New Michigan president Santa Ono wants to win at 'highest' level
New Michigan president Santa Ono once crowd surfed at Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium, and again at the University of British Columbia. He’s an avid sports fan, has sat in on conference restructuring talks and showed at Wednesday’s introductory press conference he knows a lot about the Big Ten.
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In short, he’s a breath of fresh air for a university that badly needs it.
Replacing Mark Schlissel (who was replaced on the interim by former Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman), Ono was composed, down to earth, and in his element Wednesday. Not surprisingly, one of the first questions he faced centered on athletics.
Ono made it clear he’s happy with the way things are right now (at first glance) and that he wants Michigan to win, and win big. He cited the school’s “storied history” and called the success a point of great pride for fans and alums, not to mention students.
“It knits the whole community together,” Ono said in his question and answer session. “There’s tremendous synergy between academics and athletics, and I want to do everything I can to make sure Michigan competes at the highest level.”
He reiterated “highest” again, as though to emphasize its importance.
It was clear it wasn’t for show. Ono has been active on social media following Michigan football and others for several years, and he was actively involved in helping build the Cincinnati football and basketball programs into outstanding teams. He was so revered by his coaches that former Bearcats coach used to put him in uniform and have his quarterbacks throw passes to him.
“I have a lot of eligibility left,” he joked, adding he wasn’t very good and probably wouldn’t be an option for the Wolverines.
New Michigan president all about sports
But it’s clear he’s invested, and that’s a plus. He would often show up at games, sometimes even partaking in crowd surfing while the students chanted his name. Regent Jordan Acker was blown away when he learned the latter during the interview process, and joked Wednesday it would take Ono a little longer to get to the top of Michigan Stadium.
Acker said he was going to challenge him to do it once U-M beat Ohio State in Ann Arbor in two years, and Ono implied he was ready if they’d let him. He was also well aware of USC and UCLA’s additions to the Big Ten and said he wanted to be involved in future expansion discussion.
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Asked specifically about Name, Image, and Likeness, Ono only said he was aware of college football’s state of flux and ready to tackle the challenges.
“If you talk with the coaches and ADs at UBC and Cincinnati, they’ll tell you I’m passionate about it and supportive of them,” Ono said. “I’m even known to go in there during halftime and give the team a pep talk. Whatever I can do. These are difficult roles, to be a scholar-athlete. You’re taking classes and you’re training. You’re traveling. I’m there for them.”
He also had kind words to say about athletic director Warde Manuel, whose teams captured 13 Big Ten titles this year.
“It’s important for a president of an institution to work directly with an athletic director,” he said. “We have a great athletic director here.”
Coleman had a binder two inches thick of stuff for him to read, and Ono admitted he was just getting started. But it’s clear he’s eager to get going in all aspects, including athletics.
That’s music to the ears of those hoping for an athletics-friendly president.
