Michigan football: Pros and cons from Jim Harbaugh suspension news

Yesterday, massive news broke for the Michigan football program: the NCAA’s push for a four-game Jim Harbaugh suspension is off… for now. The resolution negotiated between Harbaugh and the NCAA, which would suspend the Wolverines’ 9th-year head coach for four games of the coming season, was shot down by the NCAA infractions committee — it will now be revisited after the 2023 season, sometime next year, leaving some pros and some cons for the Maize and Blue.

Pros from this weekend’s Jim Harbaugh suspension update

The pros are obvious — Jim Harbaugh will get to coach the full season for Michigan football in 2023. After winning two straight Big Ten titles and appearing in the College Football Playoff twice, it doesn’t take an expert to see why this is huge news for the Wolverines.

On top of that, it is one less noisy narrative on the team’s plate — no more press conference questions about pending suspensions or anything else. From now until after the 2023 season, all that is on anyone’s mind is football, which should be massive for the staff and locker room throughout the coming months.

The down side for Michigan football

Now, on the other hand, this may not be the best news in the long term for Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football. While Harbaugh’s case is not an immediate issue anymore, there will come a time when Harbaugh and his program have to face the music — the NCAA still intends to review this case, and there is a solid chance that the infractions committee will push for a larger suspension than four games when it comes back on the docket down the road.

Additionally, instead of missing four soft games (East Carolina, Bowling Green, UNLV, and Rutgers), a future suspension will sideline the Wolverines’ head coach for games like Texas (2024) and more. Now, that is, if the committee can negotiate and finalize a punishment by 2024, which is still TDB; in fact, this whole thing could drag on for months, perhaps even years.

So, in essence, Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football are off the hook for now. No suspension in 2023 leaves the Wolverines back at square one — its business as usual in Ann Arbor, and the entire building is locked in on one thing and one thing only: winning a national title.

That said, when the season comes to a close and the NCAA has some time to kill once more, keep an eye on this storyline getting very noise for the second offseason in a row.

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