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Thursday, June 4, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

Red Berenson appointed special adviser to Big Ten commissioner

When new Big Ten commissioner 
Kevin Warren visited Yost Ice Arena 
in February, he was on a mission.
Warren set a goal to see every 
team at every Big Ten institution 
play at least once in the first year 
of his tenure, so watching the 
Michigan hockey team take on 
Wisconsin on Feb. 7 was just a step 
along that path. But Warren had 
a second goal that day: Get former 
Michigan coach Red Berenson to 
join his staff as a special adviser for 
hockey operations.
At 80 years old, three seasons 
removed from his retirement after 
33 years behind the bench for the 
Wolverines, 
Berenson 
attends 
nearly every home game and can 
be found holding court from the 
first box on the right. That night, 
Warren joined him.
“He made it a point to corner 
me and we sat down and talked,” 
Berenson told The Daily. “He said 
he really felt strongly about Big Ten 
hockey and hockey in general. … 
He said he just loves hockey and he 
wants to see the Big Ten conference 
get better and he wants me to be his 
special adviser and work with him 

in trying to make the conference 
better.”
A 
few 
weeks 
after 
their 
conversation at Yost, Berenson 
signed on and began his role as 
Warren’s special adviser on hockey, 
as first reported by Todd Milewski 
of the Wisconsin State Journal. 
Two weeks later, the remainder 
of the college athletics season 
was canceled. There have been no 
decisions made about next season, 
which changes things for Berenson.
It’s a rule-change year for 
college hockey, which only adopts 
rule changes every other year, so 
ordinarily, this summer would 
be 
filled 
with 
meetings 
and 
conferences among Big Ten coaches 
and coaches across the country 
— exactly the kind of meeting 
Berenson would attend. Now, those 
meetings have become conference 
calls, but discussions haven’t slowed 
down in the slightest.
“Everyone’s 
working 
from 
home, but it’s amazing how they’re 
still inspired and invested in the 
upcoming season,” Berenson said. 
“Whatever the conversations have 
been about rules or overtime or 
whatever it’s been, the coaches are 
all over it. It’s been really good.”
Berenson’s 
role 
currently 

involves being on just about every 
conference call that happens in 
college hockey — whether it’s 
with Big Ten coaches, coaches 
across the league, other Big Ten 
administrators or commissioners of 
other leagues that sponsor hockey. 
Once a week, he has a call with 
Warren to stay up to date on the rest 
of the Big Ten and update Warren 
on what’s happening on the hockey 
side of things.
And despite taking on this new 
role, Berenson is continuing to 
work for the Michigan athletic 
department as an adviser to athletic 
director Warde Manuel — though 
he’s technically retired.
“I enjoy it,” Berenson said. “I 
really do. I can’t say that I miss 
coaching. I don’t miss coaching, 
but I enjoy the games, I enjoy the 
environment. I love going to Yost. 
I know all the coaches around 
the league, and they’ve been very 
receptive to my coming on board.”
Since 
the 
Big 
Ten 
began 
sponsoring hockey in 2013, there 
have been a myriad of criticisms 
of how the league has handled 
the sport. Everything from TV 
presence to team performance has 
come under fire, and Berenson is 
taking on the task of dealing with 

those concerns.
“My goals are whatever’s best 
for the conference, but I’d like to 
help it grow in the right direction,” 
Berenson said. “You’d like to see 
the teams do well. You’d like to see 
the chance of expansion. I would 
be a big promoter of expansion, 
particularly within the Big Ten. For 
example, there were rumors Illinois 
might be interested in adding 
hockey, and then this virus hit. … 
I’ll stay close to Steve Piotrowski, 
who’s the head of officials, and in 
terms of officiating and just making 
the conference better.
“…I want to improve the game and 
then improve the communication 
with the teams and the coaches. If 
there are things we need to address 
as a conference, they can work 
through me. Kevin and I have a 
good line of communication, so I 
think that’ll help where you’re not 
dealing with non-hockey people.”
With 
Warren 
as 
the 
commissioner, 
the 
Big 
Ten 
intends to put a greater focus on 
hockey — a contrast to how things 
where handled under previous 
commissioner Jim Delany, who 
focused primarily on football and 
basketball.
“The thing that really inspires 

me is Kevin’s passion for hockey,” 
Berenson said. “It’s not like he 
doesn’t 
know 
anything 
about 
hockey. He knows a lot about 
hockey, and he cares about hockey. 
I don’t know that we’ve had that 
passion, necessarily, coming out 
of the Big Ten office for hockey. 
It’s been a conference maybe 
driven strictly by football or some 
basketball, but it sounds now that 
he wants hockey to get better.”

After playing every minute last season, Marc Ybarra has more in the tank

The final whistle blew against 
Wake Forest in the Sweet Sixteen, 
ending a long race for the Michigan 
men’s soccer team. The 3-1 loss 
capped off a full season of playing 
time for then-junior midfielder Marc 
Ybarra, who quickly pivoted towards 

the next race for a national and 
Big Ten title — a mountaintop he’s 
strived to reach since claiming it his 
freshman year. 
Ybarra started in midfield for all 
of the Wolverines’ 22 matches and 
never left the field, the only Michigan 
player to do so — a testament 
to his consistency. This statistic 
encompasses 
Ybarra’s 
character: 

A workhorse midfielder, a devoted 
teammate and a player who is always 
looking to improve, no matter how 
many miles are on his cleats. 
Growing up as a hometown kid in 
Ann Arbor, Ybarra — the youngest 
of four siblings — drew inspiration 
from his older siblings on the soccer 
field.
“I look up to my brother, Matt 
Ybarra, who played at Detroit Mercy 
from 2011-2014,” Ybarra said. “We 
both play similar positions and he 
was a captain. He played all the time, 
and I looked up to his work ethic.”
Marc credited the growth of his 
game to not just Matt, but all three of 
his siblings. 
“It extends even more than my 
brother. I’m the youngest in my 
family, and all three of my siblings 
played soccer growing up,” Ybarra 
said. “I had those mentors, and the 
support of older people than myself.”
“I’m always supporting attackers 
and 
supporting 
defenders. 
For 
me, consistency is always being 
there. Showing up and being there 

everyday.”
There are two factors that allowed 
Ybarra to stay on the pitch all 
season: good health and trust from 
the coaching staff. Michigan coach 
Chaka Daley could always count on 
Ybarra to be healthy and impact the 
starting 11.
Ybarra’s consistency doesn’t end 
after the final whistle is blown. Even 
during the COVID-19 pandemic, 
Ybarra 
is 
helping 
his 
fellow 
midfielders, defenders, attackers and 
future teammates. 
“This team is the first time I have 
had to embrace that role. Now going 
into my senior year, I’m reaching 
out to incoming freshmen,” Ybarra 
said. “It’s been a different role, but 
it’s good to be confident that when I 
leave after next year, the other guys 
that I am having conversations with 
will fill the same role I had.”
The stay-at-home orders have 
struck uncertainty in how Michigan 
will prepare for the upcoming season. 
Even without spring matches and 
in-person practices, Ybarra and the 

rest of the upperclassmen stayed true 
to their leadership. Communication 
plays a key part in Ybarra’s game, 
both on and off the field — Ybarra 
is a U-M Leadership, Excellence, 
Achievement, and Diversity (LEAD) 
Scholar. In order for the team to 
develop as much as possible at a 
distance from one another, Ybarra’s 
mentorship to the underclassmen 
and new recruits is essential for 
success next season. 
“We have had a couple calls with 
the whole team,” Ybarra said.“I 
think the older guys have taken it 
upon themselves to reach out to a 
couple specified players, especially 
the incoming guys. We’ve been 
reassuring that they can reach out 
with anything they need. More of 
delegating between a couple guys 
each making sure we’re all in touch 
and ready to go in the fall, hopefully.”
After 
playing 
nearly 
2,000 
minutes in 2019, Ybarra’s mind does 
not want to keep count. He is solely 
focused on the most important team 
goal: winning.

BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Editor

LIOR KOLTON
Daily Sports Writer

FILE PHOTO/Daily
Red Berenson named adviser to Kevin Warren.

MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Rising senior Marc Ybarra playing in last season’s NCAA tournament.