Michigan Wolverines Athletic Director Warde Manuel met with the media this afternoon to discuss a plethora of topics, most of which focused on the state of U-M's football and basketball programs.

Head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Juwan Howard were discussed at length, with Manuel going in-depth on this past winter's contract negotiations with the former and the incredible job the latter has done this season.

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Manuel also confirmed U-M is "planning for fans to be in attendance in the fall," though he quickly added that nothing has been finalized in regards to capacity.

"It'll be a combination of decisions by the Big Ten presidents and our state and county health officials," he said. "We’re trying to look at different models to be prepared if fans are allowed at our competitions.”

The NCAA also declared that 2020 was basically a free year for student-athletes, with all of them being allowed to return next season as a result (including seniors and fifth-year seniors).

The ramifications it will have on scholarship limitations still seems to be a bit of an unknown at this point.

“I haven’t had any conversations going beyond 2021 [in regards to scholarship limitations]," Manuel said. "What the NCAA passed allows us to extend them, but it doesn’t guarantee that we will or if the student-athletes will want to.

"They may want to go on to jobs or grad school somewhere else. They can technically leave here and participate in sports at another University. We haven’t had many conversations past this year.

"The head coaches will talk to their sports administrators and then to me about what they want to do, and the impact it will have. Financially, we spend about 28 or 29 million dollars on scholarship costs for five years.

"It’s about 6 million dollars per year. That gives a sense of the magnitude if everyone came back and if you extended everyone. We’ll make decisions that we feel are in the best interest of our student-athletes and what they want to do.

"For example, we don’t want to waste money — we’re not trying to force anyone into staying. I don’t want somebody to come back with our coaches knowing they’re not going to contribute but we bring them back for some reason, just for numbers.

"I want us to be fair and conversations to be fair with our student-athletes. It concerns me, but we’ll deal with it on a case by case and sport by sport basis.”

Below are the topics Manuel addressed regarding Harbaugh and Howard…

One of the statements that was released following Harbaugh's contract extension this past winter involved conversations between the two parties on ways to improve the football program.

“It’s a similar conversation to the one we have every year, in terms of how to improve and how to move forward," Manuel explained when asked to give detail on what the talks entailed.

"It’s about things Jim is looking to do to improve. He’s always thinking about how the team can be better, no matter the outcome of the season. We saw some of the changes in staff and what he’s doing there.

"I’ve been very proud of the work he’s done with the staff he’s put together — some of it is new and some is consistent. He and I have talked spring ball, though I haven’t gone to any spring practices at this point.

"I’m excited about what I’m hearing from him, and the level of excitement and engagement from the student-athletes and staff. We need to continue to work, adapt and move forward, so that we can win games come this season.”

Harbaugh's return appeared to be in doubt at times while the contract negotiations were taking place this past winter, causing fans and observers to begin throwing out names of potential replacement candidates.

That was unsurprisingly premature on their part, however.

“I didn’t have a backup plan," Manuel revealed. "After the season, we had a great conversation and talked through things. There was no secondary plan in case the talks didn’t go well.

"I went into it with an open mind and talked to Jim about how to move forward and how to get better, and that’s what we did.”

Manuel has made it clear all along he's willing to be patient with Harbaugh to try and fix last season's 2-4 disaster, and reiterated that notion once again today.

“Given the contract, I am willing to be patient," he insisted. "Jim and I understand we need to win. This is Michigan — nobody wants to win more than Jim in football and me overall.

"We want success. Did I put a number on it? No. I want him to move forward and build this and continue to drive us toward success in football. Again, nobody wants to have more success in football at Michigan than Jim Harbaugh.

"He has that flexibility and that space to continue to find success here, whether it’s with his staff or recruiting — it’s not a short-term play for me. We’ll see how the season plays out and make decisions accordingly.

"This is something we both want to work, so there’s no minimum or maximum number of wins — I don’t interact with my coaches in that way.”

Harbaugh made significant changes to his staff following last year's disappointment, revamping nearly the entire defensive coaching tree after the 2020 unit finished a dismal 84th in the country.

Manuel's (and Harbaugh's) goals and expectations heading into 2021 have not changed despite the coaching turnover, however.

“Win," Manuel said bluntly when asked about the football program's 2021 goals. "Every time we hit the field, our goal is to win. I want for him and our student-athletes to win championships in football and in every sport we compete in.

"Doing it the right way is wrapped up into that. Jim has done a remarkable job on the academic side with our student-athletes. Win games and win championships — that’s the goal every year.

"That’s his No. 1 goal. I don’t need to tell Jim that’s our No. 1 goal, because he understands it and the student-athletes and staff are working hard to do that. I’m looking forward toward this fall for many reasons, and getting back to some normalcy.

"I’m anxious to see the outcome of this team and the work they’re doing now and it culminating during the season. I’m excited to see some of the changes on the defensive scheme and what [co-defensive coordinator] Mike [Macdonald] and [co-defensive coordinator] Mo Linguist are bringing to the table to coordinate the defense.

"I’m excited about the way Jim is working with the staff and student-athletes to make all of it happen.”

Expecting Howard to find substantial success at Michigan when he was hired was a fair expectation, but very few outside the basketball program expected it to come this quickly.

Howard's Wolverines won the outright Big Ten regular-season championship this year and have been viewed as one of the best teams in the game throughout the majority of the season.

The U-M head man, as a result, was named the Big Ten's Coach of the Year this afternoon.

“It’s well-deserved," Manuel said. "No matter how much I believe in somebody, you never know the outcome in how it’s going to play out. If I could have drawn up an outcome for Juwan, it is this.

"I’ve been so pleased with what he has done, how he’s gone about it and how he’s connected with his staff and student-athletes. He's done you don’t always see and hear about, like how much the kids enjoy being a part of this team.

"I couldn’t have drawn it up any better for him and for us. I love him as a person and I’m so glad he’s leading our men’s basketball team.”

Howard has shown tremendous growth from year one to year two, displaying the expected ups and downs of a rookie head coach last season during his first year on the job.

Consistency has been the name of the game for his team this time around, though, with the Wolverines only having dropped three games all year.

“When I first announced Juwan as our coach, and don’t quote me on this, I said give him a chance to grow as a head coach," Manuel recalled. "Give him the opportunity to develop as a head coach and to run the program.

"From my perspective, his development in the role has been superb. He asks the right questions, he engages internally with our staff and he has had conversations with many people he knows in this business externally.

"Juwan came from [head coach] Erik Spoelstra in Miami, who is a tremendous coach. He has the pedigree and is a student of basketball, but also a student when it comes to listening and giving advice about coaching and decisions.

"For me, that has been the most impressive part — seeing how much he wants to grow in the role of a head coach. His love of the University was there from the first moment at that press conference, and that’s not going to change.

"His willingness to continue to learn and grow has been the biggest thing I’ve seen in the last two years. When you hire someone, you don’t know how much they’ll engage in that aspect, but he’s always thirsting for more knowledge from people.

"That’s a great trait to have in any business — to not know it all and have a willingness to listen to others and gain knowledge about the industry you’re in.”

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