U-M Administrator On Potential Of Fans At The Big House, '20 Schedule, More
The University of Michigan recently hosted a zoom call with reporters entitled "Wolverine Weigh-in: Financial Outlook With U-M Athletics," in which several administrators discussed the current state of the Maize and Blue's athletic department.
Executive Associate AD/Chief of Staff Doug Gnodtke was one of the speakers present on the call, and went in-depth on not only the current behind-the-scenes operations of the football department, but also some of the discussions that took place involving Michigan's smaller sports during these tough financial times.
Gnodtke on the 2020 Football Season and Schedule, Fans at The Big House and More:
“We got a notification about 10 minutes before the conference announced it on BTN Live that football was returning this fall. We’ve been planning for every scenario to play football games, going back to the 12-game schedule and even a six-game schedule in early 2021.
"Starting at the end of October, we’ll play an eight-game conference schedule, though we don’t have the actual schedule yet. We’ll be playing our six East division opponents and two crossover games.
"The [Jim] Harbaugh model — something he proposed early on — on championship weekend will feature the top team in each division playing in Indianapolis. In a year where we’re not playing as many games as we normally do, No. 2 will then play No. 2, and so on.
"Those will be hosted on a home field. We’ll get up to five home games this fall and will make sure those heaters are on on the sidelines and in the press box. Unfortunately, the conference announced fans will not be able to attend.
"Even if we could’ve had fans attend, current guidelines in the state of Michigan would not have allowed us to do so. We also communicated a lack of season tickets to our season ticket holders and donors earlier on.
"All of our games will be on television; we’re working with the Big Ten and television partners to come up with new ways to engage with our fans on game days — certain video content and behind the scenes looks.
"Look for more to come on that front.”
Gnodtke on Student-Athletes Scholarships, and Whether or not U-M Considered Eliminating Some of its Sports Teams:
“We spent less than 10 seconds since mid-March talking about eliminating sports, and [Athletic Director] Warde [Manuel] was adamant from the get-go that the answer is no. We are not dropping any teams from varsity sponsorship.
"We will continue to support our 29 varsity teams. We’re not reducing scholarships, moving people to varsity clubs. For our coaches and athletes, that remains the same — if you’re on scholarship now, you’ll remain on scholarship for however long it has been written and signed off for.
"Our cutbacks have not impacted teams when it comes to their financial aid. Typically a football season is 12 games but we’re playing nine this year. The Big Ten is going conference-only games for football, and doing so for other sports would help us save costs.
"Our baseball team spends time in Arizona, California and Florida every year, but I don’t think that’ll happen this year — hopefully that’s just a one-year change to our schedule.”
Gnodtke on how U-M's Sports Teams Have Been Forced to Improvise With Their Practices and Workouts:
“All of our teams are practicing right now, and it’s been great for them to get together based on the feedback we’ve gotten from coaches. They’ve been thrilled to reconvene and have normalcy when it comes to their sport.
"Our volleyball team had to practice outdoors for a bit because of executive orders. Coach Harbaugh was having team meetings on the Al Glick practice field, because if they moved 10 feet inside, they wouldn't have been allowed to have that many people inside a fieldhouse.
"He said the other week his team would be ready to play in two weeks, and he has those guys ready to go. Once we get those schedules set, our teams will be ready.”
---
• 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