University of Michigan football, NCAA agree on penalties over recruiting violations
(CBS DETROIT) - The University of Michigan and five people who currently or previously worked for the football program have agreed on penalties with the NCAA on the program's violations made during the COVID-19 dead period.
The violations involve in-person recruiting contacts during a dead period due to the coronavirus pandemic, impermissible tryouts, and the football program exceeding the number of allowed countable coaches when noncoaching staff members engaged in coaching activities on and off the field, which includes giving technical and tactical instructions to student-athletes.
The NCAA says a former coach did not participate in this agreement and that its Committee on Infractions will handle that part of the case separately.
"The negotiated resolution also involved the school's agreement that the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation and the former football head coach failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation," the release said.
In addition, the university agreed that it "failed to deter and detect the impermissible recruiting contacts and did not ensure that the football program adhered to rules for noncoaching staff members."
The penalties the university and the NCAA agreed on include three years of probation for the university, a fine and recruiting restrictions.
"Today's joint resolution pertains to the University of Michigan Athletic Department and several former and current employees. We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward. We have no additional information and cannot comment further on other aspects of the NCAA's inquiries," the university said in a statement on Tuesday.
The individuals involved also agreed to one-year show-cause orders consistent with the Level II-Standard and Level II-Mitigated classifications.
This comes after the team won the College Football Playoff National Championship this year, and former head coach Jim Harbaugh left to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.