The Big Ten on Friday suspended Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh for the remainder of the regular season in the wake of illegal sign-stealing allegations against the Wolverines.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, the league said it has found U-M in violation of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Policy "for conducting an impermissible, in-person scouting operation over multiple years, resulting in an unfair competitive advantage that compromised the integrity of competition."

Harbaugh can not be present at the game venues on game days, but the head coach is allowed to attend practice and other team activities.

The Wolverines (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) have three games remaining in the regular season: At Penn State, at Maryland, vs. Ohio State. A potential Big Ten title game is Dec. 2 in Indianapolis.

Harbaugh, 59, has not been proven to have any direct knowledge of the plot. Yahoo Sports reported this week “the NCAA’s findings do not connect the in-person scouting and recording of opponents’ sidelines to Harbaugh.”

The news of the suspension first broke while the Wolverines were flying to Penn State for Saturday's top-10 matchup.

Conference commissioner Tony Petitti, who began his tenure in April, faced mounting pressure from coaches and athletic directors across the Big Ten in recent weeks as details of the Wolverines’ illegal scouting tactics surfaced.

Michigan was first warned of potential disciplinary action on Monday.

READ MORE: Jim Harbaugh has long rankled his coaching peers. Now they're coming after him.

Sign-stealing timeline

News of the sign-stealing investigation broke Oct. 19 and by the next day, U-M recruiting analyst Connor Stalions was identified by ESPN a person of interest. In the days that followed, various reports surfaced with evidence that Stalions would purchase tickets on the sideline of U-M’s future opponents, forward the tickets to informants who would attend the games and record videos of staffers sending in signals on the sideline throughout the game.

Then, they would reportedly send those videos back to Stalions who would sync up the plays and the signals and see what he could pick up. According to reports, Stalions purchased tickets to more than 35 games at 17 different stadiums and had a $15,000 budget for tickets and travel for the 2023 season.

In-person scouting of upcoming scheduled opponents has been outlawed for 30 years, and using electronics to steal signs is also against NCAA rules.

Stalions is also under a joint investigation between Central Michigan and the NCAA for potentially disguising himself as a CMU staffer and working the sideline Sept. 1 during the Chippewas' season opener at Spartan Stadium against Michigan State.

Stalions, in his second season as a full-time staffer after volunteering for several seasons, resigned from his position Friday after refusing to cooperate with investigators.

[ MUST LISTEN: Our most recent "Hail Yes!" episode tackles all things Michigan football sign stealing and looks ahead to the Penn State showdown. Find it anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify), and listen below. ]

Michigan's defense

Sources tell the Free Press the Wolverines have been mounting a defense of their own in recent days as they brace for potential punishment from the league. It began publicly last week, when university president Santa Ono sent Petitti a letter ahead of their meeting Friday.

Ono in his letter asked the league to respect “due process” and allow the NCAA investigation to play itself out.

Then, Monday, U-M athletic director Warde Manuel announced he would not be in attendance to serve in his capacity on the College Football Playoff committee this week, saying instead he will be “attending to important matters regarding the ongoing investigation into our football program.”

Among U-M’s layers of defense include a report from The Associated Press that a former staffer from another Big Ten program said his team had been given details of signs from multiple other league schools and used them to help compile a spreadsheet of Michigan’s signals.

What's next?

The No. 2 Wolverines have won 21 consecutive conference games and 20 straight regular season games, two streaks that have their biggest threat of this season Saturday at No. 9 Penn State (8-1, 5-1).

IN LIMBO: Impending sanctions of Michigan football lend a weird vibe to a big game week

Michigan has been here before: Harbaugh was suspended by the university for three games to start this season in response to a different NCAA investigation. Manuel’s office was served the notice of allegations in January, in which the program was accused of a series of Level II recruiting violations; Harbaugh was hit with a Level I violation for "misleading" investigators, according to the NCAA.

Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was the interim head coach in Week 1, offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore took over in Week 2, and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh and running backs coach Mike Hart each took a half in the third game of the season.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Big Ten suspends Michigan's Jim Harbaugh for rest of regular season