Michigan Football: Warde Manuel On New Weight Room, Night Games & More
Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel touched on a number of issues in his sit-down with the media Aug. 23. One of the topics – a proposed new weight room in Schembechler Hall.
Sources have told TheWolverine.com it will be a multiple-story addition connecting Schembechler Hall and the Ooosterbaan practice facilities.
“We should get some more refined cost estimates by the end of this month, which would be sometime next week … if not, the following week,” Manuel said. “We’ll get drawings and be able to know exactly what costs are, where we are, where we need to be from a development standpoint and fundraising. They’re working diligently, the architects, on getting that.”
They could start working on that as soon as spring, he added.
“[That’s] probable depending on the cost. I think that’s the earliest it would be to start to put things in motion … next spring,” Manuel said. “As part of this project, the Oosterbaan roof needs to be replaced. Weather conditions, obviously, would not let us get started until spring … how it ties into the roof, all those things, and the building itself, we just need to figure that out.”
On other topics:
• Manuel said discussions have begun about moving Ohio State and Michigan State home and away on the annual schedules. The additions of Rutgers and Maryland gave Michigan State two straight home games with U-M and put MSU and OSU in the same group (both home, both away) in future seasons.
“The conversations are continuing about what we’d like to have, but there are 13 other schools in the conference. Scheduling, whether you have 10 teams in the league or 14 like we do … it is very hard.
“Would I love to see OSU and MSU on different years? Yes. Do I think it’s hard to do given where we are now? Yes. Will I still continue to have the conversations that need to be had to try to see if anything can be done? Yes. Is it easy? No.”
Manuel said he was neither optimistic nor pessimistic that the two rivals would be home and away on the schedule within the next five years.
“It’s not going to change overnight. We’ll try to figure out how we can make any adjustments,” he said. “...If you start to make the changes and look at schedules, you start to see there’s more to it than flipping one … more that needs to happen.”
Manuel is also looking at schedules to figure out what is in Michigan’s best interest when it comes to non-conference foes.
“I’ll be talking to Jim, figuring out what we need to do moving forward,” he said. “There are no changes at this present time.”
He added talk of annual night games at Michigan Stadium starting next year and continuing annually is on the table.
“Could be, yeah,” he said. “Could be.
• The new Jordan Brand uniforms are everything they hoped they’d be, Manuel said.
“I don’t know if a football uniform can be pretty or handsome. I don’t know how to describe it,” Manuel said. “But I love the look they’ve created for the team this year. I’m going to enjoy that look and have conversations with them about alternates and we’ll see where that goes.”
There’s been no decision one way or the other on those, he said.
“In my world, normally I would leave that up to Jim. We have not really had that conversation,” he said. “I would leave that up to Jim how he would handle that, himself and the team. I may be a part of the conversation but I'm not going to dictate to my coach that on a certain game we’ve got to wear a certain uniform. We’ll work to have one on the shelf somewhere, then leave it up to Jim and the team to make a decision whether or not they want to wear it.
• Manuel has gotten off to a great start with head basketball coach John Beilein.
“John is great. Great coach, great person, great colleague,” he said. “… I could probably go down the line and say similar things about all [our coaches]. He’s very bright, cares deeply about the university, the program, his student athletes. He’s been tremendous to deal with, work with. I look forward to seeing him as I get more sense of being around him at practices, but he’s a brilliant tactician of the game, very knowledgeable.
They’ll have a roll out for the basketball uniforms in September similar to that of the football gear last month.
“I don’t know how similar, don’t know exact details yet,” Manuel said.
• Harbaugh’s recent contract addendum provides an additional $2 million per year to his initial salary of $5 million. The $2 million will be allocated in the form of a life insurance premium that Harbaugh owns, and he can withdraw or take out a loan from the policy at his leisure.
“It is unique. It is something that was started prior to me getting here, something that has been utilized in business in terms of additional dollars through insurance and coverage,” Manuel said. “I wasn’t involved in the negotiation of the structure of it, so I can’t tell you I understand all the details. But it’s true to what we committed to Jim and the structure of it might be unique, but the dollars are what we had committed from day one bringing him here.”
He’s worth every penny, Manuel added.
“When we look at salaries we look internally, but also externally as we do our analysis of where we are, what we would want to pay … what’s the market for a coach?
“It doesn’t bother me that he’s that close to the top. Everything we pay him, I’m happy to have him as our coach … I think he’s worth every penny he makes.”