Current Chargers and former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh was added as a defendant on Friday in a class-action lawsuit against former Wolverines assistant coach Matt Weiss. The suit, filed by 11 anonymous women, is just one of more than a dozen civil cases that have been brought against Weiss and the University of Michigan since Weiss was indicted in March on 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft.
According to the federal case against Weiss, he gained access to student-athlete databases at more than 100 universities that were maintained by a third-party vendor. From about 2015 to 2023, Weiss allegedly used that access to download athletes' personal identifying information, which he then used to hack into email, social media, and cloud storage accounts belonging to more than 2,000 athletes. After accessing these accounts, Weiss is alleged to have downloaded personal and intimate videos and photos belonging to his victims.
The amended complaint says that Harbaugh and other university administrators allowed Weiss to coach in the 2022 Fiesta Bowl despite having been made aware that he was stealing the plaintiffs' private data. According to the suit, a Michigan staffer witnessed Weiss viewing the plaintiffs' private information on a computer in Schembechler Hall. The suit says this happened between Dec. 21 and 23 in 2022, and that the staffer immediately reported what he saw to the university, which led to an investigation by the university police department. Despite this, Weiss was with the team on Dec. 31, 2022 while the Wolverines played TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. From the lawsuit:
The University knowingly permitted Weiss to coach in the Fiesta Bowl on December 31, 2022, despite knowing that he had been seen accessing Plaintiffs’ private information between December 21 and 23, 2022 at Schembechler Hall, and despite that his doing so was reported to the University prior to December 31, 2022
In this way, the University placed profits before people, particularly
women and female student athletes.
Weiss was placed on administrative leave a few weeks after the Fiesta Bowl, and was eventually fired in late January of 2023. He was indicted in March 2025.
Harbaugh was asked for his reaction to the indictment while attending the NFL's annual meeting in March. "Shocked," he said. "Completely shocked. Disturbed."
The full amended complaint can be read below:
