Jim Harbaugh is back in front of the microphones, posing for photos from the hospital and, presumably, ready to lead his undefeated Michigan Wolverines against Iowa Saturday in the Big Ten Championship.
Chris Partridge, the man hired by Harbaugh, is unemployed after he was fired earlier this month by Michigan athletics director Warde Manuel and the school.
But Partridge on Monday delivered an impassioned statement about his exit from the Michigan program -- the school to which Partridge has devoted six of his nine years as a collegiate coach.
"Unfortunately, the manner in which the termination of my employment and my role as a coach at Michigan has been reported is inaccurate and has resulted in people speculating," Partridge wrote in a social media post. "And making assumptions about my knowledge of, and connection to, the sign-stealing allegations within the football program.
"I want to be clear: I had no knowledge whatsoever of any in-person or illegal scouting, or illegal sign-stealing.
"Additionally, at no point did I destroy any evidence related to an ongoing investigation."
Wittingly or otherwise, Partridge has been thrust into the center of the Connor Stalions-Jim Harbaugh Michigan scandal.
— Chris Partridge (@CoachCPartridge) November 27, 2023
Stalions, after all, was hired full-time in 2022 by Harbaugh -- a notorious manager who controls every aspect of his Michigan football program.
Though Stalions resigned in early November, Michigan saw the Big Ten Conference still suspend Harbaugh due to the "extraordinary" nature of this scandal. Harbaugh has been shelved for six of Michigan's 12 games this season; to his credit, he's 6-0 on the year.
Meanwhile, both the NCAA and the Big Ten have continued their investigations into the Michigan program, which already was in the NCAA crosshairs for Harbaugh's alleged cheating during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harbaugh served the first three games of this season on suspension for his alleged transgressions in that matter.