A new $275 online course tracing Michigan football from its first game in 1879 through the opening of Michigan Stadium launched Monday, Aug. 10, through the University of Michigan's Marsal Family School of Education.

The self-paced class carries no credit and is open to anyone willing to enroll. No deadlines apply.

Greg Dooley, a full-time lecturer at the School of Education who also teaches undergraduate courses on the history of college athletics, built the course around 12 documentary-style video lectures, each roughly 30 minutes long. The material draws on more than 300 archival images and features commentary from college football historians including John Kryk, Robert Soderstrom and Dave Revsine.

"Michigan football is about much more than wins and losses," Dooley said in the course announcement from the Bentley Historical Library. "It's a story of innovation, tradition, larger-than-life personalities, and the ways athletics helped shape the university itself."

Dooley, who holds a U-M bachelor's degree and an MBA from Indiana University, runs the Michigan football history site MVictors.com and co-hosts the "Professor and The Pundit" podcast with Ann Arbor sports radio host Steve Clarke. Before joining the faculty, he worked as an IT executive.

The course covers topics including the birth of "The Victors" fight song, the first Rose Bowl and the construction of the Big House, which opened Oct. 1, 1927, with a 33-0 victory over Ohio Wesleyan. That history carries extra weight heading into 2027, when Michigan Athletics plans to celebrate the stadium's 100th anniversary.

Lectures were filmed at campus locations including the Michigan Union, Angell Hall, Ferry Field, Yost Field House, Schembechler Hall and the Towsley Museum. Students who complete the course receive a digital certificate and badge. Optional add-ons include a course-branded shirt and in-person "Office Hours" sessions with Dooley on campus, with details still to come.

Enrollment is open through the university's Canvas Catalog platform. A Vol. II covering 1928 to 1964 is planned, though no release date has been announced.

Michigan opens its 2026 season against Western Michigan on Saturday, Sept. 5, at Michigan Stadium.