Harbaugh Lawsuit: Michigan, Chargers Implicated in Weiss Hacking Case

Los Angeles Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh has been added as a defendant in a lawsuit involving one of his former assistants at Michigan, Matt Weiss. The suit claims Harbaugh and other university officials looked the other way after learning that Weiss had been spotted hacking sensitive information ahead of the Wolverines’ College Football Playoff appearance in December 2022, according to the documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press.

The amended class-action complaint, from 11 women, also names Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel and former university president Santa Ono, among nearly 50 others. The plaintiffs claim the university allowed Weiss to coach in the CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl against TCU on New Year’s Eve despite already knowing about the illegal activity. Harbaugh previously claimed he didn’t know about the allegations until after Fiesta Bowl. 

“The university put the interests of the [Michigan] football team ahead of those of the victimized female students, further discriminating against the plaintiffs and class members,” the court filing claims. 

The university suspended and later fired Weiss in January 2023 after campus police opened an investigation into unauthorized access of email accounts. Weiss was indicted in March on 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. He is accused of illegally accessing third-party databases tied to more than 100 colleges and universities, where he allegedly obtained personally identifiable information on over 150,000 student-athletes to break into the social media, email and cloud storage accounts of more than 2,000 athletes.

The lawsuit also claims he extended his hacking to non-athlete students and alumni, with a focus on female college athletes.

Weiss joined Michigan’s staff under Harbaugh in 2021 as quarterbacks coach and was elevated to co-offensive coordinator the following year. Before making the move to college football, he spent over a decade with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens, working under Harbaugh’s older brother, John Harbaugh.