Fire Warde Manuel
Warde is basically just a nicer Dave Brandon at this point. I get that he isn't going to keep every good coach at Michigan but at some point you have to ask yourself why he can't keep John Beilein, Erik Bakich, Jim Harbaugh, Adam Steinberg (M Tennis), Jesse Minter, Ben Herbert, Mike Elston etc. That's a lot. You have his administrative issues like Zavier Simpson, Shemy, NIL, Mel Pearson, not backing Jim Harbaugh with the TRO/NCAA stuff. He doesn't want to fire Juwan when the men's basketball team is perhaps the worst non mid-major team in the country. Michigan's nonrevenue sports are tracking downward besides wrestling. Everything he does takes forever and sometimes doesn't get done like Harbaugh's contract, investigating if OSU hired the PI firm, or making a decision on Mel Pearson. If Michigan doesn't fire him now, it will get worse. They will lose players to other schools with better NIL deals, they will lose more coaches, they will lose money from donors etc.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:08 PM ^
we'll lose players because Jim has taken all our coaches.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:11 PM ^
Harbaugh is literally whipping his dick out and pissing all over Warde with these hirings 😆 🤣
And I don't blame him at all.
Fuck off Warde.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:36 PM ^
Seems to me like he’s pissing all over Moore
February 6th, 2024 at 8:01 PM ^
Harbaugh literally gift wrapped and personally delivered the best head coaching job in all of college sports to Coach Moore.
Moore knew exactly what Jim's plans were with these hirings.
Coach Moore and Coach Harbaugh will be friends for life.
Don't be silly.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:11 PM ^
Lifetime college recruiting coordinator tied directly to Grant and Graham's future plus the best COLLEGE S&C coach in the game. Yeah Im not so sure.
February 7th, 2024 at 5:56 PM ^
Harbaugh is fucking us over ...........so Warde.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:13 PM ^
Warde is the passive aggressive version of Dave Brandon.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:14 PM ^
I believe Moore earned his chance...but Moore with staff intact is much different than Moore with a bunch of upjumps and new comers like Casula and whoever ends up as DC. If Warde had any doubt that our staff would remain in place then a complete coaching search should have happend. If Moore was still the best choice so be it. Of course Warde wouldn't know any of that because he has been completely hands off with contract negotiations with this entire football program. This is complete malpractice from an athletic department. I hate to sound like a hater but the current staff of campbell, newsome, casula, bellamy, the ST coach whoever the fuck, and hopefully Hart and Clink is worse than any staff Brady Hoke had. Assuming Moore won't bring in a DC as succesful as Mattison was at the time we might now have the worst coaching staff among the B10 contenders. I will root like hell for coach Moore but had I known our staff would look like this I would have been pushing for Jedd Fisch to at least get an interview. Warde needs to go.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:48 PM ^
So what, now we’re going to fault Warde for actually following through with the succession plan that was in place, presumably endorsed by Harbaugh himself? Warde has plenty of professional failings, but we can’t have it both ways. Also I doubt that Harbaugh said on his way out “You should name Moore HC, and by the way I’m going to try to take the majority of the staff with me.”
February 6th, 2024 at 8:12 PM ^
i would like to think warde had conversations with all the coaches before officially hiring moore.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:13 PM ^
I mean, I'm going to fault Warde for poor execution. It's predictable that important people (most particularly Minter) were going to leave, and it's predictable that Harbaugh would be offering his guys to come with him. So why does it feel like there wasn't a plan in place to replace staff? Or, if your conclusion was you couldn't do much to keep the staff post-Harbaugh, should you have hired Moore as the continuity guy? I don't know.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:41 PM ^
Who would we have hired, then, given the timing?
February 6th, 2024 at 9:56 PM ^
I don't know, and it's not my job to know - I'm just some guy who posts on a Michigan forum. My point is that it doesn't seem like this transition was a thoughtful exercise and that was Manuel's job.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:08 PM ^
Sure, but how are we doing right now if we don’t promote Moore and instead do a full coaching search? Everyone seems to be worried about guys hitting the portal, but that hasn’t happened (yet, at least), and we’d likely have much more attrition if it looked like we were going to bring in an outside person for HC (and again, who the hell would that be, exactly). Tell me how it’s a thoughtful exercise to do a full head coaching search in the current landscape.
February 7th, 2024 at 7:30 AM ^
My point here is that it doesn't seem like Warde had a plan for the replacement process. It may have been the right call to retain Moore, I don't know. I'm not opposed to it! But it feels like Warde didn't make any plan for this transition, which is what I'm irked by.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:14 PM ^
Warde doesnt name a new HC without having a plan in place.
Good luck kid isnt a fucking plan. Its his department and handing Moore 1/3 a staff is on him. If Moore had 3 years under his belt ok but not now. Its his job to get him what he needs now that he hired him with no experience.
Good luck kid! Fuck that guy.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:26 PM ^
Yeah, while Warde certainly isn’t my favorite, I have to be a bit annoyed at Harbaugh too for getting his guy (Moore) advanced into a head coaching gig and then undercutting him by raiding his existing staff. That’s a complete and total dick move in my book. He talked up Moore as being the best man for the job and then poached his staff. Why even have a coach in waiting if you’re going to do something like this?
February 6th, 2024 at 8:23 PM ^
I will continue to be baffled by people claiming Harbaugh anointed Moore. He was the next in line, I guess. Jim said he thought he was the best choice. Warde hired him. Maybe they were both wrong and Moore is a doofus as a leader. We will find out but this whole thing is a clusterfuck, regardless and that is solely on the AD.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:38 PM ^
How could anyone be baffled that Harbaugh anointed Moore? He basically came out and said as much when he was hired, and it was assumed well before that point that Moore was the coach in waiting.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
Moore coached 1/3 the regular season with wins vs OSU, PSU and Maryland.
Moore was the best coach available until Jim pulled his college S&C coach and his Dline/Recruiting coordinator (tied closely to Grant and Graham). This was the moment where Moore wasnt the best candidate because hiring an entirely new defensive staff in February is something an experienced coach wouldnt want to do. Jim took who he wanted but also the "fuck you" to Warde was a little bonus. Jim cares about Jim and thats about it. You are lucky when he is your coach and unlucky if he needs something at your expense. Just ask Moore.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:42 PM ^
Agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:30 PM ^
While 90% of this board probably agrees...the question is how is the message going to be relayed to the decisions makers?
Are they receptive or are they in Wardes corner and do not want to do anything? There might be enough who do not want change
February 6th, 2024 at 11:41 PM ^
If you are relentless and the Michigan fan and alumni base continues to make it known via all platforms (social media, email, rallies, etc.), it will happen eventually.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:31 PM ^
As a reactionary Michigan fan, scapegoating Warde Manuel is 100% accurate - because things ARE negative. If the opposite (positive) were true, he wouldn't be a scapegoat.
I'll say this again, I'm sure he's a great person, but that doesn't always equate to being successful at your job.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:04 PM ^
This also assumes that Warde is 100% in control of the decision making, which means Ono and the Regents are giving him carte blanche, which I have a hard time believing. Warde sucks, to be sure, but he still reports to those above him and can’t make unilateral decisions. At this point I think we have to also wonder what the priorities of Ono and the Regents are.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:53 PM ^
Yes. Things at Michigan are 100% negative. Right. When was the last time anything good happened to a Michigan sports team? Name ONE THING!
/s
February 6th, 2024 at 10:59 PM ^
(Also ... I'm not sure you know what "scapegoating" means).
February 6th, 2024 at 11:01 PM ^
Ahhh...no basketball game tonight?
February 6th, 2024 at 7:33 PM ^
Can we just have this be the sticky thread for all of the Fire Warde's we'll keep hearing
February 6th, 2024 at 7:42 PM ^
I've been typing up a long post about this very thing, lol. I'm still posting it, fuck it.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:15 PM ^
The program being gutted of all of its top talent is a less than ideal situation.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:17 PM ^
Warde does not give a fuck, it is time for him to be removed.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:21 PM ^
At this point, at least one of the following is true:
1. Warde woefully mismanaged succession planning with Harbaugh/Sherrone over the last couple of years. Knowing that Jim was going to continue listen to NFL offers (at best) or actively pursue them each year, the program looks embarrasingly unprepared.
2. Warde is so hamstrung by regents, et al, with respect to NIL, staff hires, spending authority, etc. that his lack of agency ensures the department continues to look embarrasingly behind a growing pile of mid-tier P5 universities.
I don't blame Warde for Jim's departure; Jim was always going to chase a Lombardi.
I do blame Warde for contributing to the continued embarrasment that the self-styled "Leaders and Best" are covering themselves in. He is either incompetent, unwilling/unable to expand his agency to effectively advocate for his department, or both.
It's time.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:30 PM ^
What’s amazing is that he has a national championship in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball on his AD resume, so on paper, you’d think he was great.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:35 PM ^
The football title came from Jim Harbaugh who was not hired by Warde. The men's basketball title came on the heels of Calhoun retiring by Kevin Ollie who subsequently tanked the program after that. Any AD could have won multiple titles with Geno who wasn't hired by Warde.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:52 PM ^
Warde kept Harbaugh on despite massive calls that he be fired. (I have no idea if you were one of those or not, but a lot of us were, including me). Love that he's now somehow being blamed for forcing a pay-cut on Harbaugh, but God forbid we praise him for resisting the mountain of calls to cut him loose.
Remember: Everything good that's happened happened because of other people. Everything bad that's happened is purely Warde's fault. It's a simple rule.
February 6th, 2024 at 9:59 PM ^
To be fair Geno has had UConn on top for longer then Warde has been an AD. Warde had nothing to do with that nor did he have anything to do with UConn's mens ship nor Michigans football ship. Warde has lucked out being part of those ships
February 6th, 2024 at 8:31 PM ^
Sent Santa an email today. Asked him to fire Warde. I suggest this board load up his email and that of the regents.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:43 PM ^
They’re not reading your emails, FYI.
February 6th, 2024 at 9:47 PM ^
Write them letters, tell them in person, call the offices, do whatever you can to let your voice be heard. Warde needs to go.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:37 PM ^
Not paying attention to any of those things either, FYI.
February 6th, 2024 at 8:44 PM ^
I hear you. But someone needs to be there to fire Juwan.
February 6th, 2024 at 9:20 PM ^
I have seen enough. You can just say "failed to retain successful coaching talent in key programs" and leave it at that. But there is more!
February 6th, 2024 at 9:35 PM ^
I just posted this in the other Elston thread:
Just for some perspective, the LA Chargers revenue in 2022 was $518M. The NFL salary cap was $208M. The University of Michigan’s athletic department revenues were $210M.
It’s easy to hate on Warde, but he’s in a quarter billion dollar hole relative to the Chargers. When the Spanoses finally decided to open the checkbook and try to win a Super Bowl, that’s the day that Michigan’s future was in trouble.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:23 PM ^
We pay our players $208 million less.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:50 PM ^
Well, Warde should have pulled a quarter billion dollars out of his ass. The fact that he didn’t means he was actively trying to tank the program. I mean, if Warde didn’t suck so hard, all those coaches would still be at Michigan, amirite?
February 6th, 2024 at 9:42 PM ^
Quit drinking and go to bed..
Thads ideal AD..
February 6th, 2024 at 9:44 PM ^
This is looking like a bad hire if we can't retain the staff and the portal is going to open up. Let's be honest, it was bad from the beginning and I felt it. Warde did not have a good handle on the situation and was desperate to no one's surprise. I wish Moore well, but he has NO head coaching experience, no organizational experience, leading teams, off season programs, player development, recruiting, etc. and was only OC for 2 years. He stepped in and did a fine job but it was Harbaugh's team and it was built from years of development and culture. We need a change with Warde first and it needs to happen now. Let the Regents and the President know in a polite manner, that we do not support Warde and he is going to continue to hurt our programs and is not the man for the job. Send messages and be relentless. Emails below and use social media platforms.
February 6th, 2024 at 10:20 PM ^
Moore, I hope, is like Narauto. A good coach that Warde lucked into. He’s proven he can recruit, call plays, and manage game days on the road and in big games. Time will tell about the rest. The way he’s getting massive internal support is what’s driving me crazy. We were willing to give the assistants big raises…when Harbaugh was in charge but the same guys aren’t worth those raises now.
February 6th, 2024 at 9:46 PM ^
Is there anything suggesting the regents are actually considering firing warde? I assume they're the ones who would do it? I am all aboard the fire warde train fyi