“Did Not Cheat”: Jim Harbaugh & Co. Absolved of Blame as NCAA’s Accusations Overshadow Michigan’s Historic Achievement

The Wolverines’ perseverance was enough to testify to their innocence. The sign-stealing allegations were a nightmare for Michigan last season and they couldn’t have come at a worse time. Previous 4 games into the season, with two of them being against their historic rivals Penn State and Ohio State. Yet the Wolverines emerged victorious every time, with or without their head coach. For On3’s JD Pickell, this was enough to steer them clear of any taints on their reputation after the sign-stealing allegations.

“They did not cheat their way to that National Championship,” Pickell asserted during his show. The primary reason was their winning important games against Penn State and Ohio State, and later beating Alabama and Washington State with the “most watchful” eye of the officials in power to ensure that they were not doing sign-stealing. Even if we keep that aside, their opponent teams were already “mixing up their signals or changing the way they were doing things procedurally,” as Pickell puts it.

JD Pickell did not have any second thoughts on it being a “hard truth that Michigan did not cheat their way to a national championship.” It was a hard-earned, fair, and square national win for Michigan, one that shut all the allegations up against them. When initially accused of being involved in a sign-stealing farce, Jim Harbaugh had denied having any knowledge of sign-stealing.

While that remains a different topic, the whole sign-stealing fiasco did come in the way of Jim Harbaugh and Michigan’s relationship. Harbaugh was not too keen on leaving Michigan, however, he had to because of Michigan’s AD Warde Manuel, as per the claims of a newly released book.

Jim Harbaugh left Michigan because of AD

Jim Harbaugh wanted to stay with Michigan. But he did not have AD Warde Manuel in his corner to shield him the best they could from the sign-stealing allegations. Manuel was reportedly not ready to give the immunity pin to Jim Harbaugh. A close confidant of Harbaugh from the LA Chargers revealed that Harbaugh confessed a week before interviewing with the Chargers that he did not want to leave Michigan.

Along with this information, ‘The Price: What it Takes to Win in College Football’s Era of Chaos‘ a creation of Armein Keteyian and John Tatly is set to reveal many more inside facts. Expected to be released on 27 August 2024. The book also mentioned that the Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti ditched Harbaugh on a meetup they had mutually agreed upon. Harbaugh was “raged.” Would you give this book a go? Drop your thoughts in the comments.