Urban Meyer says Jim Harbaugh should face NFL discipline for role in Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal

Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said the NFL should punish Jim Harbaugh, the former Michigan coach and current Los Angeles Chargers coach, after Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause order from the NCAA for the Wolverines’ sign-stealing scandal.

“There’s an elephant in the room here that no one’s talking about,” Meyer said on Wednesday’s episode of “The Triple Option Podcast,” which he hosts with Fox Sports’ Mark Ingram and Rob Stone. “When (Jim) Tressel was fired by Ohio State and he was given a suspension, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, came out and said that we’re going to honor that suspension.

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“And you remember (Tressel) went to the Indianapolis Colts to work in the replay room. The Colts, because of the respect they had for the NCAA and the suspension, suspended Jim Tressel, so he was unable to perform his duties for the first six games of the year for the Indianapolis Colts.

“I think we all know the answer. Any chance that Roger Goodell and the NFL (would suspend Harbaugh)? Of course not.”

Meyer’s comments come after the NCAA disciplined Michigan last week following its investigation into an elaborate sign-stealing scheme concocted by former staffer Connor Stalions.

Stalions devised a scheme to circumvent the NCAA’s rule prohibiting in-person scouting of future opponents by recruiting collaborators and then securing tickets on the secondary market, which allowed them to attend games involving Michigan’s upcoming opponents and film other teams’ signals from the stands.

Stalions collected footage from 52 games involving 13 opponents during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions (COI) found.

The NCAA fined Michigan tens of millions of dollars and handed Harbaugh a show-cause order that effectively bans him from coaching in college football until 2038. The NCAA also suspended current Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, who was an assistant under Harbaugh, for the opening game of the 2026 season, adding to a school-imposed two-game suspension for Week 3 and Week 4 of the upcoming season.

Stalions received an eight-year show-cause order.

Despite the unprecedented fines that could surpass $30 million, the NCAA spared the Wolverines from a postseason ban as punishment for the sign-stealing scheme.

In the 2023 season, Michigan went 15-0 and won the national championship under Harbaugh, who subsequently left the program that offseason to return to the NFL with the Chargers, following the news of the sign-stealing scandal.

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Harbaugh has said he didn’t know about Stalions’ operation and refused to comment on the situation last week after the NCAA released its decision. But the NCAA’s COI wrote in its report that “Harbaugh ran a program that was largely dismissive of rules compliance,” and “there was little, if any, emphasis on following the rules.”

On his podcast, Meyer referenced Tressel heading to the NFL after Tressel was forced to resign from Ohio State following an NCAA investigation into improper benefits received by some of his players, including quarterback Terrelle Pryor. The players traded their equipment, memorabilia and autographs for tattoos and cash, and Tressel withheld information about it from Ohio State and NCAA investigators.

Following the investigation, the Buckeyes received a one-year bowl ban, among other penalties, and Tressel received a five-year show-cause order.

However, Meyer was slightly off in his recount of Tressel’s suspension with the Colts. The team hired Tressel as a replay consultant and said he wouldn’t start his gig until the seventh game of the season. Goodell said he was OK with the Colts’ decision, and he would have suspended Tressel for the first six games if Indianapolis didn’t make him sit them out.

Meyer had a brief and disastrous stint as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. Meyer was accused of having dysfunctional relationships with his players and coaches, including calling members of his staff “losers,” and kicking former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo while he was stretching during practice. Meyer denied all of the accusations but was still dismissed in December with a 2-11 record.

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

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