7 — Friday, April 17, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Hold Manuel accountable for mishandling allegations

Former Michigan wrestler 

Tad 

Deluca 

wanted a 

listening 

ear. 
He 

wanted 

to 
tell 

someone 

what had 

happened 

to 
him, 

and he wanted accountability.

His coach at the time 

didn’t listen. His athletic 

director 
didn’t, 
either. 

Deluca was forced to watch 

as 
then-wrestling 
coach 

Bill Johannesen read his 

nine-page 
letter 
detailing 

his assault by team doctor 

Robert Anderson in front of 

his teammates. Deluca was 

kicked off the team. Athletic 

director 
Don 
Canham 

revoked his scholarship.

At a press conference in 

Feburary, Deluca declared 

to reporters: “I will not be 

ignored again.”

It wasn’t just Canham and 

Johannesen that ignored him.

According 
to 
a 
report 

by the Detroit Free Press 

released Thursday, Deluca 

sent athletic director Warde 

Manuel a letter in 2018, 

detailing Anderson’s abuse. 

University policy stipulated 

that 
Manuel 
report 
the 

allegations 
to 
Michigan’s 

Office 
of 
Institutional 

Equity, which handles Title 

IX allegations. But Manuel 

instead forwarded the letter 

to the University’s lawyers, 

alerting them to potential 

upcoming litigation. It was 

a move that protected the 

University above all else.

“I expect nothing. I want 

nothing,” 
Deluca’s 
letter 

concluded, according to the 

Free Press. “I just feel the 

need to report this.”

Anderson died in 2008. 

The hundreds of athletes he 

abused will never get to see 

him held accountable — but 

that doesn’t mean there was 

nothing more the school could 

do. They could have found 

other survivors. They could 

have figured out if anyone 

who knew about Anderson’s 

allegations still worked in the 

athletic 
department. 
They 

could have done the only 

thing Deluca claimed to want 

and listened.

It wouldn’t have taken 

Manuel much to do the right 

thing. Anderson retired in 

2003, when many of the 

Wolverines’ current athletes 

were in diapers. Few — if 

any — people involved in the 

allegations still work in the 

athletic department. Many of 

them aren’t even alive.

Manuel just had to listen. 

But like the others before him, 

he didn’t.

Deluca’s allegations against 

Canham 
and 
Johannesen 

feel 
distant. 
Canham 
is 

dead. 
Johannesen 
hasn’t 

been associated with the 

University in years. It’s easy 

to look at those allegations 

and think, ‘That was 35 years 

ago. Things are different now.’

But Manuel is different. 

The others were vestiges 

of old times. Manuel is the 

one calling the shots for the 

foreseeable future.

Manuel has done good 

things as athletic director. 

His hire of Juwan Howard 

has been a hit. He’s also made 

several successful hires in 

non-revenue sports, such as 

Hannah Nielsen in women’s 

lacrosse and Sean Bormet in 

wrestling.

But none of that should 

matter if Manuel can’t do 

right by Michigan’s athletes 

— including former ones. 

Nothing in college sports is 

possible without them, and 

it’s supposed to be the job of 

the person in charge to create 

an environment where they’re 

in the best possible position 

to succeed. That means a 

culture 
of 
accountability, 

where it’s clear that abuse 

and misconduct will not be 

tolerated.

When it comes to cases 

of sexual assault, actions 

speak louder than words. The 

message Manuel sent is that he 

was committed to protecting 

the University’s image before 

the well-being of his student-

athletes. That encourages a 

culture of silence — one that 

ensures that things like this 

will keep happening.

Michigan’s Student Sexual 

Misconduct Policy is clear on 

what needed to be done.

“Responsible 
employees 

(including 
Manuel) 
must 

immediately 
report 
any 

information 
they 
learn 

about suspected Prohibited 

Conduct to OIE or the Title 

IX Coordinator,” reads the 

first sentence of the policy. 

“Failure by a responsible 

employee to timely report 

a 
suspected 
Prohibited 

Conduct may subject them to 

appropriate discipline, up to 

and including removal from 

their position.”

The policy sends a strong 

message: This is a fireable 

offense. And if it doesn’t 

cost Manuel his job, he 

should at least face strong 

punishment, such as a hefty 

fine or suspension. This, after 

all, goes deeper than one 

incident. If Manuel escapes 

unscathed, it sends a message 

to future athletes, coaches 

and athletic directors alike 

about who the University 

will protect — and it isn’t the 

athletes.

All Manuel had to do 

was listen and follow the 

correct procedure. All he 

had to do was make it clear 

that if anyone committed 

misconduct again, they would 

be held accountable.

But he didn’t. Instead, he 

protected his school’s image, 

and in the process enabled 

the kind of culture that allows 

abusers to go unchecked.

Michigan’s first priority 

in dealing with a scandal of 

this magnitude should be to 

establish a strong culture of 

accountability, one dedicated 

to making sure this never 

happens again. And now, that 

culture needs to start at the 

top.

Gerson can be reached at 

amgerson@umich.edu or on 

Twitter @aria_gerson.

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor

FILE PHOTO/Daily

Athletic director Warde Manuel did not follow Title IX guidelines.

Taking a hit from Zach Charbonnet: ‘I almost got paralyzed’

Zach 
Charbonnet 
has 

no qualms about playing 

with physicality. In his first 

game at Michigan last fall, 

Charbonnet earned plaudits 

for his pass protection. At 

6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, 

Charbonnet has the strength 

to go through defenders as a 

runner. Sometimes literally.

That’s where the story of 

Nathan Smidt comes in.

Smidt, 
it 
should 
be 

noted, is completely fine 

now. These days, his coach, 

Darren Carr, jokes with him 

about it. There are no hard 

feelings — in fact, just the 

opposite. Smidt interacted 

with Charbonnet for all of 

a millisecond on a football 

field during the 2018 season, 

bodies colliding, bouncing 

off each other, Charbonnet 

hurtling forward against 

undersized competition.

“I tried to hit him,” 

Smidt said, “and almost got 

paralyzed.”

The 
series 
of 
events 

leading 
to 
that 
hit 

started 
the 
week 
prior. 

A 
Bakersfield 
Christian 

safety got suspended for 

the first half of their game 

against 
Oaks 
Christian, 

Charbonnet’s team. Smidt, a 

wide receiver, would have to 

step in.

It was early in the season, 

but already clear that Oaks 

Christian was one of the 

top programs in California, 

thanks in no small part to 

Charbonnet.

“You 
saw 
this 
kid, 

running back, this guy was 

like an Eddie George type 

guy,” Carr said. “You know 

what I mean? Just a huge, 

massive kid. Like there’s no 

way this kid is a senior in 

high school, but we get out 

there, we see them pregame, 

like this guy’s a full-grown 

man.”

There 
wasn’t 
much 

optimism going into the 

game 
on 
Bakersfield 

Christian’s end, in large 

part 
because 
it 
simply 

couldn’t 
bring 
down 

Charbonnet. 
It 
tried 
to 

preach fundamentals — get 

to the football and tackle 

cleanly. Wrap Charbonnet’s 

legs up and 

roll.

But 

Carr 
calls 

Charbonnet, 

“probably 

the 
most 

impressive 

kid I’ve ever 

seen,” in 15 

years as a high 

school coach. 

There was only so much he 

could ask of his team.

Oaks Christian won the 

game 83-0. Things went off 

the rails fast.

Smidt 
hadn’t 
played 

defense 

before. 

On 
the 

game’s first 

drive, Oaks 

Christian 

lined 

Charbonnet 

up 
inside 

on 
a 
trips 

formation 

and 
threw 

him a swing pass. He made 

two corners miss, then saw 

Smidt between him and 50 

yards of grass. He slowed 

down. Smidt dropped his 

head. Charbonnet lowered 

his shoulder and made hard 

contact.

“I just remember right 

when I hit him, just like 

black,” Smidt said. “I just 

remember 
being 
on 
the 

ground.” 

He couldn’t speak or move 

his arms, but he could feel 

them. The game stopped for 

about 30 minutes. There was 

a trainer telling him they 

had to get an ambulance, 

but 
Smidt 
managed 
to 

convince his mom not to go, 

eventually getting helped off 

the field. He couldn’t shake 

a feeling in his arms. Oaks 

Christian had a specialist, 

who told Smidt’s mother he 

needed to go to the hospital. 

He thought it was a bit of an 

overreaction and, he said, 

“I kinda wanted to keep 

playing.” Still, he spent the 

night in the hospital as the 

doctors ran scans.

The next day, the injury 

was initially diagnosed as 

a stinger and Smidt figured 

he’d be able to play in a 

couple weeks. Then the 

doctors took another look 

at the scans. It turned out 

Smidt had fractured his 

T2, T3 and T4 vertebrae. 

He needed to spend four 

months in a brace.

“I was so surprised. I kept 

losing feeling in — getting 

like, 
shots 
of 
numbness 

down my legs and my arms 

and stuff,” Smidt said. “I 

thought that was all just 

part of the stinger.”

Smidt’s 
recovery 
took 

some time, but he got back on 

the field for his senior year, 

and Bakersfield Christian 

won a state championship in 

its division. Charbonnet is 

entering a sophomore year 

at Michigan in which he’ll 

compete for the lion’s share 

of carries. Now, this is all 

just a memorable fragment 

of the past.

“We 
tell 
him, 
man, 

we’re like, ‘Hey, when the 

Pittsburgh 
Steelers 
draft 

(Charbonnet) 
in 
three 

years, you got a story to tell 

everybody,’ ” Carr said.

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily

Sophomore running back Zach Charbonnet broke three of Nathan Smidt’s vertebrae when he ran into him in a high school game in 2018.

ETHAN SEARS

Managing Sports Editor

I just remember 
right when I hit 

him, just like 

black.

ARIA
GERSON

