2 days ago
Did the Wolverines receive a justifiable punishment?
After two years there has finally been a punishment slapped on the Michigan Wolverines for their sign-stealing saga that gained widespread attention in the college football industry. One of the biggest recent storylines in college football was very different from the USC Reggie Bush story. There was a much harsher penalty for the Trojans. In comparison to USC's penalty this punishment for the Wolverines seems like a slap on the wrist.
College Sports Wire's Riley Donald examined the final ruling on the Wolverines' punishments in his latest article:
"The Wolverines will also be without head coach Sherrone Moore for the first game of the 2026-27 season on top of the two-game suspension this upcoming season that was already self-imposed by Michigan. Other punishments include a 10-year show-cause penalty for Jim Harbaugh, Michigan's former head coach, who led them to the national championship, and an eight-year show-cause penalty for Connor Stalions, the alleged sign-stealer. Former Michigan QB Denard Robinson will also receive a three-year show-cause penalty. Some other punishments include a 25% drop in official visits that the football program can host in 2025-26, along with a 14-week probation period of recruiting communications during their four-year probationary period.
"The fine sends a message to the rest of college football that revenue will be hit and the bottom line will be impacted for infractions. While it does do that, the Wolverines are coming out of this situation rather clean, as they have not had to sacrifice any success in their program's history."
The Wolverines suffered fines and lost their head coach for just two games, nothing that drastically affects the future of the program. The USC Trojans are still feeling the repercussions of the Reggie Bush situation, and they had their 2004 title vacated.
USC Trojans beat reporter Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times provided his thoughts on the Wolverines' penalty in comparison to USC's in a recent tweet:
"When USC was punished for the Reggie Bush extra benefits saga, the NCAA vacated USC's '04 title, banned them from the postseason and took away 30 scholarships. That punishment only gets more insane by the year."
While justice was supposed to be served with the Wolverines' punishment for their wrongdoings, all it did was shine a light on how cruel another penalty was to USC. How the NCAA handles its punishments has been shown time and again to be very flawed.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: How does Trojans Bush Penality compare to Wolverines new penalty
