If the Big Ten suspends Jim Harbaugh on Thursday for Michigan's alleged sign stealing, expect a legal fight from the Wolverines. Here's how that could play out.
With the Big Ten's ruling on whether Michigan violated the league's sportsmanship policy expected to arrive in the near future, the focus of the college football season's most high-profile standoff could shift to the courtroom.
If Petitti does suspend Harbaugh this week, sources said Michigan has been preparing to challenge the ruling in court in an effort to keep Harbaugh on the sideline for the No. 3 Wolverines' game at No. 10 Penn State on Saturday. A retired chief judge from Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Donald Shelton, told ESPN via email that the judge who hears the case for the temporary restraining order would need to weigh four factors: the likelihood that Michigan would succeed in the lawsuit in the end; proof of irreparable harm if the suspension is in place while waiting for a trial; what the harm would be to each side if the injunction isn't issued; and whether the public interest is being served by granting it.
Shelton laid out Michigan's argument for irreparable harm:"It would argue that each football game is unique and that suspending the coach from any of the forthcoming games is a harm to him and the team that cannot be undone regardless of the outcome of a future trial on the merits." Eight Nebraska football players filed a lawsuit against the Big Ten in 2020 to invalidate the league's postponement of the fall football season. They did it in local court in Lancaster County, which could be instructive for the direction Michigan takes.
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