INDIANAPOLIS — Unsurprisingly, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti got a question about Michigan football and the alleged sign-stealing scandal at Big Ten media days on Tuesday.
Seemingly taking unilateral action at the time in November when Petitti suspended former Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh, despite the NCAA still in the thick of its investigation, Petitti says now that the process when it took place was ‘collaborative’ in nature.
“I can tell you that it was a collaborative process inside the conference office with staff first, trying to understand, gather information,” Petitti said. “There was a lot of cooperation with the NCAA in terms of the information that we had access to, working with our administrators and ultimately our presidents and chancellors as well.
“It was a completely collaborative process. Look, I understand, having come from MLB and watching some of the discipline things that happened there, it’s a difficult process when you’re forced into a situation where you have to decide what to do with a member. That’s part of it. You go into that with a lot of respect and try and understand and do what’s fair and protect the entire conference.
“That was the approach we took, and I stand by the results of the decision we made.”
A notice of allegations from the NCAA is forthcoming, with recent indications seeming like the organization was close to issuing the NOA a month ago. However, the NOA has yet to arrive in Ann Arbor, and Petitti says he has no idea when the NCAA will reveal its findings.
“I don’t know of a timetable,” Petitti said. “I’m not aware yet when the NCAA will come to any final determination, whatever that might be.”