Charles Baird: Remembering Michigan’s First Athletic Director

In the early 1890s, University of Michigan athletic programs were losing the university money. It's hard to imagine such a statement nowadays, as the Wolverines rake in enormous profits from their major varsity sports each year. Hundreds of thousands of fans pack the Big House year in and year out to take in the spectacle, because that's what college sports truly are now: a spectacle.

But take yourself back more than 200 years to a time when Wolverine football was struggling to pull in a crowd of over 500 despite walloping teams with regularity. While the team was good, it wasn't matching up with the Ivy League powerhouses out east.

In 1893, however, seeking a business-minded individual, the football team turned to Charles A. Baird.

Baird served as the team manager for three seasons (1893-95). In those seasons, the team went 24-5-1 and outscored opponents 788-200. Baird sought out the big names of college football, scheduling games with Ivy League opponents like Harvard, Cornell, and Princeton to prove that the Wolverines were up to snuff. Michigan split a two-game series with Cornell in 1894 and lost 4-0 to Harvard in 1895, but the Wolverines were hanging around with them.

The 1894 win over Cornell was Michigan's first ever against an Ivy League opponent and signaled a turning point for Wolverine football. More than 4,000 spectators watched as a Western college team took down an Eastern elite program.

Baird left the university in December 1895. Michigan's football team continued its success, but its finances weren't matching the output on the gridiron. Seeking the services of Baird to lift the program back into a good financial position, the University convinced Baird to return to Michigan. This time, it granted him full control over the entirety of Michigan athletics, making Baird the "athletic director" in all but name.

As Michigan football continued its strong seasons, including an undefeated one in 1898, Baird buckled down on improving the Wolverines' brand and exposure. He continued petitioning Ivy League schools to play against Michigan, which resulted in a game against Pennsylvania in 1899, which the Wolverines lost, 11-10.

After losing two head coaches in a span of a year, Baird made perhaps his most important decision of his tenure: he hired Fielding Yost out of Stanford. 

In Yost's first season as head coach in 1901, the Wolverines won all 11 of their games without allowing a single point. Michigan accomplished that while scoring 550 points itself, earning the nickname of the "point-a-minute" team. This team ended up winning the first-ever Rose Bowl, decimating Stanford 49-0 before the game was stopped with eight minutes still to play.

During Baird's tenure, Michigan's football stadium grew from seating fewer than 1,000 to over 18,000 by 1906. With the vast expansion of seating and fervent intrigue in the Wolverines' football squad, a sold-out game could rake in droves of money. While there are no official numbers, it's no stretch to say that the revenue from a sold-out 18,000-seat stadium is bringing in exponentially more revenue than a 600-seat stadium.

Baird resigned from his post in 1908, with Philip Bartelme taking his place. While Baird only held the role for 10 years, his contribution to the University's athletics, namely football, is still felt to this day. He, along with Yost and others, helped put Michigan at the forefront of college athletics. He set the stage for those who came after him and grew Wolverine athletics into the spectacle it is today.