Michigan won the title “fair and square,” says Charlie Baker, standing next to the Big Ten's NCAA hoops

PHOENIX — NCAA president Charlie Baker watched on television as Michigan football won the national championship Monday night and came away impressed. During a meeting with a small group of reporters at the annual NCAA conference this week, Baker said the Wolverines were clearly “the better team” and won their title “fair and square.”

He was asked Wednesday to reflect on his unprecedented decision to refer both the Big Ten and the University of Michigan to an ongoing NCAA investigation, which paved the way for Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettitte to suspend head coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the regular season. Before the investigation ended, Baker stood by his actions.

“I don't regret doing it because I think we would have put everyone, including Michigan, in a terrible place, given its inclusivity,” Baker said. “As it was, it went public and people were either making adjustments or not.

“At the end of the day, no one at this point believes Michigan didn't win the national title fair and square. So, I think we did the right thing.”

Baker said he wasn't conflicted about the outcome of the championship game either, because he believed he took the right action in a complicated situation. Since the NCAA investigation focused on illegal on-campus scouting and sign-stealing, it could be possible that the rules that were violated could impact games that still need to be played in the 2023 season. Baker believes Michigan and its conference deserve the right to act now to preserve on the integrity of competition, rather than waiting until the end of the lengthy investigative process.

“It could affect the outcome of the matches, and I don't think that happened at the end of the season,” Becker said. “And I think that's important.”

Baker confirmed that the NCAA's investigation into the program began when a third party contacted the NCAA claiming to have extensive information about Michigan's illegal sign-stealing and scouting operation. (The identity of that third party has not been announced.) After the third party reached out, Baker said, the NCAA asked him to bring the information to Indianapolis for review, which it did. The NCAA investigative team also examined any tactics the third party may have used to obtain the information, Baker said.

“This is something that (NCAA Vice President) John Duncan and the gang have been working hard on, and they've done it,” Baker said.

Additionally, Michigan, Harbaugh and the NCAA continue to work through an investigation into recruiting violations allegedly committed by the program during the COVID-19 dead period, for which Michigan self-imposed a three-game suspension for Harbaugh to start the season. The school received a formal notice of allegations for the case in December, which included the NCAA charging Harbaugh with a Level 1 violation for allegedly providing false or misleading information in an investigation. The NCAA has not yet served notice of allegations in the sign-stealing case.

Baker said he believes the pace of the sign-stealing investigation should accelerate now that coaches have more time to speak with investigators.

“Hopefully after the season is over, things will move a little more quickly,” he said. “I understand the fact that people have a lot to do.”

Baker was asked if Harbaugh's potential future in the NFL could impact the investigation and said he didn't know the answer to that question. He declined to say whether or not the NCAA would share materials from the NCAA investigation with the NFL if the league was interested in imposing a penalty on Harbaugh.

In his post-match press conference on Monday evening after winning the title, Harbaugh brought up the issue of scouting and sign-stealing, maintaining his innocence.

“We are innocent, and we stood strong and tall because we knew we were innocent — and I would like to point that out,” Harbaugh said. “These guys are innocent. To get over that, it wasn't hard because we knew we were innocent.”

“(The season) went exactly the way we wanted it to go.”

News of the NCAA investigation broke in late October, and the employee at the center of the investigation, football analyst Connor Stallions, was suspended with pay by the school on October 20. He later resigned from his position on November 3. 8-0 without the Stallions, including wins over four top-10 teams in Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama and Washington.

Michigan's players and staff made that point repeatedly after their 34-13 win over Washington on Monday night, believing they had proven beyond a doubt that they were the best team in the country and that their national championship was not tainted.

“Considering everything we had to deal with, dealing with all the people who were hating us and slandering us and hoping this would take us down, this is the pinnacle right here,” athletic director Ward Manuel said.

(Photo: Stacey Revere/Getty Images)