Warde doesn't expect changes to NIL approach.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:50 PM ^
He's making a choice, he's just not saying what he's doing.
The day Harbaugh announced that he's going to the Chargers, the AD sent out the notice about the increase in the seat licenses. Massive increase for a lot of folks.
The unspoken choice that Warde is making is that it is more important to channel the funds to the AD and not to the players.
Warde should be given the same treatment he did to Harbaugh after 2020. You aren't performing to expectations. Your salary is cut in half and you need to perform. For Warde, the standard should be that football makes the 12 team playoff and basketball reaches the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament. Anything less, and you're welcome to find new employment elsewhere.
January 28th, 2024 at 12:58 PM ^
Well of course, changing the approach would require Warde to get off his fat ass and actually work
January 28th, 2024 at 12:58 PM ^
Wouldn't read much into that statement one way or the other. If they are going to shift strategy, why give the reporters any fodder for headlines?
Would hope that Coach Moore helps drive his own strategic shifts into recruiting and use of NIL as he sees fit to take program forward.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:25 PM ^
What? Warde Manual says the same exact thing he has been saying for a long time...and we are supposed to believe that it is hidden code for 'we are upping our NIL game'? I don't think so.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:06 PM ^
Yeah, this totally just sounds like Warde trying to answer the question and say nothing at the same time. His answer was pretty much, "We're not going to break any rules." If you plan on breaking rules, that's still going to be your response.
I get that people are unhappy about some of Warde's moves, but at this point it seems like people are looking for any little thing to attack him over.
January 28th, 2024 at 4:49 PM ^
It's not that anyone is unhappy about Warde's 'moves'. We're unhappy with his lack of moves. His lack of leadership has allowed the NCAA and B1G to walk all over this program. When did he ever support Harbaugh against detractors (either media or other coaches/ADs/programs)? He never has... The first Warde shows leadership through a tough situation will be the first.
Warde is not a leader amongst his peers, he is a follower. A passive follower that doesn't even try to lead from the back, let alone the front.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:29 PM ^
Exactly. Why would Mr., not my words FATASS, in public state,"we're going to pay all students whatever they request in order to compete with the NUTS down south!"
January 28th, 2024 at 12:58 PM ^
Well that's a surprise. Given a choice between doing "something" and doing "nothing", Warde chooses to do "nothing".
January 28th, 2024 at 5:26 PM ^
For those interested Amazon Prime has all six seasons available for streaming with commercials.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:00 PM ^
Maybe there are beneficial changes that could be made that don’t involve buying or inducing student athletes?
January 28th, 2024 at 1:37 PM ^
Maybe folks can realize that under Michigan law, the University can't pay NIL nor direct private collectives.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:47 PM ^
The fact that this isn’t the first thing out of his mouth illustrates how craptastically awful he is at the basics of communication.
January 28th, 2024 at 4:24 PM ^
Right Don. Warde‘s biggest problem is not that he does nothing, but that he says nothing. He should be able to at the very least articulate the rationale for the department’s NIL policies. Better still he should issue a standing document that articulates exact the university’s policy, who decided that policy, and what the basis of the policy rests on. Then he could stop having to constantly answer the same questions and just direct people to the policy document.
January 28th, 2024 at 4:59 PM ^
I’m not sure that I agree that Manuel’s biggest problem aren’t his actions (or lack thereof), but I’m 100% in agreement with what you propose he should do in terms of communication. It’s what any professionally run corporation, organization, or institution would do.
Manuel doesn’t seem to be aware that absence of communication creates an information vacuum, and in today’s 24/7 media landscape, that vacuum will be filled by other people that he has no influence over. A large percentage of those people are idiots, or people who hate Michigan.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:31 PM ^
Leave facts out of this. Just go and get your old,"Quality-Farm-and-Fleet" frequent flyer card and buy up all PITCHFORKS!
January 28th, 2024 at 1:00 PM ^
Warde simply has has got to go...
I don't care how much Harbaugh wanted to go to the NFL. That point is irrelevant, because the only thing that mattered was keeping Jim in AA. No matter what the reasoning is, short of Harbaugh saying outright, "I will not be returning to AA as I want to go to the NFL", the most important task of Warde's tenure as UofM AD was retaining Jim Harbaugh and he failed at that.
No other person - executive director, C-level, president, whatever title, at that upper echelon, would be allowed to continue their employment if they failed the number one task in their tenure.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:11 PM ^
What was Warde supposed to do? Michigan made their offer. Harbaugh made his. Michigan wasn't going to give immunity and Harbaugh was going to talk to NFL teams.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:16 PM ^
He wasn't supposed to wait until the door was closed before offering a contract that included what Harbaugh wanted. He slow played it so he could let Jim walk away and still make it look like he did all he could. Warde didn't want Jim around. He can't have a guy around that would actually expect him to do his job.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:01 PM ^
Other than a tweet from Harbaugh’s lawyers do you have any information regarding the timeline of contract offers?
January 28th, 2024 at 3:05 PM ^
This.
Warde effectively fired Harbaugh with this process. The way this played out was designed to ensure Harbaugh would either leave or give into the AD's demands. And once the AD folded against the B1G and JH and the AD stopped negotiating the contract, this was over and done.
Everything after the Ohio State game was pure propaganda from the AD to keep the ticket buyers from a full on revolt.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:39 PM ^
If Harbaugh wanted to be in Ann Arbor for life, he would be. His heart has always been in the NFL. He's chasing the his dream.
When a person does that, there's no stopping them
January 28th, 2024 at 9:09 PM ^
Why would he stay if he felt that his boss hated him and was keeping language that would allow him to be fired for cause by a trumped up claim by the NCAA?
ANY logical person would take the guaranteed option. Warde ensured that Harbaugh would leave. And then tries to cover his ass with the AD conceding on the language once it was far too late to keep Harbaugh.
The optics of this would have been better to just say we couldn’t close the gap on the termination language. As opposed to showing it was always a possibility but we didn’t do it until we knew it was too late.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:17 PM ^
great point except for the fact that THEY DID offer it and it was too late
January 28th, 2024 at 1:23 PM ^
The point of how much JH wanted to go back to the NFL is anything but irrelevant. Maybe you should try wrapping your head around the idea that maybe, just maybe, there was absolutely nothing WM could have done to keep Jim here. What did you expect Warde to do if Jim didn't want to stay? Kidnap him and tie him to his chair in Schembechler Hall? He achieved the highest level of success he could at Michigan, plus he had the NCAA and Big Ten constantly trying to undermine him.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:40 PM ^
Offer the contract language Jim requested back in December.
We don't know if that would have kept Jim in Ann Arbor, but it would have improved Michigan's chances.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:56 PM ^
It is irrelevant.
Because Michigan doing "everything they could to keep him" is the only relevant thing.
Maybe there was "nothing Warde could have done to keep Jim." We won't know because Warde didn't do anything to keep him.
Can you wrap your head around that?
January 28th, 2024 at 3:49 PM ^
I 100000% percent get this point. I really do. But it simply doesn't matter. Michigan football has been irrelevant for 25 years, and it was because of Jim Harbaugh that it was made elite again.
I 100% am in the camp that Michigan could have given Harbaugh everything he wanted. 15 million a year, no buyout, full immunity from NCAA and he would have gone back to NFL. Regardless, the most important thing Warde will do, and has done at UofM will be this hiring or resignation.
Whether or not it's fair to Warde is actually irrelevant. He had to succeed at this, and he didn't, so he has to go.
Saying that too, if we had heard stories that Warde did everything he could, the school offered everything Jim wanted in a timely manner and Jim still said no then MAYBE you could reconcile it. But it didn't happen that way. And Jim reportedly hated Warde. Warde simply has got to go. Others can do what he is doing, and could potentially do it better, the time has come.
January 28th, 2024 at 4:22 PM ^
It's irrelevant because warde was late to make the offer and warde was late to negotiate. Harbaugh would have left the season prior if Ono didn't step in. Since day one Warde was thorn in Harbaugh's side.
Cool so let's agree Harbaugh was leaving no mstter what this year. What has warde actually done that makes you want to keep him working for the university?? Name one thing.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:33 PM ^
For many reasons, Harbaugh was never going to say directly that he wouldn’t be returning. One of the biggest is that an NFL offer wasn’t guaranteed. By his actions, however, he made it clear for a long time that if he received an offer, he was gone. There was nothing Manuel or anyone else at the university could’ve done. This sounds like the rant of a spoiled child.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:59 PM ^
Oracle-- Except that they did offer JH what he wanted but not until it was too late... Warde played a game of chicken and got beat... We have lost 4 of the best coaches (JH ,Beilein,Hutchins,Backich) in the HISTORY of Michigan athletics under Warde... You don't find that disturbing....? Maybe they would have left anyway but he sure wasn't very proactive in trying to prevent it...
January 28th, 2024 at 2:48 PM ^
I'm going to repeat myself.
In an interview last fall, John Harbaugh said that Jim was probably "a lifer at Michigan".
Last fall. His own brother said he expects Jim to retire at Michigan.
I'm going to do some research and put this whole "Jim was always going to the NFL" meme to rest.
Warde, and maybe some others, either wanted him gone, or didn't care either way, and they made it happen.
With the right AD Jim would have coached here until he died.
January 28th, 2024 at 3:18 PM ^
Do you think it's realistic that his brother would say Jim is looking to leave Michigan as soon as he gets a good offer? You really think because John said this it proves anything? C'mon, you're not that dumb.
January 28th, 2024 at 4:01 PM ^
If his brother didn't believe Jim wanted to retire at Michigan, he just wouldn't say anything. Do you really think he would choose to say something he didn't believe when he didn't have to say anything? C'mon, you're not that dumb.
(Jesus, you're on fire today with your aggressive defense of your opinions).
January 28th, 2024 at 7:37 PM ^
he just wouldn't say anything.
Lol, when you're asked about something, you answer. You can't just "not say anything." Get the fuck outta here with this, haha. You're not that dumb.
January 29th, 2024 at 12:03 PM ^
Cool so let's agree Harbaugh was leaving no mstter what this year. What has warde actually done that makes you want to keep him working for the university?? Name one thing.
January 28th, 2024 at 6:24 PM ^
Deleted
January 28th, 2024 at 1:01 PM ^
Not sure how others feel about this, but - I am so glad Michigan won the NC this year - and, the way they did it.
You didn’t see exotic cars in parking lots. Or, stories about huge inducements or Pay for Play. And, when NIL came up - it was school supplies, Mott’s, Thanksgiving dinners, etc.
The apparent limited interest of the NCAA to enforce the guidelines will foster an ongoing Wild, Wild West for several more years.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:10 PM ^
"Past performance is no guarantee of future results."
I am a firm believer that Michigan was lucky that they were able to assemble Team 144 when they did. They would not be able to assemble that team in today's NIL environment with the way that Michigan does NIL versus the big boys.
I am very thankful we won the NC when we did. We should not take it for granted that it will just repeat itself.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:18 PM ^
Exactly this. We have the look and feel of a perennial 9-3/10-2 type of program that can break out maybe once every quarter century. It took a HOF-caliber NFL and college coach to do so, with a 5* quarterback and a seasoned group of veterans who were desperate to stay and win a title. This feels very, very unrepeatable
And maybe that's what the AD wants. 9-3, beat OSU once every three or four years, beat MSU 2/3 or 3/4 of the time, and coin flip vs. PSU. I guess it could be worse but it's not super exciting
January 28th, 2024 at 1:29 PM ^
The fact is that Warde Manual thinks 9-3 meets the goal and is just fine. A few posters here are of the same mindset. Michigan has always been its own worst enemy. The mindset of 'well, we just could never really be super elite' is pervasive and is the main reasons that Michigan in fact fails to stay among the super elite programs.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:33 PM ^
Unclear to me why we should employ someone with such a mindset. But I don't have any view into how the regents / president operate here, maybe he does a bunch of really awesome stuff that excuses his mediocre approach to everything that is visible to the fans. Maybe!
January 28th, 2024 at 2:33 PM ^
The non-revenue sports can be covered by an assistant AD. Maybe Warde wants that job or an ivy league job.
The job of the Michigan AD is to promote football first, and then basketball/hockey. And it would have been nice to have baseball approach that tier.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:38 PM ^
By the same token, people here think there's a magic formula for winning out every year, and that formula is Harbaugh. Nothing stays the same forever. Even if Harbaugh stayed, Minter could've left, maybe not this year, but next. Hart may have left. The pieces change, and no one knows how that would've affected the results on the field. Harbaugh made it clear a couple of years ago that he had his eye on the NFL. He didn't leave because he didn't get what he wanted here. He's 60 years old, not 37. Time is now limited for him. I think he's given himself enough time to try to win a Super Bowl. He's not going to do it next year, he needs time to build his team. I think that was part of his calculation. It's now or never.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:37 PM ^
Part of the "magic formula" is competing and maximizing your chances. As Harbaugh would say, get 1% better every day. Does anyone think Warde is doing that?
As to the Harbaugh-to-Moore transition, by itself, I think Warde should get to ride that out. Maybe Harbaugh was a short-timer even if he stayed for 2024 and maybe Sherrone is the long term answer.
But a subpar NIL for the major power school* with the biggest donor base, there's a huge demerit for that.
*Harvard, etc, could outbid Michigan if the school and donor base decided it wanted to.
January 29th, 2024 at 12:21 PM ^
As to the Harbaugh-to-Moore transition, by itself, I think Warde should get to ride that out.
Why? I don't get this "dont rock the boat" philosophy. Harbaugh hates him, do we have any reason to think Moore likes him?
January 28th, 2024 at 2:12 PM ^
Much like the people saying baseball isnt important and we dont have 700k to match Clemson's offer. Meanwhle just sitting hear reading about our $100m surplus. Your coaches dont leave to go SIDEWAYS in this athletic department EVER! Damn it im not even a baseball fan but enough with the Eeyore bullshit. This isnt the sign of a strong athletic department and it starts at the top and also with fans/alumni holding their feet to the fire (Dave Brandon style).
January 28th, 2024 at 3:25 PM ^
10-3 should be Michigan’s floor. That means we beat everyone we should beat and lost all if the competitive games. It isn’t a successful season, but it is ok.
January 28th, 2024 at 1:54 PM ^
Everything came together this season in almost magical way. Michigan assembled a great group of players who were also good people, and were able to convince many of them to stay one more season when they didn’t have to. The coaching staff was top notch and included a great DC who will probably be an NFL Head Coach someday. They finally had a QB who could come up with something spectacular when they needed it. Georgia and Alabama were both not quite what they had been. If there was ever a year to win it all, this was it. It may be a long, long time before Michigan football experiences another season like this one, but that shouldn’t diminish the feeling or spark future bitterness. Just appreciate what happened.
January 28th, 2024 at 2:07 PM ^
Our enjoyment of the recent national championship should not engender this pervasive sense of complacency. We are Michigan, and we should strive for excellence. The one does not preclude the other as we should be more than capable of walking and chewing gum simultaneously
But I agree - this past year will represent the pinnacle of sports fandom for me, and I doubt I will ever love a team and a season the same way. And yet,