Jim Harbaugh announces Michigan football coaching plan during his suspension

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh has announced who will serve as head coach while he's suspended the first three games of 2023:

Just about everybody.

OK, not quite, but close.

But in all, four Michigan assistants will split the job from Sept. 2-16. First up, for next Saturday's opener against East Carolina, co-defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will take the reins on gameday. His counterpart on offense (and also the offensive line coach), Sherrone Moore, gets the top job against Bowling Green on Sept. 16.

In between, against UNLV on Sept. 9, it'll be a Harbaugh — special teams coordinator and safeties coach Jay, Jim's son — calling the shots in the first half, followed by a favorite son of Ann Arbor, run game coordinator and running backs coach Mike Hart, in the second half.

“I’m certain that all will be impressed with the four coaches’ ability to direct and manage the game,” Harbaugh said in a statement released by the school on Thursday. “It’s been well documented that we have a very talented coaching staff and I believe that all 10 assistant coaches will be head coaches in the near future. They are all capable of leading a team at an elite level.

"I know that everyone will handle their responsibilities and help our players to be the best version of themselves on and off the field this fall and beyond.”

Big Ten Conference previewCan Penn State or Ohio State stop Michigan?

Jay Harbaugh isn't the only Harbaugh family member who'll be pitching in on Saturdays, however. Father Jack "will continue to serve as the program’s Assistant Head Coach," per Thursday's release. (Jack Harbaugh is a longtime football coach, with seven seasons as a Michigan assistant under Bo Schembechler, five seasons as the head coach at Western Michigan and 14 seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky.) Also, strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert "has added the title of Associate Head Coach," with no mention of the word interim, according to the release. Jim Harbaugh stumped for Herbert as a contender for the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach, last season, though Herbert was ineligible.

Harbaugh, 59, was suspended by U-M as part of a self-imposed penalty after the NCAA served the program with a draft notice of allegations of four Level II violations and a more-serious Level I violation. That last bit was hung on Harbaugh alone, reportedly for "misleading" NCAA investigators after the fact.

U-M and the NCAA reportedly negotiated a settlement a month ago giving Harbaugh a four-game ban. But the NCAA's Committee on Infractions, which has the final say, nixed that deal. That likely means an extended process with no NCAA punishment in 2023, but the spectre of greater retribution looming in 2024.

On Monday, U-M athletic director Warde Manuel announced Michigan's suspension of Harbaugh for the first three games — but not the days in between — of 2023. The university's statement acknowledged wrongdoing, but didn't get into specifics. Both the school and Harbaugh are blocked by NCAA bylaws from discussing the case with the media.

But Harbaugh was able to release a statement Monday about the suspension.

"I will continue to do what I always do and what I always tell our players and my kids at home, ‘Don’t get bitter, get better,’ ” Harbaugh's statement read.