Maybe enemies can become friends after all.
Tony Petitti, the Big Ten Commissioner, who issued a three-game suspension to Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan football head coach, back in 2023, during the Wolverines' national championship season, is coming to the defense of...Michigan.
A new report from Dan Wetzel of ESPN reveals that Petitti wrote a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions stating that Michigan football shouldn't be punished any more for "signgate", and that the three-game suspension issued by the conference was punishment enough for the Michigan football program.
Here's part of the revelation from Wetzel:
"Petitti has sent a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions arguing that Michigan deserved no further punishment in a case focusing on the actions of former staffer Connor Stalions. The letter was read at an early June infractions committee hearing in Indianapolis, multiple sources told ESPN. The NCAA has charged Michigan with 11 rule violations, six of them Level 1, which is classified as the most serious. The committee has yet to hand down a ruling, but one is expected before the 2025 season. It does not have to follow or even consider Petitti's opinion."
"Petitti argued, sources said, that the Big Ten itself had already sufficiently punished the Michigan program when it suspended then-coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the 2023 regular season: at Penn State, at Maryland and at home against Ohio State."
Michigan football fans will certainly agree that playing three of the most important games of the 2023 season without Harbaugh was punishment enough, especially when there was zero precedent for it, as well as little to no evidence to support a suspension.
Maybe Petitti is just trying to make nice with Michigan, one of the premier teams in the Big Ten, because he knows whatever he says will probably be ignored by the NCAA anyway.
Still, it's a PR win for Michigan. It also reinforces that the Big Ten didn't find any evidence that the coaching staff, including Harbaugh, knew. Here's another quote from Wetzel:
"That Petitti is now suggesting that Michigan has paid its penance suggests no such additional information has emerged."
This comes as Michigan is waiting to hear from the NCAA Committee on Infractions, which met back in June. A suspension for Sherrone Moore is expected; however, Petitti argues even that goes too far.
That aligns with everything Michigan has been saying. It might not matter, but it's interesting that now the NCAA President and the Big Ten Commissioner believe Michigan either "won fair and square" or shouldn't be punished any further."
That certainly doesn't sound like the hammer is coming. Does it?