Michigan finally made a smart decision after almost every decision in the past few years has gotten them into trouble.
Last week, former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was hit with a four-year show-cause from the NCAA for illegally recruiting players during the COVID dead period in 2020. Harbaugh cannot get back into college athletics until 2028, and this show-cause has nothing to do with the sign-stealing scandal that cost Harbaugh the last three regular-season Big Ten games last year.
Instead of Michigan removing themselves away from Harbaugh after he was hit with the show cause, they invited him back to be their honorary captain for the Week One game against Fresno State on August 31st.
It’s not surprising that the Wolverines would make a decision this dumb, but after some backlash, it was announced on Tuesday that Harbaugh would not be the honorary captain in Week One.
NEWS: Jim Harbaugh will no longer serve as an honorary captain for Michigan’s season opener, Sherrone Moore told the media.
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— On3 (@On3sports) August 13, 2024
Michigan Made The Right Call
Michigan made the right call by not letting Harbaugh be the honorary captain. You can’t let Harbaugh be the face of the team for the week after he was hit with a show cause because that won’t let him back in college athletics for another four years.
Harbaugh was a big part of the championship-winning team last year. Still, he also did a lot of damage in illegally recruiting players during COVID, which got him suspended for the first three games last year and then the suspension for the sign-stealing scandal at the end of last season.
New Wolverins head coach Sherrone Moore stated Harbaugh decided staying with the Chargers was better than coming to Michigan.
We all know Harbaugh was not the one to pull the plug on him as the honorary captain, and Michigan probably got a lot of heat from the NCAA, so it was called off.
Harbaugh will be an honorary captain someday, but having him do it this year during Week One was a horrible look.