Qualified First, Michigan Second Comment Count

Brian

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.]

Comments

notetoself

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.

Reader71

January 29th, 2016 at 1:08 PM ^

Depends on how you define qualifications.

By normal metrics, Coach Rod was qualified. Bo probably wasn't. Canham probably wasn't. The meltdown of the board after Hackett was appointed suggests he wasn't.

What ultimately matters is ability, of which qualifications is a metric, but not the only one. Bo Who, remember.

Luckily, Canham, a guy with ability, knew what he wanted. Similarly, Hackett, a guy with ability, knows what he wants in Manuel.

Welcome back, Warde. We're all behind you. We expect the world. Give it to us, please.

JFW

January 29th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^

After reading end zone, it made me remember how jumpy I was after Brandon left. It's hard to remember now I feel so calm. But after Brandon, Hoke, and Rodriguez I reacted to every new hire the way my dog reacts to fireworks. "I know littke about what just happened, but it's almost certainly bad"




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Michigasling

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. 

True Blue Grit

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!  

Big Boutros

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.

Craig Dunaway

January 29th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^

Love the choice.
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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Jason Kapsner …

January 29th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^

I think Bates would have been a pretty poor choice. Look at his track record at Miami and Boston College. His hirings have been consistently bad. At BC his "major" accomplishments in three years have been putting video boards in the stadium and adding Purdue to the football schedule. The Dave Brandon nightmare taught us that being one of Bo's former players is not enough qualification to be AD.

TL;DR version: Yay Warde!

Craig Dunaway

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!

mgofro

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

Princetonwolverine

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. 

uncleFred

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.

Uncle Rico

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...

Alton

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.

Michigan4Harbaugh

January 29th, 2016 at 2:59 PM ^

This is a great day for Michigan!! The Michigan kingdom will be in great hands! Welcome Warde Manuel!!

alum96

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.