Right as Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel was introducing Juwan Howard as the new Michigan basketball head coach, the news broke that Michigan football’s season opener against Middle Tennessee State would be a night game.
Manuel joined Jon Jansen on the “In The Trenches” podcast this week and discussed Michigan’s football schedule this fall. The two talked about Michigan having three big rivalry games at home this season, with Notre Dame, Michigan State and Ohio State all coming to Ann Arbor.
However, only one of those games could be a night game. Manuel said that there’s a possibility that Notre Dame’s first trip to Michigan Stadium since 2013 would take place at night.
“We can host two night games a year and it’s all within the first 10 weeks of the season and that’s not accounting any byes,” Manuel said on the podcast. “So, from Week One straight to the 10th week of the season. Notre Dame falls into that, but Michigan State does not. That will either be a noon or a 3:30 start.”
There’s a small chance that Michigan State could be a night game, but it doesn’t appear likely because it falls outside those first 10 weeks. Manuel said the only way a game after that period would take place at night is if the athletic directors agree to it and he did not sound interested in doing that.
“In general, I prefer to play in the daytime,” Manuel said. “I understand television is important, in particular financially to members of our league and to us.”
Jansen and Manuel also talked about how Michigan’s games against Ohio State and Michigan State always take place either both at home or both on the road, alternating each year. Manuel said he tried evening that situation out.
“We tried that in my first year-and-a-half,” Manuel said. “We convinced my colleagues the other Big Ten AD’s to look at what can be done to rectify that. The problem is once its rectified it causes other problems across the board. Scheduling, the sort of commitment that was made prior to me arriving was long-term because you have to cycle through.
“When you put these parameters in place for what you want to do with scheduling, you want to cycle through those parameters. So, it’ll take us through the 20’s to do that. We’ve sort of put that to bed because it’s not going to change because it causes too many issues with our schedules if we change and adjust so Michigan plays Ohio State at home one year and Michigan State away and vis versa.
Manuel added to that when they discuss a new cycle of scheduling this issue will be something that is very important for him to bring up moving forward.
Although Michigan has found high levels of success under Jim Harbaugh, the Wolverines have yet to beat Ohio State and win the Big Ten. Manuel knows it’s something that’s important to Harbaugh.
“They are certainly working towards that and no one is working harder towards making those two happen than Jim and the student-athletes,” Manuel said. “It’s not discussed in those terms. We understand the desire to win in that game against Ohio State. It is not something that needs to be said over and over again as it is in the public. But it is something that is discussed, then it quickly moves to a discussion about winning in general and the success of the team.”
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