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It’s been a heck of a month, with all eyes on what should have been the forthcoming NCAA Tournament as well as spring football, only to see the novel coronavirus pandemic see it all canceled in short order.
As far as Michigan Athletics is concerned, it’s not about to sit by idly while it waits for the proverbial storm to pass.
As announced by the NCAA, Michigan and Texas are leading the way in the fight against COVID-19, as the two storied institutions are working together to forge a path for all of college athletics through the creation of ‘United as One,’ a social media campaign designed to show solidarity through these tough times.
The #UnitedAsOne campaign, created and led by NCAA member schools, started to form less than 24 hours after the remaining NCAA winter and spring championships were canceled due to the evolving global health threat surrounding COVID-19.
Unity, at an unprecedented time, became a rallying cry among the membership of more than 1,100 schools and nearly 500,000 student-athletes across three divisions. It started small. A group of about 50 digital and social media creatives within different athletics departments began direct messaging each other on Twitter on Friday.
“What’s next?”
“What can we do?”
“What should we do?”
Quickly, the consensus became to find a way to come together, to show unity and support within college athletics during a trying time for everyone in the country. That evolved into the #UnitedAsOne campaign, which officially launched at 4:16 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, exactly a week after the announcement of the NCAA canceling the remaining 2019-20 winter and spring championships.
“Moments like this, I feel like we should be bringing our teams together,” said Brian Wagner, Michigan’s digital strategy and creative lead, who was part of the initial group that came up with the campaign. “All of our programs, all of our student-athletes, our coaching staffs, we’re all in the same boat here. This is certainly something to show that we’re all in this together.”
To show this, the social media accounts of schools across the country started posting a unified graphic Thursday. The graphic reads “United As One” on one side — the “O” being the NCAA’s logo — and is personalized with the school’s logo on the other side.
Wolverines are #UnitedAsOne.#GoBlue 〽️ pic.twitter.com/zdDCs8Di5n
— Michigan Athletics (@UMichAthletics) March 19, 2020
It’ll be a tough time without sports, but Michigan and Texas are among the schools leading the way when it comes to building bridges and creating solidarity through these tough times.