There will be no ruling on the University of Michigan and coach Jim Harbaugh's request for a temporary restraining order halting the three-game suspension handed down by the Big Ten on Friday, sources tell CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd. That means Harbaugh, who traveled with the Wolverines to State College, Pennsylvania, will not be able to coach No. 3 Michigan in a key Big Ten East clash against No. 10 Penn State.
Michigan offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore will step in as acting coach just as he did earlier this season when Harbaugh served a three-game suspension to start the 2023 campaign.
An in-person hearing scheduled for Nov. 17 prior to Michigan's game at Maryland on Nov. 18, sources tell Dodd.
The Big Ten on Friday suspended Harbaugh for the final three games of the 2023 regular season. The conference found Michigan to have violated the league's sportsmanship policy after an investigation into its alleged sign-stealing operation.
Harbaugh, along with the University of Michigan board of regents, responded Friday night with a temporary restraining order request against the Big Ten. The judge listed on the request is Timothy P. Connors, a University of Michigan lecturer adjunct professor at Wayne State and Vermont.
ESPN has obtained a copy of the temporary restraining order. The university's attorneys argue, "Suspension of Coach Harbaugh deep into the team's season would irreparably harm the university's chances of success."
Michigan and Harbaugh quickly made it clear they intended to fight the suspension with legal measures. The university released a statement within an hour of the Big Ten's announcement. The full statement can be read below:
"Like all members of the Big Ten Conference, we are entitled to a fair, deliberate, and thoughtful process to determine the full set of facts before a judgement is rendered. Today's action by Commissioner Tony Petitti disregards the Conference's own handbook, violates basic tenets of due process, and sets an untenable precedent of assessing penalties before an investigation has been completed. We are dismayed at the Commissioner's rush to judgment when there is an ongoing NCAA investigation -- one in which we are fully cooperating.
"Commissioner Petitti's hasty action today suggests that this is more about reacting to pressure from other Conference members than a desire to apply the rules fairly and impartially. By taking this action at this hour, the Commissioner is personally inserting himself onto the sidelines and altering the level playing field that he is claiming to preserve. And, doing so on Veteran's Day -- a court holiday -- to try to thwart the University from seeking immediate judicial relief is hardly a profile in impartiality. To ensure fairness in the process, we intend to seek a court order, together with Coach Harbaugh, preventing this disciplinary action from taking effect."
Michigan is still the target of an active NCAA investigation into the matter which, sources tell CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd, has been put on a "very fast timeline." Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel revealed in a letter to the Big Ten that NCAA enforcement staff "indicated [the NCAA investigation] is due to be completed this fall." (The italics appeared in the letter.)
Harbaugh has maintained he had no knowledge of former staffer Connor Stalions' activities. Even the Big Ten admitted that it never received any information that Harbaugh "was aware of the impermissible nature of the sign-stealing scheme," and that its suspension is not a sanction on Harbaugh but rather one against the University of Michigan. Even so, Harbaugh could still be individually sanctioned under the NCAA's coach responsibility bylaw, which states that those in charge are accountable for the actions of their staff.
The NCAA's investigation into Michigan for sign-stealing is a rapidly-developing story and CBS Sports is covering it in real time. Click here for live coverage.
