The Michigan Wolverines are coming off a disappointing season that saw them miss the College Football Playoff and fire head coach Sherrone Moore at the end of the season due to what the university deemed was an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
Former Utah Utes head coach Kyle Whittingham has accepted the same role for the Wolverines and hopes to return the program to the high standards set by Jim Harbaugh, who won the national championship in his final season with the program.
Whittingham just might have some extraordinary resources at his disposal that’ll help him succeed in Ann Arbor. Documents released in connection with an ongoing lawsuit by tech mogul Elon Musk against OpenAI revealed that the university invested $20 million during an early round investment in the artificial intelligence company, which is now worth $2 billion.
It didn’t take people on social media long to realize this could lead to a massive advantage for Michigan when it came to NIL.
The University of Michigan has netted $2B on a first round investment in OpenAI, expected to IPO later this year. Just think of all the NIL they could buy. https://t.co/xL6K2YBFmF
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) May 8, 2026
The Big Ten has won the last three college football national championships, thanks in part to the massive resource advantage that schools in the conference have to stay competitive in the transfer portal and with NIL partnerships with student athletes.
Michigan may have just created its own massive resource advantage over the other schools in its conference, including the Ohio State Buckeyes.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.