On a warm September evening last fall, country superstar Zach Bryan strode up the stairs inside Michigan Stadium, past the lettering that reads, “The Team The Team The Team,” and entered the Big House to explosive cheers from 112,408 fans.
It was a bright autumn morning for the more than 100,000 people driving to the Big House for the University of Michigan’s October 4 homecoming game against Wisconsin. Some sixteen miles west, about 250 others gathered at Chelsea Community Fairgrounds for a very different athletic contest: the annual Rode To Hell gravel bike race.
In 2023, Michigan men’s basketball set an unenviable record: most losses in program history. In the spring of 2024, athletic director Warde Manuel gave coach Juwan Howard his walking papers, and found himself mired in a different sort of athletic contest: national post-NCAA grabathon for the hottest available coach. Michigan won when Dusty May—who had turned a moribund Florida Atlantic University program into a national powerhouse—inked a five-year deal with the Wolverines.
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After a landmark July court decision, the NCAA enabled schools to pay their athletes and removed limits on scholarships. Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel decided that every competing athlete would receive a full scholarship, and revenue sharing too, although the bulk of that money goes to men’s football, basketball and hockey.
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Burns Park homeowners stood on street corners holding placards beckoning football fans to their lawns and driveways. West of the stadium, churches directed visitors to spots, and a line of cars waited to park at the U-M golf course on State St. Just another game day in Ann Arbor.
Read More“Every kid should be able to try a sport, right?” says Jen Karcher. “The price of playing a sport right now is just astronomical.”
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After the Wolverines’ national championship in 2023, Jim Harbaugh returned to the NFL and took much of his staff with him. The league’s draft then selected thirteen Michigan players, including quarterback J.J. McCarthy and eight other starters on offense. Michigan did return three defensive All-Americans, but the weakened offense left a lot on the defense last season. Too much.
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For months, a giant cleat has hung over Michigan Football, in the form of the NCAA’s lengthy sign-stealing investigation. In mid-August, it slammed to the ground, causing financial and reputational pain, but not completely knocking out the program.
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“Ninety-five plus percent of our student athletes are not going to play professionally when they are done here,” Manuel says. “So, if that’s the case, I’m not going to design a system for only five percent. I want a system that will help one hundred percent of them.”
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A small cyclone was predicted to hit Lake Michigan on November 21, 2024. Saint Joseph lay still—no wind, just the occasional whisper of movement—but out in the heart of the lake, the waves roared to life. For the MSurf club at the University of Michigan, it was the perfect storm—an unmissable call to adventure.
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Ann Arbor’s parks and rec department has opened multiple courts at Leslie Park, two at Burns Park, and single courts at several others. Hunt Park is not among them—yet several years ago, pickleball lines appeared on its tennis court.
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The 2024 Michigan Football season is likely to be remembered for two things: After a tepid start, the Wolverines upset the Ohio State Buckeyes. And Bryce Underwood upended Michigan athletics.
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At dusk, on fall Fridays across the county, the world of high school football comes back to life, like a prep sports version of Brigadoon. The marching bands. Singsongy cheerleader chants. An announcer’s booming voice. Armored athletes crashing into each other. And the bleacher crowd’s claps and jeers at the action unfolding before them, on 100 yards of astroturf.
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A new U-M dorm is rising on the Michigan Marching Band’s longtime home at Elbel Field, but director John Pasquale is over-the-moon happy with the new Elbel Field a block away.
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Sherrone Moore, promoted to the top job, is in some ways starting over. He’s got a new staff, a new quarterback, and an entirely new offensive line.
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Ron Warhurst was a U-M coach for thirty-six years—cross-country and track. He was Big Ten coach of the year four times, won nine conference championships, and coached 129 All-Americans, multiple Olympians, and a winner of the Boston Marathon.
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The assessment proved prophetic as the Wolverines beat Penn State on the road and Ohio State at...
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Michael Watts found out about the proposed sixteen-story building outside his back window in late...
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In 1959, when I was twelve years old, my best friend’s Uncle Bobby purchased a new Edsel station...
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Even after the U-M clobbered OSU in 2021, few felt optimistic about the chances for a repeat at...
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