When Biff was first placed into his cage a week before the game, he snapped a bar in two with his teeth. But Biff and Bennie proved too vicious for any of that. And when Michigan faced Navy that November, the wolverines were going to meet Navy’s mascot, a live goat, at midfield. The plan was for the wolverines to be walked around on leashes. “Up until today,” the article continued, “Michigan teams have had a mascot, and that mascot was a wolverine, a mounted one that has graced the trophy case in the administration building at Ferry Field for some time.” The wolverines were a gift of two Detroit-based alums, Fred Lawton and Clark Hyatt, both of the Class of 1911. 22, 1927, the day of the dedication game. “Today, for the first time in the annals of Michigan gridiron history, a Maize and Blue team will take the field of battle with two live Wolverines as mascots on the sidelines,” the Michigan Daily declared the morning of Oct. Almost immediately Yost set about one-upping the team from Madison by bringing in a live, caged wolverine. The rival Wisconsin Badgers had wowed fans by using a live badger to rally support back in 1923. (Michigan Stadium is not even halfway there more than eight decades later.) And Yost’s competitive nature drove him to pursue a live mascot for the Wolverines football team. He built Michigan Stadium so that, someday, it could be expanded to fit some 300,000 football fans. Yost was a visionary but he was also a competitor. 22, 1927) and again when Michigan played Navy that season. Michigan’s first attempt at a live mascot was carried off by no less a tradition-builder than Fielding Yost himself, longtime head football coach (1901-23, 1925-26) and athletic director (1921-41), first at the Michigan Stadium Dedication Game against Ohio State (Oct. It’s not true, for instance, that U-M has never had a sideline mascot. But like most legends, the truth about Michigan and mascots is not so simple. Indeed, for many fans, the tradition is not simply that Michigan doesn’t have a mascot - it’s that Michigan scorns mascots. Introducing a live mascot to the U-M sideline would represent the boldest move of all. He inked the first night game in Michigan Stadium history against Notre Dame, then doubled down by unveiling, earlier this month, the one-time-only “legacy” jerseys Michigan will wear when it plays “Under the Lights.” He brought Michigan hockey to the Big House, an extravaganza called “The Big Chill at the Big House.” He has two new varsity sports, men’s and women’s lacrosse. Since taking the helm in January 2010, Brandon has prided himself on moving the Michigan tradition forward. That might change under Athletic Director Dave Brandon. Michigan is one of few exceptions.įor the 132 seasons Michigan football has been around, the idea of a mascot never captured the collective imagination of the Blue faithful. No matter the region, no matter how long the school’s been around, no matter whether public or private, mascots are the rule. The typical answer is a terse grumble about “tradition” and how “Tom Harmon never needed a mascot” and that Michigan “doesn’t need one now.” The lack of a live mascot makes the University of Michigan something of an anomaly among big-time college athletic departments. U-M does have a mascot - the wolverine - but what people are wondering about is an animal, real or a costumed character, that gallivants along the sidelines during games leading cheers. Hang out at University of Michigan football games, especially the first few of the year, and you’re bound to hear the question asked a few times - usually by children or by adults who are new to Michigan football. (Photo courtesy U-M Bentley Historical Library.) “Why doesn’t Michigan have a mascot?” But the creatures were so feral they lasted only a year before being shipped off to zoos. Fielding Yost himself introduced Biff and Bennie in 1927. It’s not quite true that Michigan never had a mascot.