Jim Harbaugh’s Attorney Appears to Have Copied Part of Letter to Big Ten From Michigan Fan Blog

The Wolverines fan is happy to help with Michigan’s legal defense against potential penalties in its sign-stealing scandal.

The Big Ten is expected to issue potential disciplinary action toward Michigan regarding sign-stealing accusations against the football program Friday, according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich. 

That announcement will be in reply to a 10-page letter sent by coach Jim Harbaugh’s attorney responding to the Big Ten’s allegation that the Wolverines violated the conference’s sportsmanship policy by using in-person scouting to steal signals from upcoming opponents. It’s unclear whether Harbaugh had any knowledge of the sign-stealing scheme, but the conference still could choose to punish him for what happened on his watch. 

However, one Michigan fan noticed that certain passages of the letter by attorney Tom Mars were taken nearly verbatim from a post on the Michigan athletics fan site MGoBlog.

“Parts of pages 4 and 5 of Mars’ letter are plagiarized verbatim from my diary post the other day, right on down to the language I italicized in B10 Rule 32,” wrote MGoBlog user rym. “No worries — the point of my post was to contribute to the cause, and it appears to have worked!”

Check out the passages in question for yourself: 

Parts of this letter from Jim Harbaugh’s lawyers appear to have been lifted almost verbatim from a fan’s blog post, without credit of course. https://t.co/BjhRkEBL7G https://t.co/pt1jN2aSXD pic.twitter.com/hXnFK7h5wl

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) November 9, 2023

Although the fan apparently doesn’t mind his words being virtually copied in Mars’s letter, it’s notable that a high-priced attorney’s office seemingly would plagiarize a blog post nearly word for word (“unambiguous,” “no exceptions,” “pressured to act quickly”). 

Should the MGoBlog user get a cut of attorney’s fees if Michigan is successfully able to fight off discipline from the Big Ten? The fan isn’t asking for that. He says he’ll be happy with aiding in the defense of his favorite football program.