Why Jim Harbaugh, Connor Stalions, Michigan's Sherrone Moore Were Sanctioned by NCAA

The NCAA explained Friday why it levied punishments against the University of Michigan's football program, head coach Sherrone Moore, former head coach Jim Harbaugh and former analyst Connor Stalions.

In a post on its official website, it was announced that the Division I Committee on Infractions panel determined Michigan violated NCAA rules in relation to "an off-campus, in-person scouting scheme, impermissible recruiting inducements and communications, head coach responsibility rules, individuals' failures to cooperate and Michigan's failure to monitor."

Moore, Harbaugh, Stalions and former Michigan assistant director of player personnel Denard Robinson all received show-cause penalties of varying lengths for their roles.

Harbaugh's show cause is 10 years in length, Stalions' is eight, Moore's is three and Robinson's is two.

While the show-cause penalties will make it difficult for Harbaugh, Stalions and Robinson to get jobs in college football until they expire, Moore will still be permitted to coach the Wolverines while under a show-cause penalty.

However, the NCAA added one game to Moore's self-imposed two-game suspension for deleting a 52-message text thread with Stalions in 2023, which is against NCAA rules.

In addition to serving a two-game suspension during the upcoming 2025 college football season, Moore will be suspended for the first game of the 2026 campaign.

As for the University of Michigan, it was fined $50,000, plus 10 percent of the football program's budget. It also received additional fines, plus a 25 percent reduction in recruiting visits during the upcoming season and a 14-week "prohibition on recruiting communications" during a probation period.

The punishments are primarily related to an illegal off-campus scouting scandal that ran from 2021 to 2023.

It was found that during that stretch, Stalions purchased game tickets for himself or other individuals for the purpose of scouting future opponents by attempting to steal and decode their signs.

The Division I Committee on Infractions panel determined that "56 instances of off-campus, in-person scouting of 13 future regular-season opponents occurred across 52 contests."

Moore, Harbaugh, Stalions and Robinson were all charged with failure to cooperate with the NCAA finding that their "conduct ranged from destroying relevant materials to providing false and misleading information during interviews."

Stalions was found to have instructed an intern to delete emails, photos, texts and videos that had anything to do with the scouting scheme, and Stalions admitted to throwing his phone in a pond.

Moore's deletion of text messages with Stalions also fell under the umbrella of failure to cooperate.

Michigan was also found guilty of multiple recruiting violations, including "inducements" being provided to three prospects and a fourth prospect receiving nearly 100 text messages from Michigan staff prior to the permissible recruiting date.

Harbaugh departed Michigan to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers after winning a national championship in 2023, but the NCAA determined that during Harbaugh's time at Michigan, he "violated the principles of head coach responsibility" and "did not embrace or enforce a culture of compliance."

His 10-year show-cause penalty will begin in 2028 following the conclusion of a previous show-cause penalty, which essentially prevents him from returning to college football until 2038, at which point he will be 74 years old.

The University of Michigan as a whole was found by the NCAA to be responsible for a "failure to monitor" its football program in relation to the scouting and recruiting violations.

While that resulted in the university incurring fines and several current and former staff members getting punished as well, Michigan did not receive a postseason ban, as the NCAA felt it would "unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program."