Big Ten coaches met with commissioner Tony Petitti and impressed upon the conference's new chief executive the importance of acting against Michigan over the allegations that the Wolverines broke rules and crossed ethical lines to obtain their current perch atop the league, but those involved came away from the meeting feeling like Petitti is unlikely to halt Michigan's pursuit of a third straight Big Ten championship.
That's according to a report from The Athletic on Thursday afternoon.
“Everybody’s upset,” one Big Ten coach told the site. “Why is nothing being done? We want to know, what else do you need to know to take action? We (the Big Ten head coaches) want something done now. I don’t think people understand the advantage that what they’re (allegedly) doing gives you. People think, ‘OK, now that everybody knows, we all can just move on.’ Like, ‘now, it’s fair.’ Well, no, it isn’t. Not at all. This changes the way you operate. A lot of teams have been doing things a certain way for years. Now, it’s forcing you to teach your players a whole new way to communicate just for them. People think that this is just advanced scouting. This was damn near espionage.”
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule relayed to On3 that the Big Ten coaches impressed upon Petitti that Michigan's alleged cheating has real-world consequences for their profession.
"A lot of people's livelihoods, jobs, their seasons, players, players' health, all kinds of things have been impacted by this," Rhule said.
Petitti is scheduled to meet with Big Ten ADs on Thursday, who are expected to make the same argument as coaches -- that the conference office, meaning Petitti, should step in.
The Michigan scandal has tested the capacity of the NCAA and the college sports industry's ability to handle rule-breaking. The NCAA is unwilling or incapable of speeding up its enforcement timelines as Michigan pursues both Big Ten and College Football Playoff championships that are allegedly tainted, all while the Big Ten and the CFP wait on the NCAA to act.
The College Football Playoff selection committee slotted Michigan at No. 3 in its initial set of rankings on Tuesday night.
No surprise, but committee chair Boo Corrigan says the Michigan sign-stealing accusations were not part of their discussions.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 31, 2023
"It's an NCAA issue, not a CFP issue."
While NCAA rules, and not Big Ten rules, were allegedly violated by Michigan, Big Ten bylaws provide the commissioner latitude to step in under the conference's sportsmanship guidelines.
The 13 other Big Ten schools are credibly arguing that the conference owes it to them to stop Michigan from pursuing a tainted championship... all while the Big Ten is understandably hesitant to take such a drastic, unprecedented step without either a confession or smoking-gun evidence, both of which they're unlikely to have before the Big Ten Championship that's now less than one month away.
By not acting, however, the Big Ten is also creating precedent that active rule-breaking would only be punished after-the-fact, if at all.
The clock is ticking.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.