The NFL has long been criticized for making it up as it goes along when it comes to disciplinary procedures. And one of the more bizarre instances of NFL decision making is coming full circle thanks to former Michigan Wolverines and current Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh. And it has to do with his former rival in the Ohio State Buckeyes.
In 2011, the NFL suspended both former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor and coach Jim Tressel for transgressions associated with the “TattooGate” scandal that saw players trade merchandise for free tattoos. In the wake of the NIL transformation, the punishments seem laughable. But at the time, this was treated with WaterGate level hysteria in the college football world. In actuality, Tressel was suspended as an analyst by the Indianapolis Colts, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell publicly said he supported the move and would have acted himself if the team hadn’t done so.
Never before or since has the league suspended a player or coach for what transpired while in the NCAA. But that’s what happened to both Pryor and Tressel.
And now Urban Meyer is wondering why the same thing isn’t happening to Jim Harbaugh, now with the Los Angeles Chargers.
As the University of Michigan finally learned their fate from their sign-stealing scandal last week, the program escaped any forfeitures of victories or postseason bans. The stiffest punishment was indeed handed out to Harbaugh, who left Michigan after the 2023 season under a cloud of the controversy to return to the NFL with the Chargers.
Jim Harbaugh is effectively not allowed to coach in college football until 2038 after an extraordinary 14 years of show cause penalties against him for multiple NCAA violations while at Michigan.
And on his Triple Option podcast with Fox Sports colleagues Mark Ingram and Rob Stone, Meyer addressed the “elephant in the room” of why the NFL has been silent on Harbaugh’s transgressions when they set a precedent so many years ago.
“There’s an elephant in the room here that no one’s talking about. When Jim Tressel was fired by Ohio State and he was given a suspension,” Meyer said. “Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League, came out and said that we’re going to honor that suspension. And you remember he went to the Indianapolis Colts to work in the replay room or something. The Colts, because of the respect they had for the NCAA and the suspension, do you realize 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? Of course not. And I don’t know why,” he added.
It’s a great question and it’s one a lot of football fans, not just at Ohio State, should probably be asking. Why did the NFL think it was acceptable to suspend a player and a coach for breaking NCAA rules back in 2011 but doesn’t have the same energy now?
Jim Harbaugh’s penalties seem to go way beyond whatever happened with tattoos at Ohio State all those years ago. Of course, the NCAA’s capabilities as an enforcement arm have all but disappeared. And any expectation that the NFL will suddenly find its moral compass once again and remove Harbaugh from the sidelines is pure fantasy.
But at the very least, surely the NFL needs to address the glaring inconsistencies here and either admit that they were wrong in suspending Tressel and Pryor or explain why they now have no interest in carrying over NCAA penalties to the league.
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