Jim Harbaugh has already been handed a significant punishment by the Big Ten for the alleged sign-stealing operation at his Michigan program.
But as the NCAA’s investigation into the ordeal continues, there’s worry that Harbaugh could see further penalties down the road. From former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer’s vantage point, those penalties could affect the entirety of next season.
“How deep does this really go?” he asked on Tuesday’s edition of “The Herd.”
“I’ve heard it is deep-deep, and then I’ve heard it’s not that deep, where it’s just a rogue guy doing it, which is kinda hard for me to believe that just some guy’s out there talking to your coordinators and nobody’s aware what he did. So I want to remain to be seen what the depth [of it] is. If it’s as deep as I’m hearing … there’s a chance he won’t coach there next year for the season.”
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A suspension of this sort could signal that the program is in major trouble with the NCAA.
Meyer was clear to establish, though, that any punishment involving having wins or titles taken away from Michigan wouldn’t really be a punishment.
“I think the vacate stuff is silly,” he said in response to speculation about Michigan’s potential titles being stripped. “I talked to [former USC QB] Matt Leinart about that, I think they had something vacated. They don’t consider it vacated, they don’t care.”
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Michigan Wolverines
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