Warde Manuel weighs in on state of NIL at Michigan: 'We don't buy [players]... it's not a transactional thing'
The Michigan Wolverines have a new head football coach in Sherrone Moore, and now it is incumbent upon the administration to support him with whatever he needs heading into a new era for the program and the sport at large.
For athletic director Warde Manuel, many of those conversations could be centered around NIL in Ann Arbor.
Following Moore’s introductory press conference on Saturday in Ann Arbor, the Michigan AD weighed in on where he sees NIL within the program and what he thinks the university offers to prospective players coming in.
“It’s a great place and a great academic school,” Manuel said. “I’m not going to shy away from that. That’s who we are. We have been very successful with our student-athletes on and off the field. Michigan is a great institution. It’s the same institution for the same reason I chose it back in 1986. Because of its great academics and athletics and that combination. It is who we are and we’ll work through it like we always have.
“I’m proud of the student-athletes who have come here and the success they’ve had. You look at this football team and how it was built over time and the success we generated. But you also have to look at the success they’ve generated in the classroom. The APR. The success they’ve had. The number of academic All-Big Tens and Academic All-Americans. All those different things that come out. I’m really proud.”
A lot of programs across the country have used NIL as a direct enticement to players entering the operation. Manuel says that while he is supportive of the work the collectives have done – namely Champions Circle led by Valiant Management Group – Michigan is not in the business of simply compensating players just to come to Ann Arbor.
“I’ve talked to our donors and I’ve talked to our collectives,” Manuel said. “I’m fully supportive of them supporting our student-athletes the right way. We don’t own any players. We don’t buy them, but we do provide resources for our student-athletes. They have my full support and I love NIL and what it does for our student-athletes. But I don’t want us talking about what we have to buy student-athletes and inducing student-athletes. We need to talk about what we can provide, short and long-term, for the rest of their life. For me, NIL is about teaching kids how to use who they are for the rest of their lives.
“For me, it’s not a transactional thing. It’s a life commitment between Michigan and our student-athletes. And the short term is that they get some resources provided to them. The long term is that they can make money over their lifetime because of Michigan and what we teach and experience with being a student-athlete.”
NIL was only part of the several hours of talks Manuel had with Moore in recent days, but says that the Michigan head coach is comfortable with the athletic director’s philosophy.
“[We talked] a little bit, but not in great detail [about NIL],” Manuel said. “He’s been around and knows how we have been able to support our student-athletes through NIL. So I think he’s fully comfortable with it and we’ll keep moving.
“The Champions Circle and other NIL collectives have done great. And like I said, I’ve been talking to our donors and talking to our fans about supporting our student-athletes. We partnered with [Champions Circle] for the celebration to support our student-athletes. But Michigan’s value is a combination of academics, athletics, growth, and development that all of our students at this campus go through, along with NIL and things that we can provide.
And as this grows and evolves, we’ll look at how we can provide more. It’s been great. I think you can talk to our student-athletes. [In hearing some of the players speak], it’s been a support to them and they appreciate the way we go about it.”
