Before its next game, Michigan football absorbed a major loss: Its credibility

The hallways were empty and the wooden benches lining the walls unoccupied. It was so quiet that one could hear the faint buzz of a ceiling light and the hum of a water fountain. Those sounds were interrupted by an echoing toilet flush from a restroom located somewhere off in the distance.

This was the scene Friday at 9 a.m. on second floor of the Washtenaw County Courthouse, where Jim Harbaugh vs. the Big Ten was set to take place and Michigan football fans expected to see their revenge fantasies come to life. It’s here where they dreamed of Harbaugh getting justice, of a judge revoking the coach’s suspension, of the Big Ten being humiliated, of a defining moment that would change the narrative surrounding the nightmarish cheating scandal that has rocked their beloved Wolverines these past four weeks.

What they got instead was silence and surrender before their favorite team jetted off to Maryland to preserve its undefeated record and its top-five ranking.

As it turned out, there would be no showdown at 101 E. Huron in Ann Arbor after Harbaugh and the university chose to end their fight with the conference on Thursday. It was a dull denouement to a tense struggle that materialized Nov. 10 after Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti banned Harbaugh from the sideline for the final three games as punishment for the football program violating the league’s sportsmanship policy.

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Petitti had been inspired to act after the conference found that a football staffer, presumed to be former U-M employee Connor Stalions, engaged in a “years-long” impermissible in-person advanced scouting scheme” that was designed to gain an “unfair advantage” by stealing the play signals of future opponents.

Word of Petitti’s ruling came down as the Wolverines were on their way to play a pivotal game at Penn State. By the time the team’s charter plane landed, Michigan and its pugnacious coach were ready to go to war. A complaint seeking injunctive relief was filed that same day by Harbaugh and the school's Board of Regents. The following morning U-M athletic director Warde Manuel issued an inflammatory statement, calling Petitti’s ruling “unethical” and “insulting.” On Monday, Harbaugh told reporters he eagerly awaited his day in court.

“I'm just looking for that opportunity; due process,” he said.

Harbaugh appealed to sympathetic Michigan supporters who desperately wanted to believe their Wolverines were innocent and unfairly persecuted. Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore, now the team’s acting coach on game days, showed up at a news conference Wednesday wearing a shirt that read, “Michigan vs. Everybody.” The defiant slogan had become a rallying cry around Schembechler Hall, where the coaches and players have evinced little remorse but plenty of indignation.

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“The news and everything that happened,” team captain Trevor Keegan said, “pissed off a lot of guys.”

So, Michigan went on the attack, hoping it could sway public opinion with loud declarations, bold messaging and fiery rhetoric. It was a risky move that has now blown up in its face after the school laid down its sword Thursday in its battle with the Big Ten and then fired linebackers coach Chris Partridge in a move that only raises more suspicion about what really went down behind the scenes.

Michigan should have known this unpleasant outcome was a possibility before it launched its offensive on behalf of Harbaugh, a man who deserves to be perceived with a jaundiced eye.

After all, it was only two months ago when Harbaugh proclaimed, without solicitation, that Michigan would establish a “gold standard” for compliance “to make sure I don’t ever get sidelined again.”

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Harbaugh appeared chastened after the school suspended him the first three games this season amid an NCAA ongoing probe into impermissible coaching and recruiting activities. The Michigan coach found himself in hot water after he was accused of a Level I violation for allegedly misleading investigators. It was an embarrassing situation considering Harbaugh previously presented himself as the chief ambassador of a program that cloaked itself in the mantle of integrity and made a show of being particularly persnickety about the rules.

But this latest mess has brought even more shame because it has stripped away the credibility of Michigan’s leadership bit by bit to the point that there is not much left.

After all their posturing, all their caterwauling and all their silly attempts to invite compassion for their unpopular cause, they have quietly withdrawn.

What is left is the deafening sound of silence, which was heard on the second floor of the Washtenaw County courthouse at 9 a.m. Friday, a time that marked Michigan’s subdued retreat instead of its fervent fight for retribution.

Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Before next game, Michigan football absorbed major loss: Credibility