Throwback Tuesday: Warde Manuel fluff piece from 2021 talking about his Juwan Howard and Mel Pearson Hires
https://www.michigandaily.com/sports/sportsmonday-column-vindication-warde-manuel/
Interesting to read about a time when people thought that Warde did a bunch of stuff behind the scenes and was a good administrator.
3 year old article. Great post, Thad.
Or maybe he did a bunch of stuff behind the scenes and is a good administrator.
They were both good hires, btw. The fact that they didn't work out doesn't change that.
And your rage posting about the Juwan issue for weeks turns out to have resulted in nothing. Could you please link to the comment you have placed on the board where you concede that your presumptive anger was misplaced?
Seriously.
This anti-Warde stuff here is out of control and needs to be reined in. You'd think the athletic department was in chaos and disrepair from the tone of these comments, not coming off a football national championship and a fifth straight college hockey playoff bid. Yes, the basketball team cratered this year ... and so Warde fired the coach and is in the process of replacing him.
There are no reports of sexual harassment or dysfunction in the athletic department that I'm aware of, and no complaints from Ono, the players, the coaches, the regents, or the boosters. Only from fans who have no actual idea what's going on, or what actual choices he's facing.
I, at least, am quite satisfied with the recent achievements of the Michigan athletic department, and it's mind-boggling to me that people actually think Generic AD X would somehow do better.
"There are no reports of sexual harassment or dysfunction in the athletic department."
Mel Pearson and Robert Anderson?
Did Warde have anything to do with Anderson? Canham presided over that mess, and somehow has escaped the scorn that was heaped on Bo.
He definitely presided over the university response to it and hired Shemy Schembechler.
He hired Schemmy? Come on, now, let’s deal with reality.
This is where things get truly bizarre (and to be fair, this is not at all unique to you).
People are outraged both that Warde didn't give Harbaugh what he wanted to be head coach, AND that Warde didn't meddle in Harbaugh's staff hiring decisions.
If you want Warde to give Harbaugh everything he want, that means giving Harbaugh the freedom whomever he wants. Which is the freedom he had. He was empowered to hire Sherrone Moore and Mike Macdonald and Jesse Minter, assembling a staff that will go down in Michigan (and perhaps college football) legend. And he was also empowered to hire Shemy and Conor Stalions.
The people who wanted Warde to stop those hires are generally the same people who want Warde to give Harbaugh everything he wanted.
Pick one.
Thad, all your posts and comments suck lately. Well, they suck even more than they usually do lately.
Why don't you take a break, bud?
March 19th, 2024 at 10:07 PM ^
Harbaugh won the National Championship. Warde did not bring Harbaugh to Michigan. Every decision Warde has made boils down to one principle: "follow the path of least resistance". At every turn, Warde has just looked at the media "buzz" and followed that. In late 2020, we were in a catastrophic global pandemic and there were obvious excuses for the terrible football season. The OSU game got cancelled because the team had COVID, which ironically helped Warde's situation considerably since it de-escalated the fan and media hysteria (an interesting counterfactual to consider is: would Warde have gotten rid of Harbaugh if he had lost 50-0 to OSU that year?).
The Pearson hire was the media's choice. Juwan was the media's choice (mainly because there weren't other options, since it was May). Honestly in 2024, why don't we get rid of the AD position and use ChatGPT? It would have made the same decisions. Here is proof:
March 19th, 2024 at 10:41 PM ^
because ChatGPTAD would make all our receivers' hands look freaky
March 20th, 2024 at 12:08 AM ^
That extra finger might actually come in handy for a receiver.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:42 PM ^
Harbaugh in 2014 was the media’s and fan’s choice. Guess Jim Hackett just did what the media said.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:55 PM ^
He did. It was an absolute no-brainer. But the tricky part there was getting Harbaugh to accept the offer. Harbaugh had other options in the NFL and is also notoriously hard to deal with. Even then, I don't think it was a work of genius or anything.
The Pearson and Juwan hires were still a little easier though, since those guys were making an obvious leap forward in their careers. Going from the NFL back to college is not an obvious leap forward, which is why Hackett's work was marginally more impressive.
So what has he done behind the scenes? For the record, I was in favor of Juwan getting hired. He was forced into getting rid of Juwan because it was politically impossible to keep him. Brian and Seth have stated that their sources have told them that numerous coaches in different sports don't want to come to Michigan solely because of him. It seems kind of bad if an athletic director can't perform his number one job duty which is hiring and retaining coaches.
What has he *not* done? The onus is on the haters to prove that he's not getting it done there, particularly since the "behind the scenes" stuff is the biggest part of the job.
His hiring and firing has largely been fine. His most crucial move was the one he made after the 2020 football season and that worked out great. Obviously, his relationship with Harbaugh isn't great, but then again Harbaugh has been known to be prickly to get along with and hasn't always responded well to superiors; some vaguely inside info suggests that a big part of the issue is that Harbaugh just didn't have much regard for the usual activities that come with being employed, since he didn't see those as a part of his job of coaching a football team. That would understandably cause friction, but also wouldn't be much different with anyone else.
Still, the fact that Ono had to step over Warde last year was not a good look for Warde, and Warde's bungling of the Mel Pearson report was very bad, as I've stated at some length elsewhere.
But you have not spent a lot of time on these issues. You've spent time on stuff that has either been proven wrong (you haven't provided the link I asked for, I notice) or that you possess no evidence for whatsoever. That suggests an irrational hate rather than a genuine issue.
And the fact that you've relentlessly spammed the board with anti-Warde stuff in presumption of his not firing Howard, refused to credit Warde for doing it ("He was forced" is coward excuse language), and continue to rant against him after your three-week diatribe of anti-Warde hate has proven to be specious, is a bad look.
And what's remarkable about this is that when you're not angrily demanding a coach or AD be fired, I recall you being a decent poster in many respects. But this whoel thing of yours is a terrible look.
C'mon. Step back. We all say dumb stuff. But you're hanging on to this like a dog desperately clinging to a rotten boot.
Why am I or anyone supposed to give him credit for firing Juwan? That is an obvious career decision if he doesn't want to get run out of Ann Arbor. If you are going to insinuate that the Warde-Harbaugh relationship was all Harbaugh then why do Beilein and Warde also not get along? I'm still waiting for somebody to say something absolutely great that Warde Mnauel does at Michigan.
You spent weeks ranting about Warde *not* firing Juwan because of rumors and tweets. Not only a bit, either. You spammed the board with it. You are now refusing to admit that your previous behavior turned out to be incorrect.
I have not insinuated that Warde-Harbaugh was all Harbaugh. I don't blame people for not reading everything I type, since I type in considerable, often absurd volume, but if you want to accuse me of saying that it's "all Harbaugh," it's your responsibility not to ignore the fact that I regularly discuss Warde getting stepped over by Ono as a mark against him. A big one, frankly. It is, however, also true that Harbaugh doesn't get along with superiors. I don't think Warde is perfect, but I don't believe that there are many ADs that Harbaugh would have a great relationship with.
By the criteria of most people here, Warde holds some responsibility for the performance of sports teams. You certainly used the basketball team's poor performance this year to attack Warde, therefore you are attached to such a position.
By that criteria, Warde is enormously successful. The "four major sports" in America consist of football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. And Michigan has, under Warde Manuel, made at least the national semifinals in all four of those sports. It goes without saying that Michigan is the only school in America that can claim such a feat in that time period.
Additionally, women's basketball is the strongest it has ever been, gymnastics has won a national title, and a number of other sports are in strong positions.
Most people will allege that Warde isn't responsible for on-field events, yet the things they are angry at him about are almost exclusively on-field issues. And he *did* resist pressure to fire John Beilein (whom you wanted fired) and Jim Harbaugh (whom we both wanted fired) and saw great success as a result. And, given that Michigan's football roster didn't get pillaged despite a lengthy coaching transition, he must even have done something right regarding NIL; one need only look at Alabama's transition to see that.
Look, he has also done some stuff seriously wrong. Those things aren't nothing. But you are being willfully obtuse and intellectually dishonest. I am sure that you're better than this. It is disappointing that you have allowed irrational rage to control your posting so much here.
Out of baseball, hockey, football, and basketball, Warde hired only one of those coaches that reached the semis. I believe you should be judged on what you have actually done and not what you inherit. By that metric, Warde gets praise for the Naurato hire and what he has done with the hockey program outside of the Pearson fiasco. Baseball, football, and Beilein all existed before he was there and what happened was going to happen regardless of who was athletic director. As for Juwan, he fired a 8-24 coach. That was something he should have done all along. It is clear from everyone that he didn't really want to do it until the end. Whether he finally saw the light or was pressured into firing him is irrelevant. Warde will be judged on who he hires and not the fact that Juwan was fired.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:28 PM ^
It's no use, these people are delusional. They're the type of bootlickers who, for whatever reason, will defend managerial incompetency until their dying breath. "Why are you criticizing the CEO who demanded $50 million in compensation and ran their company into the ground? No one could have foreseen the economic headwinds we are facing. You're a peasant, don't even pretend to think you could have made better decisions. The genius of our wizard overlords is beyond your comprehension!"
As Brian says, sometimes the people in charge of things are in charge for no reason.
Stephenrjking doing the lords work in this thread and just bodying people.
I don't even know what you guys want. Harbaugh never bitched about Warde. No Michigan coaches, that I know of, have ever bitched about him. Sherrone Moore didn't say "I won't take the job if Warde is AD." Ono hasn't complained. The Regents haven't complained. No players have complained.
Still, you all choose to accept second (or third!)-hand reports of anonymous accusations, with no names or specifics provided at all.
Please. Why not simply enjoy how well our teams are doing? Why is that such a radical concept?
March 20th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
I immensely enjoy how well our teams are doing. But I worry about the future. As others have noted, it appears that Warde always follows the path that is easiest for Warde. Sometimes the easy choice is the right choice and sometimes it is not. With Warde, it seems like U of M always goes with what is easiest, meaning sometimes we get decisions that are best for U of M and sometimes we do not. Also, I realize that Warde is front and center when it comes to administration of the Athletic Department, but he is not an absolute dictator. In my opinion, the Regents and President Ono also bear responsibility for not retaining Jim, the state of the men's basketball team, etc.
This- didn't the Warde apologists listen to the podcast? The fact that prospective coaches were turned off from coming here because of Warde is a red flag.
You keep waving this little pathetic flag for all Warde's supposed achievements as AD. We get it. You love Warde. But the fact of the matter is that the Pearson hire was a no-brainer. In Berenson's last years, Brian was constantly lamenting that Red had lost his touch and that the program's successes in the early 2010s were actually Pearson's doing. Pearson was the clear "crowdsourced" option.
Meanwhile, the 2019 basketball coaching search had the problem of horrible timing, but that was Warde's fault. You gotta be in better communication with your basketball coach as an AD, so he doesn't leave you in an impossible situation. At the time of Beilein's extension, Warde could have looked him in the eye and said "If you're going to leave, just give me your word you will make the decision in March, not in May". But given that Beilein did, in fact, leave in May, there weren't a lot of options. Granted, I personally think there were better options than an NBA assistant with 2 years of actual coaching experience, but what do I know? I love Juwan the player, but he didn't actually have a coaching track record. "The NBA guys are saying good things about him" is not a track record. But Warde once again went with the "crowdsourced", fan-pleaser option. And now the basketball program doesn't even functionally exist. That is a colossal, epic failure.
Warde clearly didn't look into the culture aspects of both hires.
This is a lazy, tired take. Pearson was Red’s guy and, while he turned out to be an asshole I don’t remember any personality/culture concerns at the time. Same with Juwan. Just because both ended up not succeeding doesn’t make them bad hires at the time.
I took the post as sarcasm. Meaning, Warde can’t see the future.
Some of you take these posts WAY TOO SERIOUSLY!
March 20th, 2024 at 12:11 AM ^
Totally missed your sarcasm; mea culpa
Warde lives rent free in a lot of people’s heads
A true Michigan fan is never happy without a reason to complain.
I'm baffled by people who claim to know what goes on behind the scenes. This is why I don't jump on any Warde bandwagon, either pro or con. Because I really have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, and my guess is the vast majority here don't know either. There has been so much speculation about Warde, and the threads with the piling on and personal attacks are unreadable and border on obsessive.
Assuming you are including the blog leadership in this group.
The Gatling gun of insufferable takes strikes again.
Red Wings beat Columbus 4-3 in OT. Raymond tied it, Kane won it
Still l hate the advertising patch!
March 19th, 2024 at 10:08 PM ^
That was a voodoo magic win. Kane is team MVP and he’s only been there 1/2 the season. Pushing Modano for greatest American player in history
lots of teams that could have signed him kicking themselves right now
say what you want about warde, but only revisionist history can make juwan a bad hire 5 yrs ago. beilein left at a bad time on the coaching carousel. juwan was fab 5, a fine, long pro career, had great reviews about his NBA coaching chops, and was a guy we all thought would relate well to the recruits.
he wins the coach of the year award. we look great for 3 years.
obviously he flamed out and that's too bad (wish him well), but cut the crap that he was anything other than a great hire, given the circumstances at the time.
March 19th, 2024 at 10:09 PM ^
This. No one thought “bad hire by Warde” when he was winning B1G titles
Not to mention that it's a weird coaching cycle where JB left so late to the point where the coaching carousel has already settled. Juwan made the most sense at the time. He's a Fab 5, Michigan alum and has coaching experience even if it's in the NBA plus he was a real candidate for the head coaching job in the NBA. Warde made the most logical hire at the time.
Juwan won the COY, B1G titles, went to Elite 8 and Sweet 16. The hire looked great at the beginning, but a lot of things went wrong for Juwan. Juwan's roster management isn't great, admission didn't help either (Though it's on Juwan to figure that out), transfer portal and NIL beginning has spiraled on Juwan plus his anger had put more scrutiny on Juwan. It was time for Juwan to go as sad it is because he's a Michigan alum who loves the University.
I agree, I thought it was a good hire, and it was. Not enforcing a stated zero tolerance policy though is tough to square.