The college football world knows them as cheaters. Well, now they'll be known as the copycat cheaters.
Michigan's football program has been exposed following alleged reports of their violations relating to the NCAA's sign-stealing policy. As the league's investigation into the Wolverines' nefarious schemes continues, a Twitter user pointed out a suspicious lack of originality in Jim Harbaugh's letter to the Big Ten.
The letter, drafted by Tom Mars, Harbaugh's attorney, sought to argue that Harbaugh's hands were clean in the Michigan scandal and there was "no evidence of misconduct" by Harbaugh himself. It also states there was no evidence that Harbaugh knew of Connor Stalions' alleged activities; Stalions has since resigned from his recruiting analyst position at the school.
In light of the letter's attempt to clear Harbaugh's name, one eagle-eyed Twitter user noticed startling similarities between Harbaugh's letter and a blurb from a Michigan fan's blog post. The blog post is time-stamped two days before the letter was released.
Copycat Cheaters: Michigan HC Jim Harbaugh's letter to Big Ten seems plagiarized
While Harbaugh's letter didn't regurgitate sentences word-for-word, there are a handful of identical phrases shared between the two bodies of work.
Both point out that NCAA Rule 32.2.2 is "unambiguous" and has "no exceptions". Both state that there is no rule in the Big Ten handbook that would allow the Commissioner to "bypass" the NCAA, a sentiment in response to the conference's growing impatience with the investigation and other Big Ten athletic directors' and coaches' desire to penalize Michigan as soon as possible, since a punishment likely won't be handed down from the NCAA for a while.
Finally, both documents use pretty much the same wording when discussing the Commissioner's impotent position -- even if he is "pressured to act quickly", he does not have the authority to deliver a ruling or punishment to Michigan before the NCAA does so.
The seemingly plagiarized phrases in Harbaugh's letter only drag the Wolverines head coach's reputation through thicker mud. Not only is he under fire for his alleged involvement in the school's sign-stealing scandal, but now he and his lawyers can't compose an original thought? Not a good look, Jim. Not a good look.
