Qualified First, Michigan Second
Jim Harbaugh presented Warde Manuel with a jersey. pic.twitter.com/FhYCUdNNtL
— Eric Upchurch (@EUpchurchPhoto) January 29, 2016
By all accounts, Warde Manuel won his opening press conference in a blowout. This is usually the way of opening pressers, full as they are of hope and barren as they are of data. There have been hopeful pressers for men so doomed that a nine-foot-tall skeleton with a scythe asked the first question. "HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO BE HERE?" it intoned in the general direction of Paul Pasqualoni, "AND ISN'T IT ALL ABOUT THE KIDS?"
We've learned over the past five years that winning the press conference has an extremely low correlation with success. Jim Hackett deployed awkward MBA jargon; Dave Brandon sold me a vacuum with no return policy. We have also learned that hiring qualified people has a high correlation with success. Brady Hoke had one good year at BGSU; Jim Harbaugh has built program after program into towering Schembechlerian things.
Warde Manuel is mercifully, finally, obviously qualified. He has run athletic departments at Buffalo and UConn. Before that he spent years working his way up the ranks of Michigan's athletic department. At Buffalo he hired Turner Gill, the only guy to make Buffalo football even vaguely passable. At UConn he was presented Kevin Ollie and didn't screw that up. He hired ND defensive coordinator Bob Diaco to replace Pasqualoni, that after making a run at Pat Narduzzi*. He spearheaded a move to Hockey East for UConn hockey. Everything he's done in the public eye makes sense.
Incredibly, he is the first sitting athletic director to ever get the AD job at Michigan. That aversion to experience was common sense in Don Canham's time when the job of Michigan athletic director barely resembled AD at, say, Purdue. It was anything but by the early 90s, when Tom Goss bombed the department's finances and erected an infamous eyesore. But Michigan persisted with various businessmen, hitting on one who'd get things more or less right and one who would get everything vastly wrong.
The one who got things right, Bill Martin, erased a major deficit and put Michigan on a path towards long-term financial stability. In the context of the athletic department at that juncture, which needed money and classy architecture more than anything, a real estate magnate who built his company from the groud up was qualified. He was also Michigan, but he was qualified first.
Martin's main issue came where he was not qualified: a football coaching search. That search is not like other searches, and it seemed to veer chaotically from one goofy candidate to the next before landing on Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez was a superficially excellent candidate submarined by many, many things. One of them was the Michigan football host rejecting an organ transplant from a guy who grew up in the "holler."
Manuel has to undo some damage the guy who got everything wrong inflicted. A chunk of that is financial, as the department collected Executive Vice President types like they were limited edition pogs under Brandon. But thanks to Martin and the ever-rising tide of television fees, Manuel should be free to do the athletic department things he's done so well in his previous stops: hiring good people.
And if he references Fielding Yost and this Michigan of ours along the way, all the better. He's qualified first, Michigan second. Jim Harbaugh is also a combination of these things. The bright future of the football program is about to spread to the rest of the department, because the people in charge of things have reasons to be in charge of them.
*[Don't fret about Pasqualoni. His hire was one of the last acts of the previous AD.]
January 29th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 1:01 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 1:03 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
It was either snark or a mistake. I wonderd too.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:09 PM ^
the best typos are the ones that can be misconstrued as snark
i remember writing in to bill simmons way back in the day because he had said someone "was 5 feet tall soaking wet" and the intern that responded told me that even after corresponding with bill, it was unclear if it was intentional or not.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:21 PM ^
No doubt a typo given Brian's recent lack of sleep, bit overall well written and truly gives you a lot faith and hope going forward. Once again thank you Jim and Welcome Back Warde.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:25 PM ^
It was Urban Meyer who had "one good year at BGSU."
Chalk up another win for the tiny little baby. The kid is killing it, no doubt.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:04 PM ^
Knocked it out of the park in his press conference. Excited for the future of the department.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:05 PM ^
Wonder what kind of benefits we'll get by having The Kingpin as our AD.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
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January 29th, 2016 at 1:17 PM ^
beyond his involvement with the search committee. Seems it was a team effort led by Schlissel (who himself is proving himself a very fine leader for our university).
January 29th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^
January 31st, 2016 at 7:37 PM ^
No need to question your sources. It's what makes Schlissel so good for his job.
When he first took the job, he was very open about what he needed to learn about the university, so it wouldn't be surprising that he'd have Hackett heavily involved, as an advisor and sounding board at the very least. The Major Sports thing was new to him when he came here, and rather than dismiss it as unimportant, he took it upon himself to learn what it meant to Michigan and why. Impressed with how he worded his conclusions at this press conference after his first year on the job.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:10 PM ^
is absolutely hilarious. How many press conferences did we see in the last few Hoke years with him standing in the back? Fortunately, no sign of him today. Welcome back to Michigan, Warde!
January 29th, 2016 at 3:14 PM ^
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January 29th, 2016 at 1:23 PM ^
Michigan AD Power Ranking:
1. Dave Brandon. A mastermind. Revolutionary in the fields of business, athletics, lip gloss, and pizza.
2. Tom Goss. Aesthetic and financially savvy. Brilliant mind for crisp, clear designs.
3. Jim Stapleton. A shadowy puppet master. Bill Martin was a smokescreen.
4. Joe Roberson. Cool as a cucumber. Can sleep over 17 hours in one night.
5. Jack Weidenbach. He attended the meetings, most of the time.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
Also would've felt good with Brad Bates. Both qualified first, Michigan second. I met Warde maybe 15 years ago and was very impressed with his interest in finding out--and doing--what was best for Michigan. First Mr. Hackett, and now Mr. Manuel. We're fortunate to have such quality people ready to take the reins.
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January 29th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 4:50 PM ^
I offer no argument about Brad's accomplishments other than to say it's got to be easier to hire who you want when you're hiring for Michigan. My comfort with him comes from knowing the kind of person he is. We were teammates and have maintained occasional contact. When he received his scholarship, the entire team gave him a standing ovation. One of the coolest things that happened in my time at Michigan. Ranks up there with Bo being carried off the field after the '81 Rose Bowl, and being in the pile of humanity that smothered A.C. after that TD vs. Indiana in '79.
I have no doubt Brad could do great things here, but today, I'm very happy Warde will get the chance to. Great job by all involved to bring back the Michigan we all want. Messrs. Hackett and Schlissel and the Regents did exactly what we hoped they would. I couldn't be happier about who's in charge and where the program is headed. GO BLUE!
January 29th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
"...because the people in charge of things have reasons to be in charge of them."
January 29th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^
Not sure if he was qualified or not when it comes to basketball coaching searches, but he did a pretty good job with that hire.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^
Sorry, I don't know what this is referring to. Any help?
January 29th, 2016 at 1:51 PM ^
He is referring to the infamous "halo" around the stadium.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
ahh, thanks!
January 29th, 2016 at 3:28 PM ^
Halo http://www.annarbor.com/news/-the-halo-ann-arbor/
"It did cause quite a bit of controversy," said U-M spokeswoman Joanne Nesbit. Letters that spell out phrases from the "Hail to the Victors" fight song as well as football and university icons were removed last month, and the sheet metal background will be repainted in the spring with a more muted color scheme. The university will spend about $100,000 to tone things down. Metro Detroit Signs did the put-up and the take-down.
http://www.detroitbuildingtrades.org/newspapr/feb182000.html
January 29th, 2016 at 1:52 PM ^
Around Michigan Stadium, 1998-2000, with lyrics to The Victors. Classic lily gilding.
January 29th, 2016 at 3:03 PM ^
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January 29th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^
Football was stable, yes (aside from the 0-2 start in '98). But basketball fell off a cliff during that time, accompanied by scads of off-court embarrassments.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:45 PM ^
and Hackett is sticking around a little bit to help with the transition. I expect UM athletics to continue to hum along nicely under Warde.
January 29th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
Here's a link to the press conference:
January 29th, 2016 at 1:47 PM ^
I like this. I am happy. I am Jack's feeling of contentment.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:01 PM ^
Brandon's obvious problem was he sold Brian a vacuum when it should have been an extra large pie with pepperoni.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:27 PM ^
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
And so things come full circle, men who exemplify the very best aspect of Michigan return to join together and lead it forward to new levels of greatness.
Things are in the best possible hands. What a long strange trip it's been.
Welcome back Warde.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^
+1 for the Dead reference, and may the Linemen continue truckin'.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:42 PM ^
Can anyone post a link to the entire press conference? Thanks in advance.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^
It's probably a good hire but ....
There are many UConn insider folks (alums, ticket holders, etc) who blame Manuel for their current plight, walking in the desert now known as the AAC. Apparently Manuel was not available and/or active when all the conference realignment stuff went down, which is why they were not able to hook up with one of the P5 confs (likely ACC, I guess). Sounds like a Bill Martin sailing story...
January 29th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^
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January 29th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
Exactly. The ACC already had a New England presence, and UConn is not in the NYC TV market. Landing UConn would give a P5 commissioner the ability to negotiate with a small TV market with little interest in college football. In other words, nothing.
January 29th, 2016 at 4:43 PM ^
There are a lot of Connecticut fans who are delusional when it comes to the relative athletic status of their university. If you ask them, they should be in the ACC or in the Big Ten (because they are really good at men's and women's basketball, I guess).
They don't understand that (a) football only is driving expansion, and (b) Connecticut's football program is not P5 quality. In other words, Connecticut is not a candidate for the Big Ten or the ACC--there is no value added there for those conferrences.
If their fans want to blame Manuel for that, fine, but they are wrong.
January 29th, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^
January 29th, 2016 at 3:09 PM ^
Not much in terms of major hires in the near term with extensions to Beilein and Harbaugh - main one will be the guy after Red and really that is a hire for more hard core UM fans. Should be pretty smooth sailing for half a decade really.
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