Skip to main content
Join Now
Get a profile. Be recruited.

Joe Castiglione on Oklahoma-Michigan game: 'It took me probably 10-12 years to finally convince them'

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz07/03/25NickSchultz_7
Joe Castiglione, Oklahoma Sooners athletics director
(Bryan Terry / USA TODAY Sports)

In 2014, Oklahoma announced plans to start a home-and-home series with Michigan. The first game will be this season and the return game will take place in 2026 in Ann Arbor.

Since that initial agreement came together, plenty has changed in college athletics, and scheduling has become a key talking point as the College Football Playoff evolved. Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione pointed out the Sooners’ history of a strong schedule and said it took him time to “convince” Michigan to play the series.

The Sooners will welcome the Wolverines in Week 2, and they’ll play in The Big House next year. OU has other notable home-and-home series on the way, as well, but Michigan will present another high-profile matchup between the SEC and Big Ten.

“We have a tough schedule. I’m not denying that,” Castiglione said on SiriusXM College Sports Radio. “Not just our conference schedule itself, but we have the University of Michigan coming to Norman, Oklahoma, the second week of the season. That will be a huge, huge matchup of iconic football programs. Something we worked on – it took me probably 10-12 years to finally convince them to play us.

“I’ve always worked to try and get these great marquee games in our non-conference schedule, and Oklahoma has a history of doing that. We just have always done that. Now, we’ve had the Michigan game on the schedule for probably 12-14 years of that, well before we joined the SEC, of course. But it’s really, really special.”

Joe Castiglione: ‘We believe in doing out-of-conference scheduling’

In its first year in the SEC a year ago, Oklahoma had the ninth-strongest schedule in the country, according to ESPN’s FPI. The Sooners also rank third in the nation this coming season with Michigan as its lone power conference opponent. In previous years, Oklahoma had Nebraska on its schedule for a home-and-home, as well as UCLA and Houston for single games dating back to 2019.

Down the road, though, OU will also start another home-and-home with Nebraska in 2029 – renewing a historic Big 12 rivalry – and another against Clemson starting in 2035. Castiglione said that plays into the program’s scheduling philosophy even as questions rise about the importance of strength of schedule.

“We have a home-and-home with [Michigan] that starts this year,” Castiglione said. “We had several home-and-homes with SEC teams, but obviously, those are now going to be conference games. We’ve got a home-and-home with Nebraska coming up down the road and a home-and-home with Clemson. We believe in doing out-of-conference scheduling.

“Now, I know some people might say, your conference schedule’s tough enough, and I get that. But going forward, we’ll have to continue to evaluate what’s best to try to get our team in the position to be in the Playoff and compete for a championship. That’s been our history.”