Grade Warde Manuel's first 5 months
I was dumbfounded by his ignorance and basically just let him yell at me for five lot e minutes till he quit yelling and let me go...
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doesn't bother me that much as I'm not a season ticket holder, and if we're truly going to become Alabama level elite then beating tough teams on the road is going to have to happen all the time. Also, I don't think MSU is going to maintain their recent success all that much longer.
If I was a season ticket holder I'd be pissed though.
Too early to tell for Warde.
MSU will be a tough out from here and out.
no idea on the rest of his job performance.
He may be killing it with the other sports, but F for Football.
ND recieved everything they wanted from the series, while Michigan did not (lost a series to an SEC team, lost $2M, playing top 3 rivals away that season).
I get that Harbaugh was most likely behind the desire to play ND and didn't care about playing the 3 rivals away. That's why he's one of the best coaches around, but Warde has to think strategically and with his head.
As long as Harbaugh is happy here, you can't give the AD an F for football. We need to keep some perspective here.
Positives:
Bringing back Red as opposed to hiring a former CCHA referee to run the program.
He didn't try to make a splash by putting pressure on Beilein during the season or during his coaching search.
Supporting Harbaugh where needed.
Cons:
Taking away a home game against an SEC opponent to travel to ND.
No 2016 night games and a lukewarm response to future night games.
What can earn him a B?
Make MSU move their home game in 2018 to Ford Field and split the tickets evenly between both fanbases.
Stop the three consecutive road game gaunlet in the B1G (look at 2019 schedule)
What can earn him an A?
Get the 2018 MSU game at home.
Hire Pearson to replace Red next year.
More home and home basketball series with Power Five conferences.
Too soon on substantive issues, though some things are definitely not very encouraging (e.g. barren wasteland home schedule problem not yet fixed).
In terms of communication skills, I rate him to be an A+ rambler, and look forward to many years of multi-paragraph answers that mean nothing at all.
C-
It seems the night game issue has been discussed enough, but here I go anyway. The reasoning he gave for not having a night game this year was something along the lines of "I'm traditional, I like day games." If he listed logistics, TV scheduling, or any other reasonable problem for this, I'd have been cool, but listing his own personal preference as the reasoning seemed very Dave Brandon. Hackett never put his ego into his position during his time here, as far as I can tell. I'd love to see that become a tradition of our ADs.
Hackett never put his ego into his position during his time here, as far as I can tell
Well, there ya go. Contrary to what you may have heard, night games aren't everyone's favorite experience. For 100+ years we went without night games. You and all those complaining of the lack of them next year survived just fine. Think back to before 2011. Did you ever stop and think, "man that was a good season, but it wasn't great because we didn't have a night game."
I honestly don't understand what you mean by highlighting "as far as I can tell". What do you mean? I don't have any evidence that Hacket inserted his own ego into his decision-making process. Are you disagreeing or taking issue with that? Are you saying I'm inserting MY ego into this, my wants? I promise, if I was making the decision, my personal desires wouldn't factor into the decision. If that is what you're getting at, it doesn't work. I do believe the positives outweight the negatives in regards to having a single night game a year, which is something I believe most fans would be comfortable with.
Also, that's poor thinking: We never did BLANK before and we survived, so we don't need to do BLANK now. Let's be stagnant and never change. That's lousy reasoning. I bet you there were people complaining when Crisler added the wings to the helmet, too. How dare he stray from tradition! How does that strategy work out historically?
There are plenty of good and bad reasons to have and not have night games. A great compromise, one I think the majority of fans would like, would be to have one night game a year. Ratings skyrocket at primetime, they attract recruits, and many fans love the big event atmosphere that just doesn't exist at noon. I honestly don't think there was a good reason, aside from not having lights on the stadium, for not having night games. I understand there are additional costs to having a night game like needing more security and police-presence. People get drunk, fight, and are thrown out of Michigan games every home game, noon, 3:30, or at night. If we are doing one night game a year, I don't feel it is a major detraction. Sure, maybe keep the MSU and OSU games to the day because of rivarly fan idiocy, but a Wisconsin or PSU game at night would be pretty tame, a lot of fun, and a Michigan event that would garner the attention of the nation.
Which is why I asked for clarification. I don't know, so I'm not going to assume he gut-feeling'd it during his tenure. However, I do know the man was a successful CEO for nearly two decades, hired Coach Harbaugh, and pulled in an awesome deal with Nike. Those things tell me he doesn't make a decision solely based on a gut-feeling or personal preference, but probably knows how to synthesize information to make wise decisions. Warde, on the other hand, told us himself that he chose to abstain from night games this year because he likes day games. That's his process on this particular decision.
From the article:
“No night game this year,” new Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel confirmed to The Detroit News on Thursday.
Why?
“I like the day,” Manuel said, smiling. “I like daylight.”
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wol…
That's a doofus response as it gets.
He goes on to reference Bo and his desire for day games, and that is ingrained in him. As much as I love Bo, what he thought back in his day shouldn't be the end-all-be-all deciding factor today.
Obviously Hackett felt differently. Here's Hackett from a different article discussing night games. You'll love this quote.
"I'm going to look at everything, ... and we're going to make decisions," he said.
"Next year … get used to more than one game at night at Michigan," Hackett said. "That will be true for all the Big Ten schools."
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverine…
From reading that, it not only shed a little light on Hackett's method, "looking at everything," but he seemed to think night games, plural, was where Michigan football and the rest of the B1G is heading. I'm not even advocating for more than one, but the former successful CEO, the guy who landed Harbaugh and the Nike deal, seemed to think it was a good idea. Despite the difficulties of scheduling a night game (cold weather in particular) he sees value in having more than one.
I'm happy to give Warde more time, but my understanding of his thinking process, revealed by the man himself, shows he isn't as keen about data-collecting before making a decision as Hackett was, but is more of a gut-feeling guy, and that's not a good thing. I understand it was one decision, but I really hope it was a one-time deal and not the way he'll handle other big decisions. Relying on his gut or on What Would Bo Do? seems precarious to me.
Sorry for all the words. I was really bummed when Warde revealed his "thinking process" last winter. It was hugely disappointing to me to say the least.
You read one sentence attributed to Warde and criticized him for "allowing his ego to make decisions". Then you go on and on about Hackett (whom I'm eternally grateful for) after admitting "as far as you know, he never did that". The fact is you, or I, don't know much about either man. One sentence does not define Warde. Just like Hackett's press conference - you know the one which Pro Football Talk lambasted for "blowing it" - clearly did not define him.
I give him an A+ just to piss off WD.
Go do some homework, kid.
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No night game
Cancelled Arkansas series ($2 million that would be better spent on retaining assistants in the coming years)
Scheduling nd away on same year as we are away at MSU and Osu
Put Nd game in the middle of the b1g season
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...and they'd also prefer (schedule balance-wise) the 2018 game be in Ann Arbor, FWIW.
Please become SD
Please become SD
Please become SD
Every time WD posts and you insult him I'm going to call you out for a 19 year old owning you!
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Unless he gets this MSU schedule shit figured out, he won't be doing a great job. It's that important. May be a little unfair because he inherited the problem, but we all inherit problems when we come into a job.
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the phrase "dave brandon's pimp hand" was not uncommon around here for a while. grading hsi job at this point is dumb, dumb, dumb.
I insist we evaluate him every 106.2 days!
This thread is terrible for so many reasons. There is no way anyone on here, including myself could honestly give a grade to Manuel after 5 months.
The vast majority of this board doesn't even know what an AD does.
Lastly, WD made this idiotic thread off of a few things, coaching or scheduling changes that he's aware of. You have no effing clue what he's done or not done that you aren't aware of. Has he secured a big time donation? Has made the student-athlete experience better or safer? There are a ton of grading points that would factor in if someone wanted to answer this question even halfway intellegently.
You have no idea if Manuel is doing his job well any more than you do of some random poster on MGoBlog.
So why not give a grade to Warde after 5. If it's ok to do to a broke 18 year old then I think it is ok to do it to a middle aged man earning hundreds of thousands of dollars with really nice perks!
Love,
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Backing out of Arkansas was not a prerequiste for playing ND, it was a choice made by Manuel.
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I've come to the conclusion, of late, Michigan fans are happiest when bitching about something they have NO clue/idea about.
Grading, really ?, an alumni AD who will be great to M in due time?
For those of you too young, DCanham was well before his time. Glad I was in school when his, Bo's tenure was ending.
Why didn't y'all complain during Warde's PC? Cuz, you saw what 4 did as the pressed closed. Class act for his brother.
And while we are at it ... people who bitch ...
Not hosting "R Kansas" vs ND on the road? Anyone know how many $$$ the TV revenue is to Michigan from NDBC ?
Yep, 99.9% of us don't.
Moral of the story. Keep your eyes and ears open. And mouth shut.
I'm starting now ...
He gets an A+
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is a disturbing early start. If John Bacon starts writing again, we know we're in trouble.