ANN ARBOR, Mich. — On the Brown Jug, a well-liked campus hang-out, prospects can order Jim Harbaugh’s 10 oz. Sirloin Steak or his father Jack’s Well-known Brown Jug Burger in a sports activities bar that shares its title with the image of Michigan’s rivalry in opposition to Minnesota.
Like its namesake, a five-gallon Pink Wing Pottery jug allegedly bought in 1903 as a result of Michigan feared somebody would possibly tamper with its water provide, the Brown Jug restaurant has grow to be embellished in its personal piece of Michigan lore. The story has all of the options of a basic faculty soccer caper: a lightning-rod coach, a whiff of espionage and conspiracy theories galore, all set in opposition to the backdrop of Michigan’s march to 3 consecutive Massive Ten championships and the 2023 nationwide championship.
In January 2023, months earlier than Connor Stalions’ title grew to become identified to school soccer in a sign-stealing scandal and a 12 months earlier than the Wolverines hoisted the championship trophy in Houston, information broke that Jim Harbaugh and Michigan had been being investigated for recruiting violations that occurred in the course of the NCAA’s COVID-19 useless interval. A reporter posted on a message board that Harbaugh’s transgression was shopping for a “Jug burger” for 2 dedicated recruits who made an impromptu cease in Ann Arbor in the course of the useless interval, then denying it when confronted by the NCAA.
The story of the cheeseburger on the Brown Jug gained widespread traction publicly, taking part in right into a well-established narrative concerning the arbitrary NCAA rulebook. In response, Derrick Crawford, NCAA vp for listening to operations, took the uncommon step of commenting on an ongoing case after the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions rejected a negotiated decision in August 2023.
“The Michigan infractions case is said to impermissible on and off-campus recruiting in the course of the COVID-19 useless interval and impermissible teaching actions — not a cheeseburger,” Crawford mentioned.
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For the previous three years, Harbaugh and Michigan have been caught up within the NCAA’s maze of investigations, appeals, negotiated resolutions and bifurcated rulings that might make any faculty soccer fan’s eyes glaze over. Harbaugh versus the NCAA is the story all people is aware of and nearly nobody understands.
Greater than six months after Harbaugh left Michigan to educate the Los Angeles Chargers, particulars are filtering into public view. On Wednesday, the NCAA gave Harbaugh a four-year show-cause order and a one-season suspension in reference to the case generally known as “Burgergate.” It adopted Michigan receiving a draft discover of allegations on Sunday within the case involving Stalions, a former staffer who allegedly coordinated a scheme to gather video footage of opponents’ alerts.
However with Harbaugh again within the NFL, the NCAA not has jurisdiction to punish him, and he has no intention of teaching faculty soccer anytime quickly.
“Right now’s COI choice is like being in faculty and getting a letter out of your highschool saying you’ve been suspended since you didn’t signal the yearbook,” Harbaugh’s lawyer, Tom Mars, wrote in part on X. “If I had been in Coach Harbaugh’s footwear and had an $80 million contract as head coach of the Chargers, I wouldn’t pay any consideration to the findings of a kangaroo court docket.”
My ideas on right this moment’s NCAA choice re Coach Harbaugh. 🦘⚖️ https://t.co/eMtUdIgXK5 pic.twitter.com/4LvPtXnxUj
— Tom Mars (@TomMarsLaw) August 7, 2024
Harbaugh has maintained his innocence and did so once more this week when requested concerning the allegations within the Stalions case. However the NCAA’s ruling within the COVID-19 case, mixed with paperwork obtained by means of Freedom of Data Act requests and conversations with sources concerned within the course of, inform a special story than the model that was broadly identified.
In keeping with the ruling launched Wednesday by the NCAA, Harbaugh met a recruit and his father for breakfast at a neighborhood diner in February 2021, when in-person recruiting was prohibited as a well being and security measure, and organized for them to go to Michigan’s soccer facility. Harbaugh met one other prospect and his father on the similar diner the next month. When confronted by the NCAA, Harbaugh denied having any reminiscence of the conferences. He went a step additional in a subsequent interview, in accordance with the ruling, “unequivocally disputing that both assembly occurred.”
The NCAA had proof on the contrary, together with receipts, expense experiences and testimony from the gamers, their fathers and different soccer staffers. Whereas the COI ruling fills in lots of particulars, it leaves some out.
Sure, there was a burger concerned. However not on the Brown Jug.
In spring 2021, Michigan was within the midst of a large self-improvement mission. The Wolverines completed 2-4 throughout a depressing pandemic-shortened season in 2020.
Harbaugh was below stress to ship outcomes. Many individuals across the program would credit score the adjustments he made that spring for the entire success that adopted: a 40-3 document over three seasons and this system’s first nationwide title in 26 years.
In April of that 12 months, Michigan contacted the NCAA to self-report potential low-level violations involving analysts performing teaching duties. After a nine-month investigation, the NCAA despatched Michigan a draft of minor infractions, a few of which might not apply below new guidelines authorized in June 2024 that permit an infinite variety of staffers to carry out teaching duties.
In different phrases, small potatoes. However two days after issuing the draft allegations, the NCAA knowledgeable Michigan it was reopening its investigation after receiving new info. That new info included proof that Michigan violated recruiting guidelines put in place in the course of the COVID-19 useless interval.
A number of faculties have been punished for having recruits on campus throughout that point. Essentially the most notable was Arizona State, which was hit with 4 years of NCAA probation, a positive, a one-year bowl ban and recruiting restrictions for violations that occurred below former coach Herm Edwards and assistant Antonio Pierce, now Harbaugh’s division rival as the pinnacle coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The NCAA’s discover of allegations mentioned Michigan had “impermissible recruiting contact with and/or offered impermissible inducements to 3 then soccer potential student-athletes and their fathers” in the course of the COVID-19 useless interval. The recruit recognized as Participant 1 met with members of the soccer facility and was given entry to the load room. Participant 2 and his father met workers members for a reduced meal at a neighborhood restaurant, then met Harbaugh for a free meal at one other restaurant and got entry to Michigan’s soccer amenities. Participant 3 and his father additionally met Harbaugh at a neighborhood restaurant and met workers members at Michigan’s soccer facility.
A former recruiting director who spoke to the NCAA mentioned Harbaugh urged him to “get guys to campus” and said that Michigan had no protocols in place to keep away from in-person contact in the course of the useless interval. In keeping with the ruling, the previous recruiting director advised the NCAA, “The tradition (within the soccer program) wasn’t to be protected, the tradition was to go to the road and cross it in case you needed to.”
Sherrone Moore led Michigan to its third straight win over Ohio State whereas Jim Harbaugh was suspended. (Ezra Shaw / Getty Pictures)
In July 2022, Harbaugh advised the NCAA he had no reminiscence of assembly with Participant 2 or his father on the diner and mentioned he didn’t bear in mind the participant in any respect. In a follow-up interview a number of weeks later, Harbaugh acknowledged that the participant had visited however denied assembly with the recruit and his father. The COI quoted a portion of Harbaugh’s reply in its ruling.
“I used to have a thoughts like a metal lure, now it’s extra of an aluminum lure however I’d — I’d imagine in my — in my state that I’d bear in mind having breakfast at (the diner),” Harbaugh mentioned.
In July 2023, not lengthy earlier than Harbaugh went to Massive Ten media days and declared he had “nothing to be ashamed of,” information broke that Michigan and the NCAA had been trying to settle “Burgergate” with a negotiated decision that included a four-game suspension for Harbaugh. The NCAA accepted parts of the negotiated decision pertaining to 2 assistant coaches, a graduate assistant and the previous recruiting director however rejected the parts pertaining to Harbaugh and Michigan as an establishment.
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In keeping with an individual concerned within the course of, the sticking level was whether or not Harbaugh deliberately misled investigators or offered inaccurate info as a result of he didn’t bear in mind what occurred. Harbaugh maintained that when he denied assembly with recruits in the course of the useless interval, it was as a result of he had no reminiscence of it. However the NCAA had proof that it occurred, together with a photograph taken in Michigan’s soccer facility and a breakfast receipt that confirmed somebody ordering a bacon cheeseburger for breakfast.
When introduced with the receipt, Harbaugh modified his tune.
“I needed to be there, as a result of someone ordered a hamburger for breakfast,” he mentioned, in accordance with an individual concerned within the course of. “Who else orders a hamburger for breakfast moreover me? No person.”
The negotiated decision fell aside. Michigan as a substitute self-imposed a three-game suspension for Harbaugh.
Earlier than the primary sport, Harbaugh stood inside Schembechler Corridor with a typewritten assertion and lambasted the NCAA’s establishment. It was neither the primary nor the final time he would criticize faculties for hoarding the huge revenues generated by faculty soccer, however his feedback had a selected chew given his looming suspension.
“What I don’t perceive is how the NCAA, the tv networks, the conferences, the schools and coaches can proceed to tug in thousands and thousands and in some circumstances billions of {dollars} of income off the efforts of faculty student-athletes throughout the nation with out offering sufficient alternatives to share within the ever-increasing revenues,” he mentioned.
Harbaugh spent the primary three Saturdays final season in school-imposed exile, mowing his garden, working the chains for his son’s youth soccer staff and attending a funeral for certainly one of his former gamers at Stanford.
Upon returning, Harbaugh promised to institute insurance policies that might make Michigan the “gold normal” for NCAA guidelines compliance. Little did anybody know that one other suspension was across the nook.
The directions mentioned to enter an unmarked door within the alley behind an Ann Arbor steakhouse. The restaurant was closed, however Jim Stapleton could be ready within the downstairs lounge.
Satisfied somebody was out to get Harbaugh within the wake of the Stalions revelations, a phase of the Michigan fan base centered its consideration on Stapleton, a lawyer, Michigan booster and former Detroit Tigers govt who occurred to serve on the Committee on Infractions. Some followers believed he was leaking details about the Stalions case in an effort to hurt Harbaugh.
The information that the NCAA was investigating the alleged sign-stealing operation broke lower than a month after Harbaugh returned from suspension. Stalions, a beforehand nameless staffer incomes $55,000 per 12 months, was recognized because the ringleader of a scheme to purchase tickets for dozens of video games involving Michigan’s opponents and gather video footage of opponents’ alerts.
The story prompted an uproar from followers of Michigan’s Massive Ten opponents, who noticed Harbaugh as a cheater and Michigan’s holier-than-thou picture as a fraud, and urged commissioner Tony Petitti to take motion. He in the end did, suspending Harbaugh for the ultimate three regular-season video games for violations of the league’s sportsmanship coverage.
Within the eyes of many Michigan followers, Harbaugh was being persecuted for the equal of jaywalking, presumably as a result of he had the nerve to name out NCAA hypocrisy. The NCAA’s investigation reportedly originated with an out of doors investigative agency, spawning the wild theories and paranoia amongst Michigan followers and faculty directors that enveloped Stapleton, amongst others.
Stapleton, who beforehand served on the board of regents at Japanese Michigan, had been accused of attempting to undermine Harbaugh prior to now due to bitterness about former coach Brady Hoke’s firing and the method of Harbaugh’s hiring.
He despatched a prolonged electronic mail to members of Michigan’s campus neighborhood in January denying allegations of spreading details about the sign-stealing investigation, outlining authorized steps he’d taken to clear his title and documenting a private toll, together with “quite a few loss of life threats and character assassinations in opposition to me posted on-line.”
Stapleton then agreed to an on-the-record interview with The Athletic and offered directions for the place to satisfy clandestinely.
From the steakhouse lounge, he laid out the the reason why he couldn’t have accessed privileged details about the NCAA’s investigations into Harbaugh’s program, together with the COI’s recusal procedures and the wall of separation between the NCAA’s enforcement workers and COI members who rule on circumstances. He additionally denied that anybody on the NCAA had it out for Harbaugh or Michigan.
“The NCAA will examine something that’s credible, regardless of the place it comes from,” Stapleton mentioned. “Rumors come day by day. But when one thing’s credible, it’s their job to research it. This notion that it was completed to ‘get Michigan’ or ‘get Harbaugh,’ that wasn’t the NCAA’s intent. Perhaps it was another person’s.”
If the allegations had been supposed to disrupt Michigan’s dream season, the plot failed.
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Sherrone Moore, now Michigan’s head coach, led the Wolverines to 3 victories in Harbaugh’s absence, together with a dramatic 30-24 win in opposition to unbeaten Ohio State. Harbaugh returned for the postseason, twice-suspended however as defiant as ever.
“We stood sturdy and tall as a result of we knew we had been harmless,” Harbaugh mentioned after Michigan’s 34-13 victory in opposition to Washington within the championship sport. “And I’d wish to level that out. These guys are harmless.”
Harbaugh made his long-awaited return to the NFL two weeks later, leaving Michigan to rejoice a nationwide championship and unwind a tangle of NCAA allegations.
Now not obligated to defend its former coach, Michigan reached a negotiated decision with the NCAA in April that included three years of probation and an acknowledgment that Harbaugh “failed to satisfy his accountability to cooperate” with the investigation into COVID-19 recruiting violations.
“I can nearly hear the wheels of the bus going, ‘whomp, whomp,’” Mars wrote in a press release.
Jim Harbaugh’s remaining 12 months at Michigan ended with a nationwide title parade. (Nic Antaya / Getty Pictures)
Sunday, Michigan acquired a draft of the NCAA’s allegations within the Stalions case, together with a possible Degree II cost in opposition to Moore for allegedly deleting a sequence of textual content messages with Stalions shortly after information of the scandal broke. Moore was among the many coaches who reached negotiated resolutions with the NCAA within the COVID-19 case and served a one-game suspension final season. Michigan might additionally face penalties if the NCAA finds that the brand new allegations represent a sample of noncompliance.
Stalions, who hasn’t spoken publicly because the scandal broke, is about to inform his facet of the story in a Netflix documentary scheduled for launch Aug. 27. Harbaugh reiterated to reporters this week that he “didn’t take part, was not conscious, nor complicit” in Stalions’ alleged scheme, however he faces additional NCAA penalties for not absolutely complying with an NCAA request to show over emails and messages from a private machine. There’s no telling when punishment will in the end be handed down.
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And although “Burgergate” has been resolved, one key query stays: Did the entire thing actually begin with a cheeseburger on the Brown Jug? In keeping with one individual acquainted with the case, the reply was no.
“(Harbaugh) was by no means on the Brown Jug,” the individual mentioned. “His complete deal was Denny’s.”
Denny’s? Residence of the Grand Slam and Moons Over My Hammy? That wouldn’t be out of character for Harbaugh, a professed Cracker Barrel aficionado, however the story had just a few issues. A fast Google search revealed just one Denny’s in Ann Arbor, situated alongside a busy stretch of Washtenaw Avenue subsequent to a pet provide retailer. Not essentially the most interesting place to take a potential recruit. Additionally, the restaurant closed in 2022, which means the Denny’s and its secrets and techniques may be sealed eternally.
There was one one who might settle the query as soon as and for all: the daddy of the recruit recognized as Participant 2. When reached by The Athletic, he confirmed that the notorious meal passed off, but it surely wasn’t at Denny’s or the Brown Jug. They met Harbaugh at some native place, he mentioned, a diner not removed from Michigan Stadium …
“Was it Benny’s?”
“Yeah. Benny’s.”
That might be Benny’s Household Eating, an Ann Arbor establishment the place swimmer Michael Phelps famously loaded up on carbs whereas coaching for the Olympics. In keeping with the daddy of Participant 2, who agreed to talk on the situation of anonymity as a result of confidential nature of the NCAA investigation, that they had come to Ann Arbor for a self-guided tour. At different stops, coaches advised them the place to choose up a campus map however had no in-person contact. At Michigan, there was a meal the day they arrived, breakfast the following morning, then a tour of the soccer facility. None of which was permitted.
“It was utterly, one hundred pc completely different than all over the place else,” the recruit’s father mentioned. “Even SEC faculties that you simply thought prior to now would have bent guidelines did it by the books.”
The participant, who was not dedicated to any faculty on the time, didn’t signal with Michigan. The participant’s father ultimately needed to rent a lawyer to take care of the NCAA fallout. He mentioned he realized on the time Michigan was breaking the dead-period guidelines however didn’t really feel he was ready to say something.
“I assumed, ‘Wow, that is Harbaugh. It’s a big-time program,’” he mentioned. “You don’t wish to say no.”
On a current Monday morning, the early crowd was beginning to skinny out at Benny’s, the place pictures of Michigan stars adorn the partitions. The day’s specials, written on a dry-erase board, included a bacon cheeseburger and fries for $12.99. Sure, the waitress confirmed, you possibly can order it for breakfast.
For months, Michigan followers had been going to the Brown Jug, scanning the menu in the hunt for the well-known cheeseburger. It turned out it was right here all alongside, ready for somebody to order it. Because the NCAA mentioned, the true story of “Burgergate” was about impermissible recruiting contact and violations of the useless interval guidelines, not a cheeseburger.
For the document, it was scrumptious. A bit heavy for 9 within the morning, however nicely well worth the wait.
(High illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; picture: Gregory Shamus / Getty Pictures)