Many University of Michigan football fans could stop holding their breath after the NCAA announced its ruling on the charges against the football program and coach Rich Rodriguez.

Relief was the number one emotion brought out by the NCAA Committee on Infractions’ report, which added one more year of probation to the school’s self-imposed two-year sanction.

Scott Wickham, a Michigan freshman, said the violations were minimal and didn’t warrant a harsh punishment.

“It’s pretty reasonable form what they were going to do,” he said. “I don’t think a punishment was warranted either way.”

In addition to the probation, Michigan will lose 130 hours of practice time. The university announced the two-year probation and the loss of practice time in May.

One of the sticking points in the committee’s report for some fans was what the NCAA considers practice time.

Alex Stinson, another university freshman, said he didn’t think stretching should be that big of a deal.

“I don’t understand how that constitutes practice,” he said.

Robert Stewart, a Michigan fan who works for the university, said the investigation and ruling by the NCAA didn’t change his opinion of Rodriguez.

“I think he came in under distress and no matter whatever happened in West Virginia or happened here, I think he’s a good coach,” he said. “He’s an all right coach and he’s good for Michigan, and I think if they give him some time it’ll work out for him.”

Now that the final scene of the investigation has been played out, Stewart said he’s expecting the team to keep working on fixing its on-field issues.

“We’re going in the right direction,” he said. “He (Rodriguez) got his offense the way he wanted, now he has to work on the defense. Once we get the defense up to par, we’re going to make a big run in about one or two years.”

While the committee’s report might have provided relief for some, other fans are concerned about the program’s need to watch its steps from now on.

Caleb Moss, a Michigan sophomore, said it seems like the school’s athletic programs are targeted by the NCAA.

“Now that we’ve been in trouble more than once, we have to stay in motion instead of going over and over again what we do,” he said. “It might be a slower progression.”

Moss said the whole incident seems like an effort to smear Rodriguez.

“It’s hard to tell, but it could have been going on way before he got there,” he said. “They could be blowing it out of proportion to make it seem like he’s a worse coach than he actually is.”

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.