Michigan Takes Big Ten to Court Over Jim Harbaugh Suspension

The school is seeking to prevent the Big Ten from keeping Harbaugh off the sideline for the Wolverines’ ranked matchup against Penn State Saturday.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.— Michigan filed an emergency temporary restraining order against the Big Ten on Friday evening, seeking to prevent the conference from suspending coach Jim Harbaugh on the eve of the Wolverines’ biggest game of the year, against Penn State.

It is the latest escalation in a high-stakes battle between the school and the league it has been a member of since 1896.

Harbaugh is a co-plaintiff in the case, along with the board of regents of the university, according to online case records. The defendants are the Big Ten conference and its commissioner, Tony Petitti. The motion was filed in state district court in Washtenaw County, where Ann Arbor is located.

In its motion—a request for the court to issue an order without giving the Big Ten a chance to respond—Michigan argued that the conference “breached a contract, succumbed to pressure, and threw procedure out the window in pursuit of summary punishment.”

The school claimed that the Big Ten “has not interviewed a single witness and has access to at most the NCAA’s incomplete investigation,” and that the conference “ignored the procedures that would have allowed the university to defend itself.”

Michigan argued that the Big Ten can only impose punishment for NCAA rules violations after “an investigation, due process, findings from a multi-member body, and a right to appeal,” and that Petitti circumvented that process by invoking the conference’s sportsmanship policy.

“So it appears, in the Conference’s world, member universities’ contractual rights to address allegations of rules violations apply only at the whim of the Commissioner,” the brief argues.

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.

The Big Ten announced that Harbaugh would be suspended through the end of the regular season as a result of the school’s sign-stealing scandal on Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the Wolverines’ game here in State College. Officials in Ann Arbor have been fuming over not just the suspension, but the process that led to it, which they believed failed to provide Harbaugh due process.

Rosenberg: Big Ten Botched Michigan, Jim Harbaugh Punishment With Clumsy Investigation

“Disappointed, and embittered,” a Michigan official told Sports Illustrated when asked for his response to the situation. “The lack of professionalism and the lack of care and respect for the kids is stunning, and it will not be soon forgotten.”

Michigan players responded on Twitter Friday, with multiple tweeting the word: “bet,” a turn of phrase indicating they’re taking the information in, and moving on.

The Wolverines landed in State College, Pa. shortly after 4 p.m. and immediately boarded buses and headed to their team hotel near campus. Multiple entrances were physically blocked off by either hotel staff or vacant vehicles. When an attempt was made to enter the property, SI was told that the facility was closed.

In order to get to the hotel, the team buses had to pass Beaver Stadium. If the Big Ten gets its way, it will be the closest Harbaugh will get to a sideline this weekend.