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Newsstand: Jim Harbaugh, Santa Ono named in Matt Weiss lawsuit

Anthony Broomeby: Anthony Broome06/28/25anthonytbroome
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A federal lawsuit on Friday alleges that Michigan officials let former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss coach in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl with the knowledge that he hacked into personal accounts of female college athletes.

11 female athletes at U-M and other schools made the allegation in the lawsuit, along with former football coach Jim Harbaugh, former president Santa Ono, athletic director Warde Manuel and former president Mark Schlissel. The lawsuit is an amended version of a civil complaint filed in March in Detroit, according to The Detroit News.

The lawsuit says that an unnamed staffer saw Weiss viewing private information between Dec. 21-23, 2022 at Schembechler Hall. The Fiesta Bowl took place on Dec. 31, 2022, 51-45 loss to TCU in the College Football Playoff.

“In this way, the university placed profits before people, particularly women and female student athletes,” lawyers wrote in the amended lawsuit. They allege that Harbaugh, Manuel and others “failed to act to protect students.”

“Naming Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and Athletic Director Warde Manuel in this complaint reflects our belief that leadership at the highest levels either knew of these threats or deliberately ignored them, prioritizing athletic prestige and profit over the safety and dignity of students,” one of the women’s lawyers, Parker Stinar, said in a statement.

At least 13 civil cases have been filed against Weiss, representing over 80 female student athletes. He was federally indicted and accused of gaining access to a database of student athletes at more than 100 colleges and universities and downloading personal information and medical data of more than 150,000 athletes and using that to gain social media, email, and cloud storage accounts to download intimate personal photographs. Weiss was fired in January 2023.

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“Lendeborg broke out last season at UAB and will transfer to Michigan, where a huge role and lucrative NIL deal await after he considered entering the 2025 draft. He had positive flashes at the combine, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a first-round assurance. The Wolverines have lost quite a bit of frontcourt production, with first-rounder Danny Wolf (No. 27) and Vladislav Goldin off to the pros, allowing Lendeborg to help himself in the same way. A late-blooming prospect with a mix of offensive skill, defensive playmaking and excellent length, expect Lendeborg to figure prominently for Michigan.”

– ESPN on Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg as a 2026 NBA Draft prospect

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