ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Kent Syverud, a Michigan law school graduate who calls himself a rabid Wolverines fan, will be the school’s next president. He’ll arrive at a time when Michigan’s athletic department is dealing with a raft of major issues internally and in the broader landscape of college sports.

In the past few months alone, Michigan blocked a private capital plan proposed by the Big Ten, fired football coach Sherrone Moore for engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member and hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham as Moore’s replacement. Following Moore’s firing and subsequent arrest, Michigan authorized the law firm Jenner & Block to investigate the culture and practices of the school’s athletic department, which has dealt with a series of scandals under athletic director Warde Manuel.

Decisions related to college sports represent a small part of a university president’s job, but those decisions are often magnified, especially at a school like Michigan. Syverud, who was part of a think tank called College Sports Tomorrow during his tenure as president at Syracuse, is familiar with issues related to NIL, revenue sharing, private equity and the governance of college sports.

Here are four things to know about Michigan’s new president and what his appointment means for Michigan sports.

Syverud cares about college sports

In 2024, Syverud spoke to The Athletic about College Sports Tomorrow and its proposal for a college football “Super League” inspired by the NFL, MLS and Premier League. The group pitching the plan also included former West Virginia and Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee; Brian Rolapp, then a top NFL executive and now the CEO of the PGA Tour; David Blitzer, a senior executive at the private equity firm Blackstone and managing partner of the group that owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils; and Len Perna, a Michigan alum and the founder and CEO of the search firm TurnkeyZRG.

The group’s proposal involved consolidating college football’s 130-plus FBS schools into a single league that could engage in collective bargaining with athletes and create uniform rules around NIL, the transfer portal and player salaries.

“The current model for governing and managing college athletics is dead,” Syverud said then.

The proposed super league would have included 70 permanent members selected from the major conferences and a system of promotion and relegation for the remaining 50-plus FBS schools. The Athletic reported that the plan received little traction with the commissioners of the major conferences and faced significant hurdles related to the conferences’ existing TV deals with ESPN/ABC, Fox, CBS and NBC.

At the time, Syverud supported a large super league that would guarantee spots in the upper division for all current Power 4 programs — including Syracuse, where he’s been president since 2014. He may have a different view once he takes office at Michigan, a school that’s among the wealthiest and most powerful in college football. His interest in the future of college sports separated him from other candidates who weren’t as engaged with athletics, according to two people briefed on the search process.

“Athletes need to be paid and are going to be paid,” Syverud told The Athletic in 2024. “Most of the rules against paying athletes, including some of those that are still in place, are likely to fall in the courts. We’re going to need to sustain women’s sports, Olympic sports, and we’re going to have to have competitive equity and some methods to have a labor structure that is sensible. For all that, I think you need a more centralized national college league.”

Syverud’s views on private equity are less clear

The CST proposal has been connected to efforts to introduce private equity in college sports, though members of the group have pushed back on that characterization. It remains to be seen how Syverud will approach that issue at Michigan, but the situation isn’t as simple as a school that opposes private equity hiring a president who supports it.

In late 2024, Michigan’s board of regents lobbied against a plan proposed by Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti to raise $2.4 billion in private capital through a deal with UC Investments, which manages pension funds for the University of California system. The deal would have given UC Investments an ownership stake in a new entity called Big Ten Enterprises that controls conference assets.

Mark Bernstein, chairman of Michigan’s board, compared the deal to a payday loan. However, school officials have said their opposition was not a blanket rejection of private equity in any form, but rather a response to specifics of the Big Ten proposal, including the plan to extend the league’s grant of rights through 2046. That provides a potential point of alignment between Michigan’s stance and Syverud’s work on the CST proposal, as extending the grant of the rights would have been a vote to preserve the existing conference structure for another 20 years.

Michigan officials have said they value the school’s long history with the Big Ten, with the caveat that the college sports landscape could change significantly in the coming years. People who know Syverud describe him as a forward thinker but not someone who’s indifferent to tradition.

“Kent is certainly not someone who is going to come in and try to do anything to hurt the Big Ten,” said a person involved in college sports who has worked with Syverud, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He’s also going to be having a lot of open communication and strategic conversations around, ‘What’s the right structure for intercollegiate athletics?’ He’s going to want people looking at all options.”

Syverud will face big decisions about Michigan athletics

Jenner & Block, the law firm initially hired to investigate allegations of Moore’s relationship with the female staff member, is in the midst of a wide-ranging review of Michigan’s athletic department. There is no firm timeline for completion of the investigation, two university sources said, but it is expected to be completed before Syverud takes office, which will happen no later than July 1.

Domenico Grasso, Michigan’s interim president, has said the school will act swiftly if the investigation produces evidence of further misconduct. If the investigation does not find additional misconduct, Syverud will have to decide what’s next for an athletic department that has endured a series of scandals under Manuel, who has been Michigan’s athletic director since 2016.

Michigan’s athletic programs have been largely successful under Manuel’s watch, highlighted by a football national championship in 2023, a Final Four appearance in men’s basketball in 2018 and six Frozen Four appearances for the ice hockey team. However, the football program faced two major NCAA infractions cases under former coach Jim Harbaugh, one related to recruiting violations and the other related to Michigan’s impermissible sign-stealing operation. The latter case resulted in a record-setting fine from the NCAA that could surpass $30 million.

Moore faces charges of third-degree home invasion, stalking and breaking and entering after allegedly confronting the female staffer after his firing. Another former member of Michigan’s staff, ex-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss, is awaiting trial on a 24-count federal indictment that accuses him of hacking online accounts belonging to hundreds of athletes around the country and downloading intimate photos, activity that allegedly occurred inside Schembechler Hall.

In his introductory comments Monday, Syverud described himself as a listener and said, “I also believe always in starting with grace.” He’s also been described as a leader who sets high standards and isn’t afraid to make changes. What that means for Manuel and Michigan’s athletic department will become clearer once the Jenner & Block investigation is complete.

Syverud has ties at Michigan

Syverud graduated from Michigan’s law school in 1981 and earned a master’s degree in economics two years later. Members of Michigan’s board of regents highlighted his ties to the university when explaining why he emerged as the choice for the job.

“In May 1978, I arrived in front of the Michigan Union on a Greyhound bus with one suitcase,” Syverud said. “I walked across State Street, and my life was changed.”

Syverud was dean of law schools at Vanderbilt and Washington before he was named president at Syracuse in 2014. He faced calls to resign over his handling of racist incidents and resulting protests in 2019 but remained in his post until announcing in August that he would step down in June.

Michigan has had significant turnover in its president’s office in recent years. Mark Schlissel was removed as president in 2022 and replaced by interim Mary Sue Coleman. Santa Ono, Michigan’s president from 2022-2025, left to become president at the University of Florida, but Florida’s board of governors rejected his appointment. Grasso has been Michigan’s interim president since May.

Syverud, 69, said he wasn’t intending to leave the Syracuse community once his time as president ended.

“Only one place — Michigan, my alma mater — could have changed that plan,” he said.