Jordan Strack: Sources indicate poor energy around Michigan, recommends firing Warde
https://x.com/jordanstrack/status/1754895580474622331?s=46
”After talking with some people connected to Michigan & some in the coaching profession - things are not great right now in Ann Arbor. Jim Harbaugh held things together.
President Ono is going to have to make the decision to move on from Warde Manuel & it has to happen soon.”
February 6th, 2024 at 12:18 PM ^
If she leaves cookies out for him and he takes a bite, we'll know he's interested.
In all seriousness, has Santa Ono ever publicly-backed Warde or acknowledged approval of his tenure at UM? If his firing does come, please hire someone not stuck in 1989 and oblivious to the current state of college athletics.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:37 PM ^
For the record, 1989 was a very good year. Rose Bowl win, hoops national championship and the Pistons won the NBA championship. Don't bag on 1989!
February 6th, 2024 at 4:54 PM ^
The past is a warm and happy place.
I predict many of you young whipper snappers will understand what I mean once the afterglow of this year's title wears off.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
Who is Jordan Strack?
February 6th, 2024 at 11:47 AM ^
I'm Jordan Strack.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:52 AM ^
We are all Jordan Strack
February 6th, 2024 at 12:17 PM ^
I am decidedly not Jordan Strack and the thought that I could be is vaguely distressing.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:44 PM ^
And we're walking around Schembechler Hall with our tricorders getting energy readings.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:52 PM ^
Username fits.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:06 PM ^
Phasers dialed up from "stun"!
February 6th, 2024 at 2:19 PM ^
No, you’re Clarence Boddicker.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:59 PM ^
I'll buy that for a dollar.
February 6th, 2024 at 5:30 PM ^
Can you fly, bluesalt?
February 6th, 2024 at 11:40 AM ^
I knew all I needed to know about Warde when I watched the way he handled the sign-sealing allegations in the fall. It was a master class in needlessly getting your ass kicked in the court of public opinion.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:15 PM ^
Doctorate level, for sure....
February 6th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^
Please be true.
February 6th, 2024 at 1:15 PM ^
What are you hoping is true exactly? The only claim this twitter reporter makes is that things are bad in Ann Arbor right now.
February 6th, 2024 at 1:41 PM ^
Hoping President Ono removes Warde and hires an AD that is proactive and progressive when it comes to NIL and the current state of affairs with college sports.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:01 PM ^
Where does any of his tweet say this? There's absolutely nothing there to infer this.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^
Can he be a bit more specific than "poor energy" and "things are not great?" What specifically in that ties back to Warde, and what is the natural result of a major coaching change being in-progress? I'm no special fan of Warde but we need to look at what could plausibly be improved by replacing him vs. what would make us feel better about replacing him.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:02 PM ^
Could be easy to deduce that things could be this way given the departure of a lot of great players and coaches, while Sherrone tries to fill out his staff. Doesn't mean it's true. Maybe this guy is just throwing something on the wall that is plausible.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:14 PM ^
The dissatisfaction with Warde is not a recent thing. Potentially fact-free rant incoming.
Tennessee recently got served with a NOA for NIL dealings, and their AD went scorched earth on the NCAA. A week later, B1G and SEC form an alliance to discuss "challenges" to the collegiate athletics landscape. I'm not suggesting correlation, and I don't know enough about the UT allegations to speak intelligently about them, but I certainly appreciated their AD standing up for the program and how silly/inconsistent/hypocritical the NCAA is.
It would've been nice to see Warde do the same when we were getting dragged in the middle of a generational season, for a "violation" that even the NCAA admits has minimal completive advantage. But he was largely absent, except for his visible membership on the CFP selection committee (which arguably made things worse).
I'd like an AD who fights for his program, publicly and privately. There are lots of good ADs who do that; Warde is not one of them. I'm not saying he could've kept Jim in AA, but it's not clear if he put his best foot forward in the effort, or before the decision was already made. Did he play any role at all in trying to keep the remaining coaching staff intact, while Jim raids it? We have no idea, but they seem to be all leaving or evaluating their options. In retrospect, the same can be said for Beilein and Bakich (not to mention completely botching the Pearson investigation). "People don't leave jobs, they leave bosses"; that's likely not true for college athletics, but you'd be naive to think it's not a factor. I certainly wouldn't want to work for a boss who doesn't support me.
Warde seems to be stuck in the Bo era, in which he played. That's not the landscape of modern college athletics, and he seems unable or unwilling to adapt. Strack isn't wrong that there's a poor energy around the program in the last couple weeks (or so some of us perceive), and it's NOT all because Jim left. He could've left on top, and we'd still be riding high. That's not really happening, and the blame starts at the top. I feel bad for Coach Moore.
EDIT:
And I didn't even mention the men's basketball catastrophe, or dropping the TRO without explanation.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: What if NCAA (or B1G) comes down on the program for a "violation" they admit provides minimal competitive advantage? What if they try to make U-M vacate games? Does anyone really think Warde is going to stand up the NCAA, rather than roll onto his back and show his belly?
February 6th, 2024 at 12:24 PM ^
Everyone who reads this board knows the vibes are off. My question is, does this reporter have new information? Or is he effectively reporting our collective feelings back to us?
February 6th, 2024 at 1:21 PM ^
Respectfully, this board represents a small and very specific portion of the fanbase. The blue hairs who sit on their hands for the entire game, with seats on the 50 or in the club level, probably aren't reading this board. I would bet <<1% of the fanbase is represented here. Similarly, it's taken me a while to realize that Twitter isn't real life, either. In this regard, what the reporter is reporting may be meaningful, because only a small portion of the fanbase is on this board (or Twitter).
However, what the reporter is reporting wasn't the subject of my response (rather, Warde's part in the "poor energy," and what could be improved by replacing him).
February 6th, 2024 at 12:27 PM ^
When did the NCAA admit that the violation provided a minimal competitive advantage? I missed that, but I tried avoiding most information because most was speculative bs.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:29 PM ^
I think he's talking about Charlie Baker saying Michigan "won fair and square" after the NC.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^
In 2021 when the rules committee recommended a repeal of the in-person scouting rule. Their reasoning was that since it doesnt really have any benefit, its a waste of resources to enforce.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:36 PM ^
Brian reported it in at least one front-page article:
The NCAA acknowledges this is not a major advantage. The rules committee actually considered repealing 11.6.1 a couple years ago. Their rationale:
Rationale: The Board of Directors Infractions Process Committee requested that the Legislative Committee Modernization of the Rules Subcommittee focus its rules modernization efforts on identifying rules that no longer serve the needs of the membership and the 21st century student-athlete, and recommending modifications to or the elimination of such rules. Specifically, livestreams of intercollegiate competition and prerecorded game film are readily available in the digital age. The minimal competitive advantage gained by scouting future opponents in-person is outweighed by the monitoring and enforcement burdens of ensuring compliance with the legislation.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:38 PM ^
That was the conclusion of the NCAA committee that considered whether to drop the ban on in-person scouting a few years ago. Ultimately they failed to overturn the ban, but their report argued that it should be as it provides minimal competitive advantage.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:45 PM ^
The NCAA bylaw that Michigan potentially broke says that “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited.
In 2021, the NCAA explored eliminating the rule, that was created in 1994 as a cost-cutting measure, not because in-person scouting provides an unfair advantage. The NCAA’s working group noted in its report that “the regulations governing scouting of opponents are not of national significance. Widespread availability of video would suggest minimal competitive advantage would be gained from in-person scouting and would be offset by the coach’s diversion from other coaching responsibilities.”
February 6th, 2024 at 12:42 PM ^
Oh come on, you expect a guy with sources to actually provide any useful info? It's way easier to just say the vibes are off and then get some attention for it.
I'm sure things aren't going great but also their HC just left and is taking a bunch of guys with him. It's probably not fantastic for anyone.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:46 PM ^
A reporter calling for an ADs head bc a source tells him things aren't great.
Kind of a wild thing for him to say without providing any detail.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:42 AM ^
Might be true but I'm not sure that Jordan Strack, "Storytelling & Media Specialist", is the best source.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:43 AM ^
IT'S TIME
February 6th, 2024 at 11:44 AM ^
Time to get Jim Hackett back on the phone.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:09 PM ^
Warde couldn't Hackett
February 6th, 2024 at 11:45 AM ^
Oh good, someone is finally talking about Warde. This is definitely an issue the Michigan orbit has been overlooking.
(I have no idea if Strack has any real access. He doesn’t seem to post anything else from “the inside.” The idea that Harbaugh held the entire athletic department together, which his tweet suggests, is absurd—Harbaugh ran the football program only. It’s Moore’s program now, and he has to run it. If Warde is making that difficult, well, he deserves every bit of criticism there is. But there’s no actual evidence of that right now. That said, Warde has taken responsibility for Michigan’s NIL policies and he is known to have mismanaged issues in other programs, and I’m surprised he wasn’t let go last summer).
February 6th, 2024 at 11:47 AM ^
What have Michigan Insiders gotten right over the past 8 months? They were caught off guard with the illegal inperson scouting, got Herbert wrong, and a myriad of other instances.
Warde isn’t making things easy. It’s time for him to be gone. College football is changing.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:57 AM ^
What have Michigan Insiders gotten right over the past 8 months?
Good question. I know people take Sam Webb seriously when he suggests that Elston and Clink might have Harbaugh interest, because there’s a 300-post thread about it. Maybe Sam is wrong?
Or maybe he isn’t.
You’ll note that I don’t assert that he doesn’t have sources, just that we don’t know if he does. His tweet history doesn’t show much in the way of discussion about stuff from the inside, so no record to rely on. But that also means that he’s not a Yoder type who just makes stuff up all the time, so it’s not impossible he knows someone and heard something.
Insiders get stuff wrong a lot because they get their info from people inside who are also wrong. And some aren’t inside at all.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:40 PM ^
Insiders only know as much as their sources. If people inside the program didn't know that Stallions had a "vast network" or was standing on the CMU sideline, can't blame Michigan Insiders for not knowing that too.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:57 PM ^
I think there is a lesson here that many people are missing. The type of information that gets shared by "insiders" - including this specific tweet - cannot be placed into the neat little buckets of "right" and "wrong". It is vague, undefined, and nuanced. "things are not great" could mean anything from a few employees are sad Jim is gone to complete dumpster fire. Add in the incentives for clicks, the motivations of sources, and the personal biases of the insider and it's very difficult to take this information with nothing less than an iceberg sized grain of salt.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:41 PM ^
Well, the football program is the only program that was firing on all cylinders the past 2-3 years. Maybe that's what Strack meant, ie Harbaugh was the thing holding the football program together. And now that he's gone, football is at risk of going the same way baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball, etc have gone.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:54 PM ^
As long as Michigan holds on to the key returnees, 2024 will be just fine with an amazing (amaizing?) defense.
But the 2025 team will need an influx of talent. Maybe from a heavy transfer portal class with (indirect, of course) inducements to proven players.
If other programs are throwing around tens of millions and Michigan isn't, the program will suffer until Michigan competes for talent.
February 6th, 2024 at 1:05 PM ^
Hockey weathered the Mel situation and seems fine (though I'd be fine firing Warde over how he handled that report). Softball was totally fine but Hutch got older and it was harder for her to maintain an elite team given diminished recruiting. That's not on the AD. Women's basketball has been trending up for a while. Baseball was inconsistent under Bakich and we'll see how they look under Smith in his second year.
Basketball is the one sport where we saw a marked drop, and my guess is there's a change coming there. But save me this "the entire sports apparatus at UM is falling apart" hand wringing based on a selective review of certain sports seemingly over a half decade.
February 6th, 2024 at 1:34 PM ^
Baseball was inconsistent with Bakich? He took us to the title game without the top of the line recruits that play for southern teams. Bakich was an excellent coach that deserved to be paid like top baseball coaches get in the college game. Hockey is still to be determined, the team is up and down every week. Women's Bball is not trending up this year.
All that being said the handling of not seriously trying to keep Bakich and the lack of real support this year when the suspensions were going on upset me the most. Warde let Harbaugh twist in the wind the whole season. I have worked with people like that and the sooner you can get away the better. I think that sealed Harbaugh's decision on leaving.
February 6th, 2024 at 2:29 PM ^
Here's baseball's record (overall and conference) under Bakich in his last 6 seasons:
- 42-17, 16-8 - made tournament, 0-2 in regional
- 33-21, 15-8 - missed the tournament
- 50-22, 16-7 - CWS runner-up
- 8-7 - COVID season, so ignore.
- 27-19, 27-17 - made tournament, 0-2 in regional
- 34-28, 12-12 - made tournament (only because they won the B1G tournament), 2-2 in regional.
So yeah, that's solid but we remember him mostly for that magical CWS run and then getting hot and winning the B1G tournament and making it into the series. They never won the conference while he was there, even when he had top-end talent. I wish UM had kept him but the B1G is a mid-major in baseball and if Clemson wants to double his salary and let him play in a top-end conference there's only so much UM can do. Bakich was looking to move up for a couple of years by all accounts, and I don't blame him.
Women's basketball just signed two McDonald's AAs for, I believe, the first time in team history. They're still projected into the tournament, and more generally have made the tourney 5 straight times that it's been held. Hockey is incredibly young, as they almost always are, and are yet again seemingly rounding into shape in the 2nd half of the season.
As for the suspensions, I must have missed the part where Warde and the AD sued the Big 10 to stop the suspension to end the year and only had to give in when Chris Partridge did the dumbest thing possible and apparently texted players not to cooperate with investigators. He also offered Harbaugh the largest contract in CFB history, paid Herbert the most an S&C coach has ever made in college, let Harbaugh sign dipshits like Schemmy to contracts, and basically let him do whatever he wanted.
If you want to fire Warde for his handling of Mel that's fine, or how he may or may not handle men's basketball, or whatever happened with the volleyball coach, that's fine by me. But people are blaming everything that goes wrong on him and are going to be immensely surprised when he's replaced by some other mediocre stuffed shirt and the larger systemic problems both at UM and college sports writ large still exist.
February 6th, 2024 at 3:29 PM ^
But people are blaming everything that goes wrong on him and are going to be immensely surprised when he's replaced by some other mediocre stuffed shirt and the larger systemic problems both at UM and college sports writ large still exist.
Well said, and this is a big part of why, even as I don’t care either way about Warde, I push back against a lot of the hate, because it misses the real issues so often. And we’ve seen, numerous times, people who hold opinions based on bad information become toxic when that bad information leads them to wrong conclusions.
February 6th, 2024 at 12:57 PM ^
Yeah, the idea Jim Harbaugh held the AD together is patently absurd.
I'm fine if we want to boot Warde but it should be for actual reasons and not this lazy "vibes are off" pronouncements.
February 6th, 2024 at 11:45 AM ^
It seems like the only "info" here is that "things are not great right now in Ann Arbor."
That is highly unspecific. Is there more detail as to what this means?