Michigan Sign-Stealing Ruling Another Example of How Ridiculous OSU Basketball’s Punishment Was

Perhaps Friday’s NCAA ruling on the Michigan football situation is a sign that things are headed in a better direction at the top of college sports, but from an Oklahoma State perspective, it’s hard to not view the ruling as anything more than another blueblood getting slapped on the wrist.

If you haven’t seen, the NCAA released its findings on the Michigan-Connor Stalions-sign stealing situation Friday morning. Michigan faces a series of fines that could eclipse $30 million. Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore will be suspended for three cherry-picked games across the next two seasons. But most notably, Michigan keeps its 2023 national championship, and the Wolverines won’t be banned from any postseason play moving forward.

Michigan and its coaches/staffers were charged with eight Level 1 violations. The OSU basketball program had two Level 1 violations as part of its case that saw OSU banned from the 2022 NCAA Tournament — one to the university and the other to Lamont Evans.

The NCAA has since said it was going to use postseason bans less, especially when those bans were to student-athletes who had nothing to do with whatever happened. Some of that could likely be attributed to Mike Boynton — who funnily enough is now an assistant at Michigan — taking a blowtorch to the NCAA after the Cowboys’ ban was announced, pointing out how ridiculous it was that players who were in middle school when the infraction took place were being punished.

In regards to the Michigan case, the NCAA stated there were sufficient grounds for a multiyear postseason ban. “However, the panel determined that a postseason ban would unfairly penalize student-athletes for the actions of coaches and staff who are no longer associated with the Michigan football program.”

Another part I found interesting when comparing the two reports is that part of the NCAA hammering the OSU basketball program was because of “a history of Level I, Level II or major violations by the institution.” It also says in the report that “the panel notes that most of these cases occurred 25 years ago.”

Well, former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh (who is now with the Los Angeles Chargers) received a 10-year show-cause in the report that released Friday. Harbough was already sitting on a four-year show-cause penalty for another matter in 2024. His 10-year show-cause can’t even start until 2028 after that four-year one ends. But, sure, let’s go look at stuff that happened a quarter-century ago.

In fairness, the fine amounts are vastly different. OSU got smacked with a $10,000 fine plus 1% of the men’s basketball program budget, where as the Wolverines could be paying about $30 million. Some universities might rather have the ban than have to pay that difference.

I don’t believe student-athletes should be punished for things that they had no involvement in. So, perhaps this is actually all moving in a better direction. But it won’t help OSU fans sleep any better at night knowing that a team breaking the rules to gain a competitive advantage on the field got a hefty fine while the OSU basketball program was essentially held hostage for a few seasons with a ban looming over its head.