Tom Mars recalls 'bizarre' Jim Harbaugh infractions case, calls out 'bias and hostility' from committee

As the Jim Harbaugh case went through the NCAA’s committee on infractions in October, Tom Mars was in the middle of it. He represented the now-former Michigan coach, who was already at the center of an investigation regarding recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period and the sign-stealing inquiry was starting to become public.

During that time, Mars was vocal in his criticism of the NCAA on social media and was also defending Harbaugh as the outrage grew. At one point, he received a “letter of reprimand” from Dave Roberts, the chairman of the committee on infractions, for an October post.

It was all part of what he called a “bizarre” process.

“It was the most bizarre thing I have experienced in dealing with the NCAA,” Mars said Thursday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “And maybe a lot of your viewers know, I’ve been highly critical of the NCAA almost ever since I resigned from that organization after one year, which was four years before the end of my contract. I respect the rules. I understand that it’s a proceeding that needs to be respected. But I think you would agree, Paul, that if you’re representing a head coach and your job is to defend them in the proceeding, but also to defend their reputation – which the NCAA is really good at tarnishing – you’re not only fighting a battlefield with the NCAA and that proceeding. You’re fighting a battlefield on social media.

“I feel it’s my obligation, and I think most of my fellow lawyers watching this would agree, that when you take on the representation of a high-profile head coach and that person is getting unfairly slandered all over social media by people who don’t know the facts, it’s the lawyer’s obligation to try to mitigate that damage, which I was doing in this case.”

Mars detailed the letter he received from Roberts, which was about one specific post on Twitter when the sign-stealing case started to break. Roberts then said the committee would consider a punishment not only against Mars, but also against Harbaugh if he didn’t stop making the posts. At the end, though, Roberts said there would be “no further admonishments” down the line.

Mars said that held true even as he continued with his criticism.

“I’ll cut to the chase and say in late October last year, I opened an email and there was a letter that was entitled, ‘Letter of reprimand,’ from the chair of the D-I committee on infractions, Dave Roberts. It was a two-page letter, but the contents were kind of startling,” Mars recalled. “Chairman Roberts said that the entire committee was appalled at the postings I had made on social media, including a satirical graphic – which underscored the point I just made, which is the NCAA feels like it’s free to tarnish coach’s reputations left and right all day long, but they prohibit coaches from commenting on confidential information in a case. And they’ve taken a more extreme view than that.

“Well, he went on to say, and I’m glad for people to see this letter, if this behavior continues, the committee on infractions will consider imposing penalties against you and your client – I don’t know how they’re gonna punish me – including the immediate suspension of your client. Can you imagine? And then, as if I was gonna be intimidated, the letter ended by saying there will be no further admonishments. Wow. But you know, to his credit, Dave Roberts, the chairman who wrote that letter, was right. Because I continued on and actually accelerated my criticism to the NCAA, and guess what? There were no further admonishments. It was just an empty threat, citing a rule that has nothing to do with anything involving social media or anything.”

Tom Mars: Letter showed how NCAA decision-makers ‘really felt about Jim Harbaugh’

Mars argued that note from Roberts showed him what the NCAA thought about Harbaugh and his role in the situation. He said the committee didn’t seem to be hiding its feelings about him as Michigan was in the midst of an undefeated season that later ended at the national championship.

“In my opinion, that letter provided more than a glimpse at how the decision-makers at the NCAA really felt about Jim Harbaugh,” Mars said. “The bias and hostility in that case against Jim Harbaugh was palpable, and that letter was just another piece of evidence showing the level of their hostility.

“Do you think the committee on infractions is sitting at home at night, looking at what I post on Twitter and getting it all together, talking about, ‘This is alarming. It’s going to impair our investigation.’ Why, because I said something mean about them on social media? Something that is well-deserved, but nonetheless critical? Come on.”

The Big Ten, of course, later suspended Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season as a result of the sign-stealing investigation that later saw analyst Connor Stalions resign from his position. After the season, the Los Angeles Chargers hired Harbaugh as their next head coach and Michigan promoted Sherrone Moore to the full-time role after he served four games in the interim.