"Doing the little things" is a phrase often used in basketball and other sports. Nobody characterizes that mantra more than college basketball managers. Michigan basketball's team of managers is no different, and the little things they do on a daily basis are essential to the every day operation of U-M's program.
"Anything anybody wants you to do, that’s your job," senior manager Colin Anschuetz told MGoBlueTV.
"We say we’re not bigger than any task," fellow senior manager Andrew Jensen added.
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It's a 24/7 job that consists of loading and unloading equipment onto the planes, buses and into hotels on the road, helping with game film, scouting and much more, including rebounding for players when they're looking to get extra shots up. The four senior managers have the most responsibility, including traveling for road and neutral site games, but they have a team of other managers around them to help out as much as needed.
"Many players will want to shoot two or three times a day sometimes, especially in the summer," senior manager Luke Testani said. "Even somebody like ‘X’ [Zavier Simpson] will say, ‘Hey, let me get a ‘bounder at 5:15.’ So, we’ll be there at 5:15 AM."
"We’ve got a team of 20 managers behind us that help us out with all the little tasks, so we’ll send it in the GroupMe," Jensen said. "Whoever gets the first like has dibs on the rebound."
"We’re on the clock 24/7 over the summer especially. 6 AM, noon, 7 PM, midnight," Anschuetz added. "He [Simpson] likes to work out three times a day. We got 1,000 shots up a day all through the summer, so he’s one guy especially that keeps me busy."
The main job is making themselves available and picking up tasks to make life easier for the coaches and players.
"They’re able to help myself be more efficient with scouts or recruiting videos or whatever we’re working on," video analyst David Metzendorf said. "Our job is to take as much off the plate of our coaching staff, so they can focus on coaching, recruiting, helping our program being as successful as possible.
"You name it, these guys are on it. Anytime they need a rebound, around the clock, these guys are there for our guys, they’re there for our staff. Anything that can help the program, they’re team first all the way."
Sometimes the tasks are unseen, but they never go unnoticed. Head coach Juwan Howard makes sure to recognize the efforts every so often, knowing how important the managers are to the success of the program.
"I’ve never been around a guy who’s as appreciative for every person in the program," Metzendorf said about Howard. "He knows everyone’s names, he brings everyone in and makes them sing Happy Birthday to them if it’s their birthday. He cares and he makes all the difference, and they want to work that much harder for a guy like that."
"People say that it’s an underappreciated job, but here I think that people do a good job of recognizing it," Jensen said. "Juwan definitely makes sure that he mentions it every once in a while in the huddle, just giving us shout outs and things like that."
"I’m so blessed to have worked for Coach [John] Beilein’s staff and then Coach Howard’s staff," Anschuetz said. "I know we talk to some of the other managers at other schools, and there’s some horror stories where they’re not treated as equals."
Even though they often receive signs of recognition from the players and coaching staff, it's not why they do it. Adding value and contributing to winning is enough.
"With any job, you want to know that whatever you’re doing has value," Anschuetz said. "Getting more responsibility is always rewarding. If you feel like the work you’re doing is contributing to Ws, in any way, shape or form, no matter how small of a contribution that is, it’s always a great feeling."
Michigan Players Did Their Best To Help Managers Advance To The Final Four
Since 2016, the Manager Games have taken place at the Final Four location. The Manager Games Twitter account posts polls simulating a bracket, and fans decide who advances, until it gets down to four final teams that get to play actual games to determine a champion.
This season, U-M's managers fell just short in the Elite Eight round of the voting, but the U-M players and other influential members of the U-M community did their part in trying to help the managers reach the Final Four.
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