Grade Warde Manuel's tenure
So we're going on 3 calendar years in March and this is his third full athletic season.
Talking about the AD was all the rage back in the day here (for all the wrong reasons)
Pros: Strong hires for M Lax, W Lax, convinced M Tennis coach Adam Steinberg to not go to Arizona State when he accepted the job, staved off the Pistons and got Beilein to sign an extension (along with WBB coach Kim Barnes Arico). Said 'no' to Friday night Football games home or away. Hired Mel Pearson away from his alma mater and named Yost's rink after Red Berenson.
Cons: Hasn't gotten the rivalry games flip flopped on the FB schedules, the poor handling of the Rhonda Faehn hiring by sneaking her in essentially and hoping no one noticed then retroactively sending out a release, hasn't done much in the form of backing up his head football coach (see: 2016 OSU ref scandal)
B
January 16th, 2019 at 9:15 PM ^
That’s hilarious Higgs!
January 16th, 2019 at 9:12 PM ^
He’s done nothing for men’s or women’s tennis... orherwise carry on
January 16th, 2019 at 9:13 PM ^
Nothing about the officiating is on Warde. I'm not quite sure what he was supposed to do after The Game in 2016. Yeah, it sucked for the team and it sucked for us as fans, but the AD should only get involved in complaining about officiating when it's truly egregious beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The whole Rhonda Faehn situation was really bad though. It's probably the blackest mark on Warde's tenure so far. If Faehn is in any way to blame for Nassar not being caught sooner, then she should never have been hired. If she isn't, then Warde should have stuck to his guns and defended the hire. That whole situation was mismanaged from start to finish.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:19 AM ^
The officiating in the 2016 OSU game was "truly egregious beyond a shadow of a doubt."
January 16th, 2019 at 9:16 PM ^
January 16th, 2019 at 9:38 PM ^
I'll give him a B. Hes been good at keeping Beilein and Harbaugh happy and allowing them to hire who they want. He handled the hockey hire and other non rev sports hires well. He's kind of let Harbaugh and Beilein do their own thing. Which leads me to my biggest issue, he's not assertive enough when dealing with entities outside the university. He let ND walk all over him. He promised to fix the MSU/OSU home/away disaster and hasn't. Michigan sports are the cash cow of the big ten and we need to be a bigger bully in the conference. Look at how Texas treats the big 12 and how ND treats the ACC. Stop getting pushed around and start making demands.
January 16th, 2019 at 11:26 PM ^
Texas is the reason the Big12 lost Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri, and Texas A&M. Texas is also the reason Oklahoma (and their sibling who has to go everywhere with them Ok St) are always brought up as candidates to move to another conference.
January 17th, 2019 at 6:45 AM ^
Yes, this is a good post and I wish I could upvote. Texas is like the Notre Dame of the south. Such a cunty school
January 16th, 2019 at 9:40 PM ^
Giving Warde any credit associated with Men’s Basketball and Football is akin to saying Tyron Lue brought a Championship to Cleveland
January 16th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
Michigan AD: A-
This coaches are essentially great, only thing left is for the old ball team to crest the mountain.
Ohio State AD: B-
Replaced Urban Meyer with anyone else, then pinned D hopes on a washed up coordinator. Still perceived as the cream of the big ten.
Michigan State AD: D
Teams are technically sound and yet still built on a foundation of evil.
January 16th, 2019 at 9:57 PM ^
A. He shouldn’t have added back ND to the schedule, but I think it’s what Harbaugh wanted.
Maldonado, outside of this blog, I had no idea about the women’s gymnastics hire and her history. Outside of the state of Michigan, nobody cares.
January 16th, 2019 at 10:07 PM ^
Average, I guess? Not horrible, but not amazing either. Him not backing Harbaugh after the 2016 ref scandal and having him apologize was shitty if you ask me.
January 17th, 2019 at 6:50 AM ^
People keep saying this, but I think he did right. The only option in backing Harbaugh is opening up an investigation into the matter, which honestly wouldn’t have resulted in anything but negative press for the university and helped solidify the narrative that our fan base and school are a bunch of whiny over-privileged fucks. I think he handled it appropriately, prevented anymore negative news coming our way, and made it just a small thing where Harbaugh was pissed instead of letting it get carried away and blow up in our faces. I think this speaks to him being a good AD
January 16th, 2019 at 10:57 PM ^
C...Underwhelmed
January 16th, 2019 at 11:05 PM ^
10000 times better than Bill and David “dickhead” Brandon. Brandon’s only contribution was firing Scuzz Bag Rich Rod and he made a spectacle of that. Truly a narcissist piece of shit of a human being. Warde gets an A plus in my book
January 16th, 2019 at 11:08 PM ^
While it’s understandable for the grade for an athletic director’s performance to be weighted heavily on how well the revenue-producing sports perform, there might be merit to giving at least some consideration to the Directors’ Cup standings where Michigan is ranked second in the country in the final fall sports standings behind perennial leader Stanford. LINK
The Directors' Cup standings are based on performance in NCAA championship events, so a national championship or a top-ten finish in field hockey, women's cross country, volleyball or women's soccer is more valuable than a 14th-place position in the final FBS Playoff rankings.
Chances are that few MGoBloggers are aware that Michigan's women's cross country finished fourth in the NCAA championships, or that the field hockey team was one win away from reaching the final four of the NCAA tournament, or that the women's volleyball team was one win away from the elite eight in the NCAA tournament. Each of those teams scored more points for Michigan than the football team did in the Directors' Cup standings.
January 17th, 2019 at 12:08 AM ^
They should be because there are threads posted when other sports accomplish things.
January 17th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Wolverine Devotee, credit to you for often drawing attention to some of Michigan's teams that wouldn't otherwise get that attention beyond the athletic department's official website, mgoblue.com. I suspect that you might attend more sporting events for Michigan Wolverine teams than most of the people who post here.
As someone whose only connection to the University of Michigan is a child who's a "Double Wolverine", I still find it admirable that you've maintained your devotion to a university that you've never attended.
January 17th, 2019 at 12:50 AM ^
He's not Dave Brandon.
That alone gives him a pass in my book.
January 17th, 2019 at 6:24 AM ^
the most mgoblog comment thread ever.
January 17th, 2019 at 7:28 AM ^
Didn't fire Harbaugh or Beilein, despite the desires of a number of genius fans.
A+
January 17th, 2019 at 7:43 AM ^
A- to B+. He doesn’t have much impact on the schedule at least in the short term. Let’s see what he can do in the future. Hackett and Manuel have done a great job. We should be happy with the job they have done.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:04 AM ^
Compared to Brandon, Martin and Goss, this guy is phenomenal. All the programs are on the right trajectory. Buildings are being built or upgraded. Kids are graduating. Budgets have surpluses. Life for Michigan athletics is bright. Love this guy.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:28 AM ^
"Compared to Brandon, Martin and Goss, this guy is phenomenal... Buildings are being built or upgraded."
If you're going to use facility construction as a metric for evaluation, then you have no business lumping Bill Martin in with Brandon or Goss. Bill Martin was not without his faults, but no AD since Yost has done a better job in improving the physical plant of the athletic department than Martin.
January 17th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
That is absolutely true Don. As a business guy stepping into the AD role, Bill Martin was the best. What that experiment proved, is that being an AD, requires experience in managing college athletics, not corporations, or in Bill’s case, a bank.
January 17th, 2019 at 12:08 PM ^
Martin did hire John Beilein - only to botch the football transition shortly afterward. His tenure was all over the map.
January 17th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Martin was hired in large part to clean up the mess that Goss made, and I think he did an admirable job of that.
There were some accounts of Martin behaving dickishly in dealing with athletic dept employees, but the major black mark on his resume was hiring RR. At the time, he might have been the hottest young coach in the country. I think very few people at that time would have envisioned RR would crash and burn so quickly and so badly.
January 17th, 2019 at 1:15 PM ^
"What that experiment proved, is that being an AD, requires experience in managing college athletics, not corporations"
My opinion of Martin notwithstanding, in general I agree with you, which is why I opposed the hiring of Brandon from the get-go. One of the biggest myths in our culture is that "businessmen" are always the best choice to run anything, whether it's educational institutions or government.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:18 AM ^
Better than John Engler's.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:23 AM ^
Michigan is currently firmly in second place in the Director's Cup standings...behind only Stanford-the perennial winner. Penn State and Wisconsin are #3 and 4. All the Michigan teams are competitive and well-coached...they are a perennial top 10 school in this evaluation.
The further good news is that the response to the recent women's gymnastic situation seems to support that Michigan is indeed not a win-at-all-cost university. An objective, wholistic view indicates that Michigan is an elite university-the best of the public institutions.
Don't worry-be happy :)
January 17th, 2019 at 8:43 AM ^
I agree ,done a good job, remember the "Toys are Us " guy we had here , be thankful
January 17th, 2019 at 8:44 AM ^
A.
Football, mens hoops, womens hoops, mens baseball, and mens hockey all in great shape.
zero scandals/major infractions.
All the rest is irrelevant to me.
January 17th, 2019 at 9:04 AM ^
B -- As somebody without insider access, he's seemingly kept Harbaugh and Beilein happy, which is a win in itself. IMO, the only reason Harbaugh willingly leaves UM is if he finds the work environment undesirable. Him and Warde seemingly have a good relationship, so thumbs up there.
He made a great hockey hire and has kept a low profile. As long as the major coaches are good coaches, good guys, and happy, he's done the biggest part of his job.
The rivalry scheduling doesn't seem like his fault. I'm not sure how much power he has to change that and it might be a "pick your battles" type thing. If Harbaugh is cool with it, and we still have a decent home schedule (wisco/psu) in the off years, it's not that big of a deal.
Handling of the gymnastics coach was his first major screw up. I don't have a strong stance one way or the other about hiring her, but he has to know its a sensitive situation and be prepared enough to stand by his decision.
Sure there's other stuff he could improve, but he's hit the major stuff.
January 17th, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
A
What problems do we honestly have right now? I don't like the football schedule? I wish Warde would throw a temper tantrum about officiating? That's your complaint?
Holy shit.
January 17th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
Really? Or are you just pissed about the football team losing its last two games?
I'll admit the Rhonda Faehn hire was a mistake he shouldn't have made, but he's since corrected the situation. The MSU/OSU scheduling may be something he has zero control over.
If you think he deserves an F, I'd sure like to know what you think warrants an A. Manuel has done a hell of a lot more good things than he has bad. Hell, keeping Beilein away from the NBA warrants a passing grade by itself.
January 17th, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
Probably A- or B+. In my mind, he's really handled the big picture items well. Did what he needed to get Beilein to stay, and to know he can stay as long as he wants. He's kept Harbaugh happy, hired some really great non-revenue coaches (including getting Mel Pearson, which I think will prove to be a great hire over time), and the facilities are as good as you can ask for.
The Rhonda Faehn hire was stupid, but it sounds like he at least gauged the team and asked them what they would think before he made the call to hire her. At any rate, she's not coming here so moving on. Would love to see him leverage the Big Ten to get the rivals schedule re-balanced, but I don't know how much power he has to get that changed. Honestly just don't know. And if it doesn't happen, at this point, whatever. Is what it is.
That's of course assuming that ND does not become a more permanent fixture on the schedule again. If they do, then I expect Warde will push to get ND coming to Ann Arbor in the years that Michigan has to travel to EL and Columbus. This year's schedule definitely felt lopsided in that regard. But without ND on the schedule, the away games @ OSU and @ MSU in the same year don't bother me as much. Because in those even years, that's when we have all of our big OOC opponents or a team like Wisconsin coming to town.
UCLA, Texas, and Oklahoma all come to Ann Arbor in years we have to go to EL and Columbus. Couple that with Penn State having to come to Ann Arbor as well in those years, and that still makes for a solid to great home schedule.
January 17th, 2019 at 10:30 AM ^
Our grades have to be given the caveat that w2e are message board guys who have NO IDEA of what we're talking about, AND that fortunately, those who have these kinds of jobs don't think or act like message board guys.
Therefore there some things to discuss:
The football schedule. OP says Warde hasn't gotten them "flip flopped"--as if Warde can storm into Jim Delaney's office, saying, "This is Michigan fergooddsakezz give me my wants or we'll go join the SEC! SCREW OFF!"
Nope. It happens to all, the scheduling is effed up, DEAL. Buy your 100 dollar Michigan jacket, get another GO BLUE! tattoo on your neck, and move along.
Rhonda Faehn: Since we know nothing about the process, we can't know what to say about it. Should not have done it--I agree. But still, not something to get worked up over. The woman's life needn't be over for whatever message board guy's judgments entail. Get a maize and blue tattoo on your shaved head, move along.
Staved off the Pistons: MMM Okay. IF you believe that one was in any way possible--Bridge. New York. Yours. Cheap
Notre Dame: "Hello! This is the Real World speaking to Michigan Message Board Guy. EVERYONE wants Notre Dame on the schedule. It has always been this way, and always will be. You're jealous of Notre Dame, and want everyone to want Michigan the way everyone wants Notre Dame. Not gonna happen, and Michigan will play them. A lot more."
Referees Every message board guy in the country blames the referees for everything from a bad call in a game to the fact their wives aren't banging them anymore. Sorry, not on Warde, a coach, or a university. Referees are universally good or bad depending on the outcome of that particular game. yes, in 2016--very, very bad. But Warde can do nothing about it.
Television Now, see, I could get on here and talk about televising more games, but I don't think it's that easy, and I'm not sure anybody other than channel 98.65b in Copper Harbor (where there is absolutely nothing to do even when there is something to do) would want to televise college hockey. This could be blamed on Delaney and the creation of the B10 conference, which sucks.
Overall Grade: Good enough for Michigan good enough for me. I mean, really, what is there to grouse about???
January 17th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
C-. He seems to think he works for the Big10. He is institutionalist and the institutions he is most loyal to are NCAA and Big10. He will never be a force for change like Canham or Yost. He is a "keep my head down and don't make waves" kind of guy. Botched badly the gymnastics hire, so he gets the minus added.
January 17th, 2019 at 8:33 PM ^