Dave Portnoy in talks with Michigan coach about buying team a QB

Barstool Sports founder David Portnoy walks towards the pagoda before the start of Carb Day practice, Friday, May 28, 2021, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo Credit: Grace Hollars/IndyStar via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The possibility of Dave Portnoy buying his alma mater Michigan a quarterback could become closer to a reality.

Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, said last week that he was willing to spend up to $3 million in an NIL deal to help his Wolverines get a top quarterback each year. The conversation arose because of how successful Michigan had been in recent years under J.J. McCarthy, and because of how much worse the team looks this season under Davis Warren/Alex Orji at quarterback.

On this week’s episode of Barstool Sports’ Pick ’em show, Portnoy provided an update.

The Barstool Sports boss says he has talked with Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore about how he can become involved with an NIL deal for a quarterback recruit. Portnoy also made clear that if he were to get involved, he would want a direct relationship with the player and would not be working with Michigan’s NIL collective.

“I had Daniella, my assistant, ‘Someone at Michigan wants —,’ no. I don’t want to talk to any of you,” Portnoy said, as transcribed by On3. “I talked to Sherrone. I talked to him. I have his number, we talked. He told me the one guy I got to talk to. One guy to talk to, I’ve not talked to that person. I will, and then we’ll see.”

Portnoy has no interest in getting in the middle of NIL matters, talking with marketing people, recruits, handlers or anything of that nature.

“I do not want to talk to other people. I don’t want to — I am not trying to get in the middle of the NIL, I do not want people I don’t know calling me, I don’t want to talk to this guy. I don’t want emails from that guy. I don’t want any of that. I don’t want any of that,” Portnoy made clear.

“But I’m not going to, like — I’ve said this, the collective. There’s a company involved in the Michigan collective that I f–king hate. And I had a bad experience with Barstool with them. I will not associate with this company ever, so that almost — they’re out. So, I gotta see. And I don’t want middlemen. I don’t want any of it. I want the quarterback’s cell phone number, just because it’s like we got to schedule when we’re doing our things at Barstool. That’s it. So we’ll see.”

This certainly would be an interesting proposition.

Portnoy is worth millions thanks to his ownership of Barstool Sports. He’s willing to do many things to generate publicity, and this would be a big move. Not to mention, it would also help the football team for which he cheers. If he laid out that kind of money and then his player didn’t perform well, you could see him potentially not wanting to commit so much money again. But Portnoy is also familiar with the horse racing world and knows that spending money does not guarantee a winner.

Who’s ready to see Portnoy become a big-time booster?