The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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OCTOBER 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 23 in the department. He's exceptional. "And I have a lot of head coaches who are like him, that do things the right way, handle things the right way. I think Sherrone on the sideline is simi- lar, in many respects. He doesn't get upset about a lot of things. He kind of moves on. "I tell our coaches and our players all the time, I've never seen an official re- verse a call because you're pissed off about it. Tell them you think they're wrong, and then move on. You can't get lost in that kind of thing." The Wolverine: What's your expec- tation for Year 2 of May's tenure? Manuel: "I think people will con- tinue to see a team that plays with pas- sion, plays together, and plays a high level of basketball. Dusty uses both a fast-tempo offense and a defense that really gets after it. People will continue to see that and really be pleased with the way they compete when they go against high-level competition. When the com- petition may not be at our level, Dusty is still pushing them, and they're still pushing themselves to perform on the court. "I'm looking forward to this year. Dusty has elevated that expectation of competing for championships. I think you'll see a team that embraces the standard he expects for the team." T he Wolverine: What are some o t h e r p rog ra m s f ro m wh o m you've seen great accomplish- ments or admirable growth? Manuel: "I'll stick with basketball, and what Kim [Barnes Arico] did with women's basketball last year. Three freshmen, two seniors who were playing the post at 6-foot and 6-1. The played at a high level against great competi- tion. With what they have returning and what they've brought in with freshmen and in the portal, they'll really have an opportunity to compete for champion- ships. She knows how to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. "What Bonnie [Tholl] did with soft- ball at the end of the year last year, to be in the tournament, to have wins against Oregon and UCLA — two top-10 teams — and win the Big Ten Tournament, there's a lot of promise there. That goes a long way, in terms of belief. "We made changes in field hockey, with Marcia Pankratz stepping down. Kristi Gannon Fisher is going to do a great job. She won her first game against a top-20 team in Wake Forest as head coach. She'll do an exceptional job. "I could go through each of our sports and talk about the level of performance and expectations around the teams. Erin Virtue in volleyball is really doing a great job at bringing in talent, but also recruit- ing high-level talent. That's just a really strong sport in the Big Ten. We had some injuries last year that prevented us from finishing higher than we did, but I look forward to what they'll do. "Men's soccer got off to a great start. Chaka [Daley] continues to put them into position to drive success. … That's a lot of our fall sports. I'm just looking forward to supporting them, watching them do great things in each sport, to drive success and move us forward." The Wolverine: Your thoughts on athletics department finances? Manuel: "It's a tough year, because obviously we're absorbing the $20 mil- lion in revenue sharing, and we only have six home football games. We nor- mally like seven. One of the reasons for that is playing Oklahoma away. When we had Michigan State and Ohio State at home the same year, and vice versa away, this game was put in place to bal- ance that, so we would have a home game against Oklahoma when we were away against those two opponents. That would help drive our fans to feel the value of those tickets. "Now that coming out of COVID, we're able to have Ohio State at home one year and Michigan State away, and vice versa. Next year, we'll have eight home games. The year after we'll have six again, then we're back to seven or eight home games on the schedule. "That makes it a little bit tougher fi- nancially, but we've had some help from the university for the first time, or the second time, if you count COVID. There will be one or two years that we'll have these types of needs. Then we'll be back and stable and doing what we need to do. "It doesn't mean we don't still need to look at other ways to generate revenue. One of the things we're doing is this Zach Bryan concert [in The Big House] on Sept. 27, and it is already sold out. I'm looking forward to it. He's an amaz- ing artist. "We need to continue to find ways to drive revenue, and not just on the backs of our fans. We are always asking our fans to accept a higher ticket price or our donors to give more. We have to do our part to bring additional revenue into the department." The Wolverine: Any final thoughts? Manuel: "As always, I appreciate our fans and our donors. That allows our teams to continue to drive our success. I want to be sure people know I appreci- ate them for all their love and support for our student-athletes and our pro- grams. It is something I do not take for granted, and something that from my days as a student-athlete here at Michi- gan, I've always appreciated. I love that aspect of it. "We're going to keep fighting and driving to win, and to do things to make them proud of us. Go Blue!" ❏ Manuel promoted Bonnie Tholl as head coach of the softball team after Carol Hutchins announced her retirement three years ago. Tholl's Wolverines won back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles in 2024 and '25. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY