Majority of Big Ten coaches want Jim Harbaugh and Michigan punished now

The University of Michigan isn’t in trouble yet, but that very well could change soon. During a 90-minute conference call between the Big Ten football coaches and conference commissioner Tony Petitti, ESPN is reporting, per five different sources who were familiar with the conference call, that a vast majority of Big Ten football head coaches voiced their opinion that Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan football program should be punished by the Big Ten for their sign-stealing campaign.

Per ESPN, following the normal conference call among all coaches, Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh was asked to exit the call so that the 13 other Big Ten head football coaches could speak freely.

The NCAA has been investigating the University of Michigan for several possible violations for a couple weeks now, but given the speed by which the NCAA typically hands out punishment, it is clear that the rest of the Big Ten institutions want new commissioner Petitti to act quickly.

Michigan’s current standing in the College Football Playoffs as the third ranked team could be in jeopardy. If Commissioner Petitti decides to place a post-season ban on the Wolverines, then it is believed that the CFP committee will have to remove the nations #2 AP ranked team from their rankings as well.

Several prominent media member figure heads who consider themselves fans of the Michigan football program have voiced their displeasure with this situation including Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy.

There are many Michigan fans and followers who are placing the blame for the pressure to ban Michigan from the postseason on Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Day has yet to speak publicly about this situation, however. There have been no reports yet that the NCAA, the Big Ten, or any media were notified about Michigan’s sign stealing campaign by Day or anyone associated with the Ohio State football program.

The only report about Ohio State’s involvement was from last year when someone associated with the Ohio State football program notified TCU before their CFP game that their round one opponent more than likely new their signals. TCU then purposely changed their signals before their CFP contest, winning the game against Michigan by a score of 51-45.

Earlier in the week, I wrote that the one thing that could move this investigation along more quickly would be if the 13 other Big Ten institutions were to put pressure on Petitti and the Big Ten to bring down some form of punishment. It now appears that that pressure has come in the form of the other Big Ten head football coaches.