Jim Harbaugh addresses Michigan’s investigation into possible NCAA violations

Early last week, North Carolina announced that 13 football players had been suspended for selling school-issued shoes, a violation of NCAA rules. By the end of the week, it came out that Michigan school-issue shoes had also been sold and the school was looking into the matter.

Coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters Monday that he isn’t expecting any Wolverines football players to be suspended. He also said he doesn’t know when the school’s compliance department will complete its investigation.

Michigan and North Carolina (along with Oklahoma and Florida) wear Jordan Brand gear and uniforms in football and basketball. At all four schools, all other varsity teams wear Nike uniforms. The exclusive nature of the Jordan Brand school-issued shoes gives them an average sale price of $4,671 on the retail market.

ESPN and StockX found 23 pairs of Michigan school-issued shoes available online. The report notes that prominent alumni, faculty or celebrity fans may have been given school-issued shoes as gifts. If they were the ones to sell the shoes, it would not be an NCAA violation. The school may have also donated shoes to charity. Any sale connected to that would not be a violation either.

Jim Harbaugh says he doesn’t anticipate any current Michigan players will be ineligible as a result of the school looking into some team-issued shoes that were sold online. He doesn’t know when the compliance dept. will finish reviewing that situation.

— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) August 14, 2018

Andrew Olson

A former Florida beat reporter, Andrew writes for the Saturday Tradition News Desk.