Like most universities around the country, Michigan is taking a financial hit from the COVID-19 fallout. The athletic department is doing what it can to protect its programs, but it's getting harder and harder, Athletic Director Warde Manuel revealed.

Manuel, speaking with former Michigan All-American offensive lineman Jon Jansen on Jansen's recent podcast, admitted the last several months had been taking both personally and professionally.

"It has no easy answer," Manuel said when asked how he was doing. "The easy answer is given everything we are all dealing with in trying to navigate with our lives now, I’m doing well; my family’s doing well, our student-athletes and coaches and staff are doing well and hanging in there. School’s started, so you get somewhat back to normal with the students being on campus even though the majority of our classes, about 60-70 percent of classes, are being offered online.

Intel On 2021 Texas RB | Recruiting Scoop From California | 10 Thoughts From California Swing

"But the student-athletes are back on campus and students are back on campus. [That] makes things seem like they’re normal again. We’re still not in our offices, and sports have been impacted at least to start this fall. We’re just trying to work through everything."

That includes an almost unbelievable budget deficit, he continued.

"“The impact is upwards of almost half our budget, about $100 million,” Manuel said. “We’re still working through some models that hopefully we’ll have — at some point in September — finalized and sort of nailed down exactly what everything will be.

“It is a significant loss, so we have to take as many significant reductions as we can and cutbacks as we have already as we continue to do a budget, salary reductions and those kinds of things. We'll just keep moving through and trying to figure it out.”

Michigan has yet to follow Stanford and Iowa in cutting non-revenue sports, but some tough decisions will have to be made if COVID continues to take a toll on the budget. Football accounts for nearly 83 percent of the the A.D.'s finances, and the absence of games and royalties, etc., have taken their toll.

Layoffs have begun, Manuel noted, as well as pay cuts.

“It’s a hard impact. It’s not easy to think of all the things we have to give up that we’re normally used to having, but that’s where we find ourselves during this time," he said. "Difficult choices have to be made in order for the long-term health of the department, the long-term health of the university. The president and the board also have to make decisions about that and what needs to go on there, like companies are doing across the world.

"It doesn’t make it any easier that we’re making these tough decisions and others are doing it, too ... It doesn’t. It cuts into the way we normally do things. I appreciate all of the support our season-ticket holders gave to us by donating back to the Champions Fund ... just remarkable, super support. I am immensely thankful.”

Other donors have stepped up, as well.

As of now, however, it's a finger in the dam. Manuel was one of many who advocated strongly for football to be played this fall, it's been reported, noting it was less than one percent of student-athletes tested for COVID-19 who came back positive.

It hit him hard when Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren made the August 11 decision to shut football down.

“It hits you in the gut, because you work so hard on behalf of our student-athletes, our coaches, our fans, and our donors, to try to make this happen," he said. "You put plans in place, you see what the student-athletes are doing all summer to do the right things and the social distance and to wear masks while working out and to do all the things we were asking them to do.

"The presidents decided to make the decision, and while disappointing, we continue to move on and try to figure out the best path to move forward for everybody. We have to move forward. We have to keep on being positive that we can get through it. If it is healthy and safe for our student-athletes to play, if they decide that they want to play given where we are with this pandemic and if we feel it’s safe, and if I don’t feel it’s safe, I will be the first person to stand up and say, ‘We’re not playing.’"

He's not there right now, though. And while he and his Big Ten A.D. peers continue to work on dates for fall, winter or spring football, he wouldn't let on which was most likely.

"Kevin Warren is our commissioner, and the staff in the Big Ten, we’re constantly having conversations," he said. "At the appropriate time when more direction can be given after the presidents have a conversation given the conditions, an announcement will be made. I’ll keep those discussions we’ve had within the group."

---

• Talk about this article inside The Fort

• Watch our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel

• Listen and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine

• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine, Clayton Sayfie and @DrewCHallett

• Like us on Facebook