Michigan football: Complaints of Big Ten coaches don’t make sense

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that Big Ten coaches pleaded for Michigan football to be punished by the Big Ten, but their arguments don’t hold water. 

In one of the most ridiculous reports I have heard from Pete Thamel of ESPN, which is saying something, Big Ten coaches were begging the Big Ten to punish Michigan football on a coaches call that happened on Wednesday night.

I’m actually not questioning Thamel’s reporting, which has been dubious at best throughout this whole NCAA investigation into in-person scouting, but this time, I do believe he got the facts right as he quoted whiny Big Ten coaches complaining about Michigan football.

The call lasted for 90 minutes. Jim Harbaugh was on the call for 30 minutes before hanging up to allow the other coaches to talk freely. That’s when the crying started. Here’s one quote:

"“Collectively, the coaches want the Big Ten to act — right now,” said a source familiar with the call. “What are we waiting on? We know what happened.”"

Actually, we don’t know the full extent of what happened. We also know that there seem to be Ohio State connections to all of this, so is the Big Ten really going to punish Michigan football through a biased investigation?

The only facts that have come to light are the ones being pushed as part of a PR agenda. Michigan certainly broke some rules it seems, at least Connor Stalions did, but suggesting that “every win is tainted” is utterly ridiculous. Here’s another excerpt:

"“People don’t understand the seriousness of it,” said another source. “How it truly impacted the game plan. To truly know if it’s a run or a pass, people don’t understand how much of an advantage that was for Michigan.” There was anger interspersed throughout the call, as one source described the sentiment as: “Every game they played is tainted.”"

Ohio State coaches admitted they changed their signs before last season’s game and got beat 45-23. Michigan State didn’t use hand signals and got beat 49-0. The Wolverines could have scored 70 that night if they wanted but pulled J.J. McCarthy before the fourth quarter.

Coaches also made mention of Michigan knowing whether “it’s a run or pass” which seems to be connected to the ball boy rumor started by coaches and printed, without any sort of verification, by Pat Forde — which to be clear from my perspective — seems like a total fabrication.

There is literally zero evidence, of any kind, that suggests Michigan football knew whether it was a run or pass. So the fact that Big Ten coaches are stating that, but also that “they know what happened” wreaks of Ohio State coaches yelling for punishment because their PR plan hasn’t exactly worked as well as they’d hoped.

We don’t have all the facts. We know this investigation is biased and there has been zero evidence pointing to a single member of the Michigan football staff beyond Connor Stalions, who if all this was proven true, committed a level 2 violation, which offered “minimal competitive advantage.”

That’s according to an NCAA working group, not a whiny group of Big Ten coaches who are mad because they can’t figure out how to beat Michigan anymore (Ohio State).

It may be difficult to beat the Wolverines, but there’s nothing easier than claiming BetMGM’s exclusive $200 sign-up bonus right now! New users who bet $10 or more on Michigan vs. Purdue will INSTANTLY receive $200 in bonus bets. Win or lose, you’ll get $200 just for trying! Sign up for BetMGM now for the easiest $200 you’ll make all week.