The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2024 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 21 winning every game. There are no ex- cuses, amongst the team. "But the reality is, we have a lot of shoes to fill, when you lose that many off a national championship team." The Wolverine: What is your view of where Michigan stands with NIL right now? Manuel: "I think we're in a great posi- tion with NIL. It's continuing to get bet- ter. I have great respect for the Champi- ons Circle and the level of support it has given many of our teams. That doesn't minimize the support of the other col- lectives that have supported our stu- dent-athletes. They've been the largest support. To those who have given across the board, I thank them. It's necessary, in this day and age. "I've said to our fans and our do- nors, this is not the old days, when we couldn't. We can. They deserve us to make every effort to support them, and I appreciate those who have done it. We'll continue to push it. "We're in a good position now. We just need to continue making the efforts we've been making and the strides we've been making to make people under- stand that this is a place where they can support our student-athletes directly, through the Champions Circle. "They can hire student-athletes at dif- ferent companies to do different things, particularly around endorsements and the like, speaking engagements, signing autographs. "There was a time when we needed to play catch-up to some people who have been doing it for a while. That being said, I think we're in a great position. "Terese Whitehead, our GM of NIL, has done a great job. Danielle Davison has done a great job with our educa- tional program. We have a partnership with Learfield now. They're also out sup- porting efforts with corporate sponsors and NIL opportunities for our student- athletes. I think we are in a very solid NIL position now, but we can't sit back and relax. We need to keep moving forward to drive support for our NIL activities with our student-athletes, mainly through Champions Circle, as well as any effort we need to make to continue support- ing our programs in general, whether it's scholarship support or program support of those teams, NIL is included in there. "All of these things, folded in, put us in a great position. I appreciate our fans and our donors stepping up and contribut- ing so that we can support our student- athletes at the top levels, where we need to be to compete for championships." The Wolverine: You referenced the old days. Programs elsewhere were paying athletes under the table. Michigan refused to do that and still had to compete. Now Michigan insists it won't offer in- ducements for recruits to come here, and clearly other programs will do so. Is that a similar inequity, and if so, how do you compete? Manuel: "When NIL started, we were already under our first investigation with the NCAA. It's hard for me, as the leader of this department, to do some of the things that others were doing, as it related to NIL and inducements, when inducements are still against the rules as we sit here today. It's hard for me to just say, 'Yeah, don't worry about the NCAA rule for inducements,' while we're under investigation by the NCAA. ❱ Manuel, on U-M's 2023 football national championship "To see them win, and excited on the field, and have that parade, have the event at Crisler, all of those things were just an unbe- lievable ride, and something I'll never forget." PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN