Jim Harbaugh will not be on Michigan’s sidelines Saturday against Penn State, after all.
Beyond that is still unclear.
According to ESPN and other reports, Michigan was not granted the temporary restraining order it sought in time for Saturday’s game, which would have permitted the head coach to coach the Wolverines despite the Big Ten conference having announced Friday it was suspending Harbaugh for the remainder of the 2023 regular season, having found the football program conducted “an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition.”
The restraining order seeks to allow Harbaugh to coach games until the case is heard, and a hearing is reportedly set for Nov 17.
In addition to the Penn State game, Harbaugh’s suspension covers Michigan’s games against Maryland and rival Ohio State.
Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore will be acting head coach on Saturday in Harbaugh’s absence.
Michigan is under investigation for an alleged sign-stealing scheme masterminded by now ex-staffer Connor Stalions, in which he attended games of upcoming Wolverines opponents and recorded hand signals.
Stalions, a former Marine, resigned from Michigan last week.
On Friday, after the suspension by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti was announced, Harbaugh and the Michigan filed for a temporary restraining order following a statement by the school saying, in part, that the ban “disregards the Conference’s own handbook, violates basic tenets of due process, and sets an untenable precedent of assessing penalties before an investigation has been completed. We are dismayed at the Commissioner’s rush to judgment when there is an ongoing NCAA investigation – one in which we are fully cooperating.”
Judge Carol Kuhnke, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan in 1990, will make the ruling.
