During Michigan’s bowl game against South Carolina on New Years Day, there was one player who the commentators could not stop talking about. That was none other than Michigan defensive lineman Chase Winovich—AKA the guy with the incredible bright orange hair flowing out from under his winged helmet. Talk about a legend. Although Michigan suffered a heartbreaking loss to South Carolina, Winovich earned an infinitely more important dub: his orange hair raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the ChadTough Foundation, which funds research and raises awareness for pediatric brain tumors. (ChadTough is named after Chad Carr, the grandson of former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr, who passed away from an inoperable brain tumor at age five.) Shortly the Outback Bowl, Winovich announced via social media that he would be foregoing the opportunity to play professional football in 2018, and was choosing to play one more year at Michigan instead. (Those who stay will be champions, am I right?!) Her Campus had the privilege of sitting down with Winovich for his first interview since announcing his decision to stay at Michigan, and we got to learn about ChadTough, Michigan football, and, of course, his iconic hair.
Her Campus: What made you decide to dye your hair orange to raise money for ChadTough?
Chase Winovich: Starting in the summertime, I knew I wanted to do something charitable and find a way to give back. I figured my hair was something that made me unique amongst the thousands of other college players that are out there. I figured that if I could somehow leverage my position on the football team and at the university, but also just as someone people look up to, and if I could somehow take that hair, make it a little controversial by bleaching it or bringing attention towards it, then I could really bring it home whenever I decided to do something charitable. So in conversations with the people in the ChadTough community, like Tammi Carr, we were working on a way that we could somehow fundraise…We decided it would be easiest if we just did a CrowdRise page, and once I get to $15,000, then I’m going to dye my hair orange.
When I announced it, it just kind of took off, and it really showed how much people cared and their generosity. Once we had $15,000, it was like thirteen hours, other people jumped in and I had a teammate [Grant Newsome] jump in and at $38.5 he was gonna dye his hair orange, and then [Maurice Hurst] at $73,000 and then [young Michigan fan Larry Prout Jr.] at $100,000 and then eventually my coach [defensive coordinator Don Brown] jumped in at $125,000 and eventually regent Ron Weiser generously jumped in and joined the fight as well and he offered to match everybody’s donation up to a million dollars.
HC: Did you imagine it would be that successful?
CW: Honestly, I knew it was gonna be successful, but I didn’t know it was gonna be this successful. $420,000 shocked and surprised me. I’m awestruck. But the thing is, I’m not happy for myself. I’m happy for the ripples, like the people I may have inspired to also take up charitable actions themselves, and for the kids that suffer from DIPG and their families. Hearing stories and reading up on my own…there’s no cure for it. It’s untreatable, and a lot of the time these families are forced to go to Mexico for days, if not weeks, at a time, multiple times a month, to try to get these concoctions of drugs that they don’t even know what they are. If I can provide just a little bit of hope and a little bit of something to get them through the day, just by dyeing my hair orange, and showing that I’m standing with them.
HC: Other than playing football, what’s your favorite thing about the University of Michigan?
CW: I’d say the people. Top to bottom, from the professors, to the coaches, to the students, I feel like everyone’s bought into this idea of excellence, and honesty and Michigan pride. It just gleams through everybody. It reminds me a lot of my hometown of Pittsburgh.
HC: Do you have any funny or memorable Harbaugh stories?
CW: I do. He just has such an attention to detail. One time they were working on the quarterback-center exchange, and how it works is the center snaps the ball to the quarterback, so the quarterback obviously has his hands underneath to catch the ball. But for Coach Harbaugh, what was normal and felt natural wasn’t good enough. So Coach Harbaugh was on the ground, staring up in between their legs making sure they got the snap right. I just remember it being the most ridiculous sight I’ve ever seen.
HC: How often are you recognized by random people on campus?
CW: I’m recognized a lot. It’s weird though, with like college students, I feel like they’re not as inclined to be like, “Oh I need to take a picture with you” or whatever. They’ll say hi, though. Last night I was eating dinner and somebody drives by and is like “Chase! Chase! Chase!” and I looked around and they didn’t say like, “Hey, it’s Mike” or “Hey, it’s Sasha”. And I was like, oh, okay. It’s funny. Definitely with the hair, it’s made me somewhat of an icon around here.
HC: What was the biggest factor in your decision to stay at Michigan?
CW: There were a lot of reasons. I just had unfinished business. I didn’t get my degree, which I will now get. I just can’t fathom leaving Michigan on three-loss streak. I came to Michigan to make it a national championship caliber program, and win these championships, and we just haven’t achieved that yet. Along the way, my head said go, go make your money, you’ve got your window here, you’ve got the draft grade, you want it. But my heart just wouldn’t let me leave. I just love it here and I love what we started and I love my teammates and my coaches and I love the university. It’s an honor to come back one more year and just play. College is the best time of your life and money’s gonna be there. I didn’t get into this game to get money.
HC: What’s your biggest bucket list item for next year?
CW: I’m trying to avoid making promises and guarantees because I’m not trying to trap myself, but my biggest bucket list item is, I’m not saying we’re gonna necessarily do it, but my biggest bucket list item would be beating Ohio State. I just want to be the best leader of this team that I can be, and ultimately I think my legacy among my teammates will be how good of a leader I can be. I’m sure the results will show from that.
HC: How do you bounce back after a disappointing game, and how can college students apply that to their lives even if they don’t play a sport?
CW: I feel like it’s not necessarily a football thing. Bad things are gonna happen, no matter what field you’re in, no matter what you do in life. My mindset is to account for these things to the best of my abilities. So when something does happen, I’m not necessarily caught off guard. I understand that injuries happen, sometimes you just don’t play as well as you need to. By accounting for these things that happen, I’ve already taken the pressure off myself. I just go out and play and give the best of my ability and whatever happens from there, happens. So if something bad happens, I look at it right in the face, I say, “What happened here? How can I learn from it?” and I take whatever lessons I can and just move on. Success is cyclical. There are rises and there are plateaus and in those plateaus, that’s when you learn the most. I firmly believe that. So take losses for what they are, learn from them, and move on.
HC: What can Michigan fans expect from the team and from you during your last season?
CW: For myself, they can expect some great hair. Maybe mix it up a little bit, new colors, maybe some pink, some purple. Great hair and aggressive football play. If you’re a quarterback, we’re coming as a defensive line. If you’re on our schedule, we’ll be playing balls to the wall trying to get every win we can. Trying to get them all.
HC: Most importantly, what is your hair care routine?
CW: I try to shampoo every other day. I condition every day, sometimes I use leave-in conditioner. Every morning I brush my hair with a wet brush, so like if I don’t use the leave-in conditioner, I’ll try to mix in some coconut oil as a conditioner. Not the roots though, I try to avoid the roots.
We will definitely be implementing Winovich’s tips into our hair care routines, but more importantly, we’ll be trying to replicate his desire to give back and succeed. We can’t express how excited we are to have Winovich back in maize and blue for one more season. It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine!
Photo credit 247Sports.