Michigan built champions in Warde Manuel’s tenure as AD; now, it needs an adult

Warde Manuel’s tenure as Michigan athletic director has been transformative, taking the Wolverines back to the greatest heights of the athletic world. It’s also been plagued by chaos. 

On Monday, Michigan announced that Manuel would step down at the end of the year following an external review of the athletic department’s culture. However, he will bizarrely stay on as an advisor to the president throughout the process. 

“The culture review found that Warde Manuel demonstrated important leadership strengths, particularly his commitment to student-athletes,” Michigan said in a release. “At the same time, it identified failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by Athletic Department employees.” 

Now, Michigan faces one of the most important hires in athletic department history. 

Manuel has long been a controversial figure at Michigan, dating back to his earliest conflicts with Jim Harbaugh. In the wake of NIL, Manuel was conservative, despite leading one of the richest schools in college athletics. However, the winning has been impossible to ignore. 

In 2024, Michigan captured its first outright football national championship since 1948. Two years later, May led the men’s basketball team to a national title, making the Wolverines only the second program in the 21st century to win both. Men’s hockey, women’s basketball and gymnastics have also taken strides toward elite status. 

Then, the scandals started dropping. There were the two NCAA investigations into Harbaugh — one for improper recruiting during the pandemic, one for alleged sign-stealing. Moore’s improper relationship with a staffer led to a violent confrontation and arrest, making national news. Former co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss was also fired and arrested after illegally accessing private student photos and data. 

This is the University of Michigan, perhaps the bluest blue blood in the history of the sport. The instability is simply unnecessary for a program of this stature. 

This offseason, Manuel had to replace both football coach Sherrone Moore and men’s basketball coach Dusty May after the latter left for the NBA. Michigan made two short-term hires: 66-year-old Kyle Whittingham for football and promoted assistant Mike Boynton to lead the men’s basketball program. The latter received only a two-year contract that requires him to win 24 games and finish in the top four in the Big Ten to be renewed. 

Hanging over all of this, Michigan lost its university president, Santa Ono, in 2025. His replacement, Syracuse’s Kent Syverud, ultimately did not take the job after a cancer diagnosis. Interim president Domenico Grasso was promoted to full-time in May, but the university is still conducting a search for its next president, as Grasso is in his 70s. 

The mayhem has been a dark cloud over the athletic department at a time that should have been celebratory. NIL has become a major advantage for the Wolverines, making it perhaps the most attractive program in America. Mixed with the university’s prestige and status within the Big Ten, the draws are obvious. 

With the power vacuum at the top, Manuel will bizarrely be allowed to stay on and advise on the future of Michigan athletics. Apparently, getting dismissed for cultural issues within your department doesn’t compromise your opinions on said department. 

However, Manuel laid out the model for moving on from this moment in his most recent football hire. Michigan would be wise to take it. 

In the weeks after Moore was dismissed as Michigan coach, the Wolverines looked for a steady hand to stabilize the program. Immediately, Whittingham emerged as a perfect fit. Whittingham spent 21 years as the coach at Utah, winning three conference championships and transitioning the Utes to the Power Four. 

Perhaps more importantly, Whittingham ran a squeaky-clean program in Salt Lake City. He’s one of the most respected figures in the sport. 

Michigan doesn’t have to hire a short-term athletic director to move on from Manuel. But they need an adult in the room. 

When Ohio State’s athletic director job opened, they poached Texas A&M’s Ross Bjork. Texas A&M pulled Nebraska’s Trev Alberts, and the Cornhuskers enticed Washington’s Troy Dannen. Miami also pulled Dan Radakovich from Clemson as they tried to take a swing at the national elite. 

Manuel helped take Michigan from the middle of the pack to the elite. Now, the next hire has to rebuild trust in the administration. Michigan should not have to compromise.