PHOENIX – NCAA President Charlie Baker watched Michigan football win the national championship on television Monday night and was surprised. In a huddle with reporters at the annual NCAA convention this week, Baker said the Wolverines were the “better team” and won the title “fair and square.”
He asked the Big Ten and the University of Michigan on Wednesday to reflect on an unprecedented decision to reflect on the ongoing NCAA investigation. Before the investigation was completed, Baker was stopped.
“I don’t regret what I did because based on that information, I think we would have put everybody, including Michigan, in a terrible position, based on that information,” Baker said.
“At the end of the day, no one believes Michigan didn’t win the national title fair and square. So I think we did the right thing.
Baker said he’s not conflicted about the outcome of the championship game, believing he made the right move in a complicated situation. Because the NCAA’s investigation is focused on illegal campus scouting and sign stealing, the rules being violated could affect games going into the 2023 season. Baker believed Michigan and the conference deserved the right to act promptly to preserve the fairness of the tournament, rather than wait until the drawn-out investigation was completed.
“It can affect the outcome of games, and I don’t believe it has at the end of the season,” Baker said. “And I think that’s important.”
Baker confirmed that the NCAA’s investigation into the program began when a third party reached out to the NCAA, claiming to have extensive information about Michigan’s illegal sign-stealing and scouting operations. (The identity of that third party has not been made public.) After receiving the third party, Baker told the NCAA to bring the information to Indianapolis for verification, which it did. Baker said the NCAA’s investigative team is investigating any methods a third party may have used to obtain the information.
“This is the kind of thing that (NCAA vice president) John Duncan and his gang work really hard on, and they did,” Baker said.
In addition, Michigan, Harbaugh and the NCAA continue to work on their investigation into the program’s alleged recruiting violations during the Covid-19 deadlock, for which Michigan imposed a three-game suspension to begin Harbaugh’s season. The school received formal notice of charges in December for that matter, which includes the NCAA filing a Level 1 lawsuit against Harbaugh for allegedly providing false or misleading information during an investigation. The NCAA has not yet served notice of charges in the sign stealing case.
Baker said he believes the pace of sign-stealing investigations should be increased because coaches have more time to talk with investigators.
“Now that the season is over, I’m hoping things will go a little faster,” he said. “I understand that people have a lot on their plates.”
Asked if Harbaugh’s potential NFL future would affect the investigation, Baker said he didn’t know the answer. He declined to say whether the NCAA would share materials from the NCAA’s investigation with the NFL if the league wants to impose a penalty on Harbaugh.
After winning the title, Harbaugh brought up the scouting and sign-stealing investigation in his postgame news conference Monday night, insisting he was innocent.
“We’re clean, and we’re standing strong and tall because we know we’re clean – I want to point that out,” Harbaugh said. “These guys are innocent. It wasn’t that hard because we knew we were innocent to win that one.”
“(The season) went exactly how we wanted it to.”
News of the NCAA investigation broke in late October, and Connor Stallius, the staff football analyst at the center of the investigation, was suspended by the school on October 20. He later resigned on November 3. He left for Michigan. The Stallions are 8-0 on staff, including wins over four top-10 teams in Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama and Washington.
After Monday night’s 34-13 win over Washington, Michigan’s players and staff reiterated their belief that they are the best team in the country and have proven beyond doubt that their national championship is untainted.
Athletic director Warde Manuel said, “When we’re dealing with everything, with all the people who were there hating and spitting and wishing that this would go down, this is the pinnacle.”
(Photo: Stacy Rivers / Getty Images)