines, giving them proof that other conference teams were colluding to steal signs from Harbaugh’s team.

He said he gave the additional details to Michigan last week because he hoped it would help Harbaugh’s embattled program, adding he believes the head coach and his assistants are being unfairly blamed for the actions of a rogue staffer.

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Sarah H

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