UM's Manuel lends B1G hand to new MSU AD Beekman

Michigan State president John Engler introduces Bill Beekman as permanent athletic director. The Detroit News

Buy PhotoEast Lansing — Back in February, when Michigan State named Bill Beekman its interim athletic director, the longtime university employee received plenty of calls.

One of the first, however, came from someone most might not guess. It was from Warde Manuel, athletic director at the University of Michigan.

While Michigan and Michigan State are each other’s chief rival anytime the teams meet in competition, the collaboration between the state’s biggest schools is more common than most understand. And it was in that spirit Beekman quickly came to understand what it means to be an…