Hello: New Athletic Director Warde Manuel
via UConn Athletics
After most of a decade as one of two excellent candidates Michigan apparently had waiting in the wings, it looks like Michigan has decided on UConn AD Warde Manuel:
Report: It's Warde Manuel to be next AD at Michigan https://t.co/IPMnRGmHBS
— The Michigan Insider (@michiganinsider) January 27, 2016
Who says? AJerseyGuy is Mark Blaudschun, a former Boston Globe reporter who covers UConn. While it appears that Michigan didn't plan to announce until later in the week, the Freep's David Jesse and Mark Snyder posted the news soon after Blaudschun. While Michigan did its due diligence, Manuel and Boston College AD Brad Bates were consensus frontrunners for the position going back to the search that yielded Dave Brandon. If they did Crystal Balls for ADs, Sam Webb should get epic points.
A quick take: Manuel built a football program where there was none in two locations—Buffalo and UConn—and got Michigan to fill his stadium despite Brandon twisting in the wind to get it moved to a neutral New York site. Prior to those jobs he was Bill Martin's top lieutenant, running football and basketball operations at Michigan, his alma mater. He's considered one of the best ADs nationally. Brian will share his thoughts once he's done with a super secret important matter. Some bits he's shared in the past:
Manuel hired Turner Gill at Buffalo, who briefly made Buffalo not the worst team in D-I, and then ended up hiring Kevin Ollie at UConn, though that was not much of a decision. Paul Pasqualoni was already in place when he was hired at UConn; he fired him and replaced him with ND DC Bob Diaco after taking a swing at MSU DC Pat Narduzzi. That may or may not work out but that process seems pretty sensible to me.
My take: The best possible choice since tying Jim Hackett to a chair for the next 20 years had several legal and logistical disadvantages. Among the various tales of greatness that are about to emerge, my favorite is at Buffalo he swooped in to hire the woman who successfully sued Isiah Thomas and the Knicks.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
simply because Bo mentioned him in Lasting Lessons, "betting" he'd be M's athletic director someday (this was while Bates was at Miami NTM). In fact, Bates had his own chapter as did Hackett and Harbaugh, so it would have been some nice symmetry or serendipidy or whatever the word is.
Anyway, that's kind of a dumb reason lol. Bates would have been cool, but Manuel sounds like a home run hire. And I believe he and Harbaugh were teammates? Looking forward to Warde's regime!
January 27th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
I figure if we hired Brad Bates, and considering we just got Don Brown, Boston College would have come just un-glued and black-listed anything to do with the state of Michigan.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^
He was in my graduating class at Michigan, so I'm kind of prejudiced in that way. And I always took Bo's endorsement very highly. But choosing between the two was a "can't lose" scenario to me. Manuel has experience here, plus he's younger. So, the likelihood he stays around for a long time is greater.
I think this is going to end up being a great day for U-M fans, between this, the commitment(s), and the b-ball game tonight.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^
This January...
Al Borges is back.
and this time...
he's black.
Warde Manuel
Coming soon
January 27th, 2016 at 1:35 PM ^
Can we get Nutrisystem or Medi-Fast?
January 27th, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^
I'm putting my Crystal Ball in that Brian's going to be a dad this summer.
super secret important matter = first ultrasound
January 27th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
This is exactly what I was thinking as well... a little Brain Cook. Or Brainette.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^
If true, MGoBaby has no idea what he/she is getting him/herself into...
January 27th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^
(if true) The real question is if they timed the due date to be May/June on purpose. Babies are OT - gotta get the middle of OT season.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
18 years of OT. Unpaid.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:10 PM ^
do we need to get another bye week so mgowife can have wife week and mgobaby can have baby week?
January 27th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
wondering what other news might be related to the super secret business in the lead?
January 27th, 2016 at 11:38 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
Let's hear more about his branding expertise, and especially about his ability to couple Michigan with cola purchases. Does he even know where the giant Kraft rape noodle goes?
You're no Dave Brandon, Warde Manuel. We knew Dave Brandon, and you're no Dave Brandon.
(So please, make yourself at home!)
January 27th, 2016 at 12:03 PM ^
... Kraft rape?
January 27th, 2016 at 4:53 PM ^
Printed upon the noodle were the words "You Know You Love It".
"You Know You Love It" struck some as ... rapey. Especially with the giant noodle being an unwelcome intruder to begin with.*
*And yes, it would also seem rapey coming from a noodle with whom one was already acquainted. The fact that anything, living or dead, only says "you know you love it" is creepy where I'm from. Imagine if that was the only thing that Groot said ... .
January 27th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^
That we gave him a commitable offer? ;-)
(^joke! please don't shoot)
January 27th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
Manuel is one of the very few ADs Michigan has hired since Crisler who has athletics experience. Canham, Goss, Martin, Brandon, and Hackett all had business backgrounds. Bo was Bo, Weidenbach was his assistant AD, and Roberson had worked in other major positions at the University of Michigan. I am not at all against hiring a businessperson as AD in theory, but I think at the juncture Michigan athletics stands at, having a person who has experience with big time college athletics can be a major positive for the program. Someone who has contacts at the NCAA and with the TV Networks, someone who knows other ADs. I like that he comes from a school with a big basketball team, and a hockey team. This is an exciting hire, and I'm looking forward to seeing what ideas he has for moving the program forward.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:51 AM ^
Canham's background was in athletics. He was our track coach from 1950-68.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:55 AM ^
So it was. Bad research on my part.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:08 PM ^
Actually two big basketball teams. Wiki'd the women: 10 NCAA nat'l championships (39-0 record in their 6th championship season in 2008, 39-0 again for their 7th in 2009), plus 16 final fours and a record winning streak of 90 games.
Local paper (Hartford Courant) does some "comparison shopping" between the two schools to see why Manuel might want to return to his alma mater.
January 29th, 2016 at 8:17 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 11:51 AM ^
I like to call this hire a real 69.
It's nice.
January 27th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
And the servers are still going! Welcome Warde and way to go MGoBlog Servers!
January 27th, 2016 at 11:58 AM ^
I just hope Warde has read Endzone. I dont want him doing what another former player did as Athletic Director.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:13 PM ^
As a former associate AD here, he knows what success in the department looks like and has likely been fully aware of the recent downfall.
I'm convinced he's fully capable of using his experience and learning from Hackett to keep *all* student-athletes, coaches, and employees happy.
Plus, he's 47 and I'm guessing that like Harbaugh, this could be a terminal gig for him.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^
Manuel is a polar opposite from Brandon.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^
Galactic opposite, even.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:02 PM ^
I think Warde Manuel is a great hire for the program. As a UConn alum it is too bad that he is going so soon because I think he would have gotten us out of the American conference soon but nevertheless I think he left a positive mark on the program. (I am a bigger fan of Michigan football than UConn athletics). One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet that I thought would be interesting to you is that during his tenure at UConn, UConn won more national championships across all sports programs than all Division 1 colleges other than Oregon. So he knows how to lead a winner. One thing in the post that is incorrect is that Warde did not build the football program at UConn. UConn became a 1-A program in 2000 and was a member of the Big East from 2004-2012, beating South Carolina in the bowl game in 09-10 and reaching the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma 2010-11. Regardless of this I think he made a good hire in Bob Diaco as he was handed a terrible situation with Paul Pasqualoni.
-Unrelated side story I thought I would share. In the 2013 Michigan vs. UConn football game @ UConn a friend of mine and I who is also a UM fan wore Maize Michigan football Jerseys in the front row of the student section and with a few minutes left in the game were escorted out of the stadium by police "for our own safety."
January 27th, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^
first order of business: drop 35 lbs.
Hard to get behind a leader who lacks the discipline to control their weight at a healthy level. This is even more critical as AD....who oversees an ATHLETIC department.
January 27th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
January 27th, 2016 at 12:19 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 8:18 AM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
I like that picture, it looks like he's holding up a little hovering ball in his hand.
January 27th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
Ability to levitate small objects may not be a skill applicable to the job, but it would be cool nonetheless
January 27th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^
We have one of the best FB/MBB/AD trios in the country. I'd put MSU, OSU, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Duke as the others in the top 6.
Manuel is an awesome guy, an awesome fit, and an awesome AD.
This is a home run hire!
January 27th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
Welcome Warde! Now kindly take your place behind the curtain and continue what Jim Hackett started.
January 27th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
I thought "ajerseyguy" was full of shit on several occasions. No?
January 27th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^
I mean, look at how that training remote is elevated in the air with his mind.
The Sith will never return!!!!
January 27th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
Great news, he seems like a smart, experienced choice with Michigan experience. The long path to getting right on the heels of the Brandon disaster just got a little easier I think.
January 27th, 2016 at 1:33 PM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 2:07 PM ^
Manuel actually kind of looks like Hackett if that's any consolation.
January 27th, 2016 at 2:40 PM ^
January 27th, 2016 at 7:20 PM ^
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