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warde manuel

Hello: New Athletic Director Warde Manuel Comment Count

Seth

Warde Manuel, director of athletics, is interviewed at his office at Gampel Pavillion on Sept. 3, 2013. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

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:

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.

Comments

Moonlight Graham

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!

Joined: 09/12/2011

MGoPoints: 7559

True Blue Grit

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.

Joined: 01/21/2011

MGoPoints: 32234

Everyone Murders

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!)

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

Everyone Murders

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 ... .

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 65552

jman077

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.

Joined: 12/08/2008

MGoPoints: 881

Michigasling

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.

Joined: 11/21/2009

MGoPoints: 7751

ItsGreatToBe

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.

Joined: 11/10/2009

MGoPoints: 2727

UMfanUConnalum

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."

Joined: 02/20/2012

MGoPoints: 139

late night BTB

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.

Joined: 12/05/2010

MGoPoints: 978

Vivz

January 27th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

I didn't follow it very closely, but how did the Uconn basketball scandal playout? Did Manuel look the other way or was Calhoun a rogue loose cannon and Warden had clean hands?

Joined: 12/14/2010

MGoPoints: 1213

Mr. Yost

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!

Joined: 07/25/2011

MGoPoints: -9898220

BoFan

January 27th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^

Manual has a great rep and is probably a great hire. I trust Hackett. But if he worked on Bill Martin's staff that's a black mark and not a plus.

Joined: 03/09/2012

MGoPoints: 19908

Rabbit21

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.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30303

Reader71

January 27th, 2016 at 7:20 PM ^

This is great. Warde Manuel is a great guy and his track record shows some serious chops. Not to toot my own horn, but I've known this for a few months. He has been the prohibitive favorite for some time. It was an open secret around the program. Toot, toot.

Joined: 08/30/2009

MGoPoints: 22968