The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2022 THE WOLVERINE 21 The Wolverine: There has been a lot of talk regarding the football non- conference schedules this year and next. Can you remind everyone of your philosophy in setting those opponents? Manuel: "This year we made a change in the schedule for the next two years. At the time, as we looked at the sched- ule, we had a home-and-home series with UCLA, and we changed it. "We worked on some other things, trying to get a team in that our fans may see as more of a challenge, if you will. The last time that we played Notre Dame [in 2019, a 45-14 U-M win] was a pretty great game for the University of Michigan football team. "It's year to year. When we scheduled these games, we didn't anticipate it would be the first year of three different head coaches. But look, we're going to play who is on our schedule. "It prepares us. The first game, against Colorado State, we had 84, 85 players get some playing time. The second game, it was close to 100. That's experience that could help us toward the end of the season, if we have some injuries or setbacks at a position. "From my perspective, we are going to continue to schedule opportunities for our student-athletes to compete. Some- times it just works out where you get a schedule where teams are making a change for various reasons — a coach could have left, they fire a coach. "That's where we find ourselves. There are coaches that are going to be great and really develop a team, but they're just starting out. They're struggling more than they will struggle over time. "We have Oklahoma home and home, Texas home and home. We have Notre Dame in some out years, in the early '30s. We're going to continue to schedule that. "But I'll continue to say this to our fans: the Big Ten, in my opinion, is the toughest conference in this country to com- pete in, week-in and week-out. And it just got tougher, with USC and UCLA. "We want to play a nonconference game of significance, but sometimes we make adjustments. We have quality schools that may be struggling at the time they come in. "I will continue to look at the schedule, to challenge us, to bring teams in that our fans will enjoy having in The Big House. But guaranteed there are also times when this hap- pens. On-paper wins are by people, but you still have to play the games. "I'm pleased to see the way our team is handling the com- petition, the way our team is developing. We start with the Big Ten with Maryland, we have to go to Iowa. These are going to be tough games, but I'm really pleased with where Jim and the team are." — John Borton friends over the years. "It's a solid, solid addition to a great conference." TW: The prevailing thought is, the expansion doesn't stop there. Any thoughts on that? WM: "No. I don't know where it will go. I don't think anything is imminent, based on what I know as I sit here today. But we'll see. "The world of intercollegiate athletics has been fast-tracked in change over the last decade. We're going to continue to see that, as people try to figure out what's in the best interest of them individually, as an institution, and what's in the best interest of a conference. "The last thing you think about is, what's in the best interest of intercolle- giate athletics? Many of us think that way. "I have to think about Michigan. I have to think about what's good for the Big Ten, because what's good for the Big Ten is good for Michigan. But it doesn't stop there. "We have to think about what's good for collegiate athletics and how can we continue to take care of the whole. Col- lege sports are not going to go away. It's ingrained in our society. "The question is, what level of com- petition are people going to play in? We already have that: Division I, broken into FBS and FCS, and Division I-AAA [schools that don't sponsor football]. Then we have Division II, Division III. "We have all these different ways. Are we going to break off and have another subdivision of some kind? I don't know. "Given some of the decisions — either by the NCAA or the courts, by leagues — it could evolve that way. I don't know that it will, but it wouldn't surprise me if we had another layer of some kind down the road. I don't know if I'll see it. But the evolution is happening." TW: Just considering the recent Big Ten addi- tions, how might that impact divisions, sched- uling, etc.? WM: "We'll find out in a couple of weeks. We have an ADs call to address some questions around football and whether we'll stay with divisions, or go into some kind of non-division makeup of schedul- ing, particularly in the sport of football. "We already do it in basketball, but they play more games in basketball. We just have to figure it out. "It's really how you determine a cham- pion, ultimately. That's what you get with divisions. If you come up with a different way of determining who are your top two teams, you can do it and still have a cham- pionship." TW: What are your thoughts on the recently announced expansion of the College Football Playoff? WM: "I think it's really good for college football. It's great for us in particular. I go back to when this started. Since 2016, last year would have been our third year [of making the playoff], if it would have even expanded to eight. "When you put that in the mix, that's a good seven or eight years. From that per- spective, it's good for college football. It will be good for opportunities for more teams to participate. We'll see how it goes from there. Football Scheduling Philosophy Manuel on football's win over Ohio State last fall "We — that team, Jim [Har- baugh] and his staff — were on a mission. For everybody associated with that team, our fans, our former players, staff, families, donors, every- body, it's just priceless."