Thoughts on Bo Schembechler’s Legacy at the University of Michigan

University of Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel is under fire for comments he made praising his school’s legendary football coach, Bo Schembechler.

Schembechler, who died in 2006, taught his mentees “integrity” with “his belief in doing things the right way and making sure there are no shortcuts. There’s no cheating,” Manuel said Wednesday on the podcast, From the Chair with Mike Hamilton.

“We’re all fallible, we all make mistakes in life. Nobody’s perfect, and neither were either Bo or my dad,” he continued.

Manuel’s comments drew controversy due to allegations that Schembechler knew about and failed to stop the sexual abuse of players at the hands of team doctor Robert Anderson. The accusations became especially credible in the summer of 2021 with the release of an independent report that affirmed them and with Schembechler’s adopted son, Matt, corroborating them. (Earlier this year, the University of Michigan reached a $490-million-dollar settlement with victims of Anderson.)

Michigan football fans and students took to Twitter to express their outrage. They called Manuel’s comments “embarrassing,” “disgusting,” and even “evil.”

Manuel’s comments have a level of tone-deafness. Allowing an abuser to operate unchecked and violating the trust of the players who saw him as a father figure do not demonstrate Schembechler’s integrity. It is important not to discount his failures or the awful experiences of Anderson’s victims for which he is responsible.

Still, not every player who learned to play football under Schembechler suffered such terrible trauma. Among those who benefitted from his tutelage are Manuel himself and current Michigan Head Football Coach Jim Harbaugh, who defended Schembechler last summer, saying that actively participating in a cover-up did not sound like “the Schembechler [he] knew.”

Both Manuel and Harbaugh owe much of their leadership skills to their late coach. Now, they will pass on those same skills to the players they influence. Harbaugh is especially relevant in this regard. After winning the Big Ten Championship in 2021, Harbaugh donated all of the bonuses he received for the accolades to employees of Michigan Athletics who took pay cuts because of the pandemic.

One could argue that Harbaugh learned his values of charity from his parents or other mentors not named Schembechler. This is certainly possible, but it is unlikely that he would have risen to his current position and been able to do such good without Schembechler.

At the same time, though the late coach’s good deeds extend far beyond his lifetime, we can probably say the same of his failures. The abuse the Anderson victims endured influenced how they looked at authority figures after their time at Michigan. Emotional damage is difficult to quantify, but there can be no doubt that it was present in their lives.

Surely, no one would argue that Schembechler’s errors erase all the good he did, but we cannot act as though the mistakes do not exist.

There has been an appropriate discussion among the University of Michigan community of how much to honor him. Some have suggested taking down his statue outside of the main football training facility. Others have suggested that the school stop repeating his “The team, the team, the team” and “Those who stay will be champions” slogans.

These are important debates to hold, and both sides of them are well-intentioned. The campus community should do its best to reach a resolution to the dilemma, but its reaction to Manuel’s comments is counterproductive.

We will have more trouble navigating the difficult road ahead for Schembechler’s legacy if we continue with such one-dimensional thinking. We should not see every praise of Schembechler’s good qualities as a dismissal of his failings.