The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2021 THE WOLVERINE 19 student-athletes? Manuel: "From the start, I've been a proponent of NIL, because I never felt that we owned our students' name, im- age and likeness — ever. I think it's a good thing that they have an opportunity to create a space to be paid for participation in different things, using their name, im- age and likeness. "I'm happy for them. I'm happy for that opportunity, be it signing auto- graphs all the way to developing an app that gets bought and they get paid, or writing a book. I've seen some of them that have T-shirts. Whatever they feel they can offer their name, image and likeness and make money in, I'm all for." The Wolverine: When it comes to the higher-profile sports, critics and those with concerns wonder if Michigan isn't being a little slower rolling out the NIL opportunities and going through a more restrictive process versus some of its chief competitors. What would you say to those people? Manuel: "Nothing." The Wolverine: What would you say about your own process? Manuel: "The process for Michigan is a process to allow our student-athletes to make money off their name, image and likeness, not off of Michigan and the block M and all the things we have put out there and have a right to protect. "I've not restricted our student-ath- letes … this is so new that there are nu- ances that pop up here and there. But for the most part, we haven't gotten in the business of saying no to them mak- ing money off of their name, image and likeness." The Wolverine: How worried do you get when you hear about a quarterback at a certain university having the potential to make a million dollars, and where all this could go? Manuel: "I don't get worried at all. People are making business decisions, supposedly, to hire young people — whether they are a professional or col- lege athlete — to represent their business and pay them. That is not for me to de- cide, or to sit and worry about. Last year, Manuel helped Michigan finish third in the Learfield Directors' Cup, which measures the overall success of an entire athletics department. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN