Warde hate seems to be everywhere right now
I see a lot of comments all over the place about Warde but many of these comments make me think that the commentors have no exposure to how hiring and retention works at a high level in large organizations. Two things about losing Bakich, Beilein and Harbaugh:
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All three of those coaches clearly wanted to coach at what they perceived as the next level, southern college baseball, NBA, and NFL, respectively. You can not make people stay when they don't want to - it is a free country. Money and how you treat people is not always enough to get people to stay if they have a strong desire to do something else. Sometimes it is simply not possible to offer someone what they want - even if you wish you could.
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Warde does not have full control over decisions about what he can offer these guys. Possibly he did with Bakich but it's incredibly unlikely he did with higher profile basketball and football. He for sure had to get approval from Schlissel with Beilein and from Santa and the regents for Jim in particular. You can also be sure that the university chief counsel weighed in heavily about the immunity stuff that Jim was supposedly requesting. We simply do not know exactly what happened. Neither does JUB, for that matter, who seems to be as connected as possible.
Jim could have been asking for a fully guaranteed contract with full immunity for everything: historical and future, which the university simply should not agree to. Especially with the NCAA seemingly hellbent to do something to Jim (probably because of his paying the players stance). You simply can't take that risk - for moral hazard reasons, if nothing else. Jim (or his agent) could have been demanding these things knowing that we can't say yes, in part, to set negotiations from an advantageous point for Jim but also to give Jim time to explore NFL options. He easily could have dropped some/all of those demands if the NFL hadn't worked out. He literally had all leverage on his side at that point. We obviously couldn't have fired him and moved on - he just won the national championship.
Could more have been done to make Jim 'feel the love' from the university. Probably. There is almost always something more that could be done. Would that have made a difference? Hard to definitively say but given that Harbaugh constantly tried to get an NFL job for the last few off-seasons and very rarely publicly committed to Michigan in the future makes it look like he always wanted to go back to the NFL. That sucks for us fans, but making it seem like Warde absolutely had it in his power to prevent him from leaving simply does not make sense.
That said, Warde has been a mixed bag. Lots of great stuff with the Olympic sports and he did retain Jim in 2020 when momentum was against him. Hiring Juwan, at the time, looked like a great move and I don't think you can blame him for hiring him (if you are disposed to do). Dropping the ball/being slow on Pearson was not so great and maybe we should have moved on from Juwan after the second 'incident'. Now, it's pretty hard to fire a guy just recovering from heart surgery so we have to see how things play out this year, which admittedly doesn't look good.
I don't know, maybe it's time to move on from Warde, that's for Santa and the regents to say. I just don't think we have enough information and I'm not convinced that Warde could have done anything that would have changed Jim's mind. Sometimes great employees just leave no matter what you do - that's just how the workplace is sometimes. Personally, I'd be inclined to take a look at what other other potential ADs are out there and think about how Warde stacks up vs the other options, but the 'fire Warde into the sun' crowd seems off-base at this point.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:40 AM ^
I give Warde a big share of the blame, most of it not related to the current contract offer. It goes back to 2020.
He humiliated Harbaugh by forcing him to take that massive pay cut. Maybe it was justified, but if that happened to me I sure as hell would hold a grudge about it. Then, after he beat OSU and won the Big 10 his new contract pretty much only got him to where he was before the cut.
Then there was the 3 game self-imposed cheeseburger suspension. Instead of waiting to see what the NCAA would do, and before we even received a notice of allegations, Warde suspended Harbaugh instead of having his back.
Next was the BS with Stalions and the AD backing off defending Harbaugh in court.
Finally, they only agreed to Harbaugh's contract terms at the last minute instead of last fall.
It just seems to me like every time he had to make a decision regarding Harbaugh, he made the exact wrong move. Almost like he wanted him to leave.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:47 AM ^
I guess part of the reason I dont blame Warde for cutting Harbaugh's pay in 2020 is in retrospect it was a hell of lot better of a solution than I and many others here wanted which was to fire Jim outright. And I was wrong.
No arguements with anything else you said re his decision-making, especially in regards to his lack of public support when it mattered most, like I said - I wanted him gone back in 2016 for not backing Jim after the OSU debacle. But where you and I differ is the amount of institutional authority he has, especially as it relates to contract terms and dollars spent. I think that falls more directly on the regents, not Warde. And I think you're vastly underestimating how much the loss in the 2013 Super Bowl eats at Jim.
He lost in the final seconds to his fucking brother of all people. You dont think John (and maybe even Jack) havent reminded him of that a few thousand times since then?
January 25th, 2024 at 10:51 AM ^
You mean while Jimmy sat at the kiddies table with Tom Crean?
January 25th, 2024 at 12:55 PM ^
Yup. It's between the brothers, Kay.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:47 AM ^
The 2020 move was Warde's best. Jim was getting paid way too much for the results he was getting. And all Warde did was restructure the pay so that he had to actually achieve results to earn the same pay. Had he not made that change, it's arguable that 2021 looks like it did.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:54 AM ^
He's getting killed for that when at the time, a HUGE portion of the fans wanted Jim gone outright.
For the record, I don't like warde either but laying everything at his feet is just nonsense.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^
I think it was a GREAT move. Did it piss Jim off? Absolutely. But it pissed him off enough to prove the doubters wrong. If the 2020 pay cut is part of why Jim left in 2024, it's also part of why Jim won 40 games over the next 3 years, and it's why he had enough success to even have the option to return to the NFL.
Personally, I think it was a good trade. We upgraded our assistant coaching staff across the board, and we have guys who are likely to stay through the transition to attempt to carry the success forward.
January 25th, 2024 at 11:12 AM ^
No, the pay cut is NOT the reason JH broke out his three-year funk and got back to being a jackhammer. That happened because he resolved the marital discord issues, and also got help for physical and psychological medical issues that had been affecting him. The pay cut had nothing to with it. Nothing. Zero.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:25 AM ^
Yes, there is an obvious question of whether the last three years go the way they went if Warde doesn't have an unpleasant conversation with Harbaugh. Warde needed to tell Harbaugh the truth, just like he is going to need to tell Howard the truth.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:20 PM ^
That’s such a dumb way of understanding people and their being good at a job. Reducing his salary nor the sleight of doing it had any kind of impact on Harbaugh winning. He’s a goddamn winning football coach and the nearsighted bullshit of fans and CEOs who lord $ as a symbol of value are the problem. There was no need to reduce Harbaugh’s salary and say “Know your place, Jim, and if you’re good enough earn it back.”
If only we could do this with Congress and CEOs? Or shit, even plumbers who have 5 star Google and Yelp ratings but don’t do their best work one winter.
Retaining Harbaugh was the most obvious move to make. The smart move would have been to have a conversation about the future and expectations without taking away salary. Harbaugh didn’t need a damn carrot or stick. You either believe him or and what he will do for you, or you do not.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:50 AM ^
For all of the hate that the B1G admin and NCAA get on this board, the number of people who were absolutely sure that the right thing to do in every situation was for Michigan to roll over and show their belly before even being reprimanded was way too high.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^
Nailed it...
January 25th, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^
The final contract offers were after it was released that Harbaugh was working on a contract with the Chargers and then the last update of they agreed to a contract and were negotiating the organizational structure. Then the final contract making him the highest paid cf coach and the immunity he wanted over the existing ncaa situation.
Warde had 2 years to offer Jim a correct contract. Had 7 years to demonstrate he had the Program and Jim's back by going after BigTen officials for the 2016-2018 officiating bs! His one statement was after the 2018 NW game when Higdon got called for Holding on the read option 3rd and 6 where Patterson kept the ball for a 22yd gain midway in the 4th qtr down by 3pts.. That call wiped out a first down and forced a punt after failing to convert. Holding on a rb after not getting the handoff and was tackled.. Anyone still think the Big Ten Officials didn't have it out for Harbaugh? All they had to do was look at the 2016 game, the 2017 and 2018 games vs osu! 2017 our dlineman were tackled in the pass rush, Mo tackled from behind on a long td pass by osu. One tackled by his facemask. 2018 the crossing route game where osu receivers straight up blocked before the ball was thrown, the clear out defender blocking, just watch the film review. And several times again Gary, Winovich and Paye flat getting tackled and no calls... But Warde after the NW game, It's time I make a phone call.. yeah.. Thanks buddy, you do that..
Warde met with Stapleton days before sign-gate..
Warde, also cut the football staff budget a couple times after 2016. Cut Jim's contract in half in humiliating fashion. A close friend of Jims tweeted out days ago the toxicity in the Athletic Department and then called out Manuel in another tweet reply to a fan. So we know it was Warde that was the contention!
Warde can go!
January 25th, 2024 at 10:55 AM ^
Cut Jim's contract in half in humiliating fashion.
Major revisionist history. Half the fans wanted Harbaugh fired and were pissed he got a new contract. He was one of the highest paid coaches and was known for not beating our rivals, getting blown out by OSU, not winning the Big Ten East, let alone not sniffing the playoffs and not developing QBs. At that point, he was a lesser Franklin. So lets not pretend it was not warranted at the time
Obviously Harbaugh turned it around but lets not act like he was Nick Saban for his entire career. Once he turned it around, his itch for the NFL, plus their interest in him, started again.
January 25th, 2024 at 12:26 PM ^
It is not revisionist. If I were AD, I wouldn’t care of MGobloggers wanted Jom fired. I’m not caring now. I thought you were all dumb me-first emo capitalist fanboys pouting because you needed someone to blame about covid and your lack of seeing it was not the coach who was the problem.
Tell us how often high profile coaches take huge pay cuts for one bad season, much less during covid. Either retain, extend, or fire.
“Well, Jim, I can fire you like fans want or you can take a pay cut.” Imagine thinking this was rational or even what remotely happened.
January 26th, 2024 at 12:53 AM ^
I mean you’re absolutely right. He put his petty grudge in front of what’s best for the Michigan program. What’s worse, Michigan had ample time to fire his ass and didn’t have the leadership to get that done, because some regents supported Warde. Those regents are unfit to have sway on sports matters and are also who didn’t fire Dave Brandon, which needed a protest. Rinse repeat, the real problem are the regents. Only at Michigan.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:53 AM ^
I don't think it falls all on Manuel's shoulders, but I don't think he and Michigan are entirely blameless here, either.
We hired Harbaugh in December 2014. For six years he steadfastly denied any interest in the NFL, saying that "jive turkeys" from rival programs were planting this seed in recruits' minds.
Then came the December 2020 standoff with Manuel. Harbaugh was offered a 50% paycut, take it or leave it. At that point he looked around the pros, found no takers, and came back. This seems to have been a turning point, as thereafter, he was a lot slower to deny NFL interest. Maybe the "itch" suddenly came after six years, or maybe he felt it a lot more when his AD didn't seem to have his back.
Last summer, Harbaugh was adamant that he hadn't misled the NCAA. Michigan decided to work with the NCAA anyway and was on the verge of negotiating a four-game suspension. Even after the NCAA backed out of the agreement, Michigan still decided on a three-game suspension, which clearly rankled Harbaugh, who said "It's not a slap on a wrist but a blow to the kneecap" or something along those lines.
In November, the Big Ten tried to suspend him. Michigan this time offered some resistance, then ultimately caved. Harbaugh was denied the chance to coach our 1,000th win and the OSU game.
In December, at the football banquet, Manuel was absent. A strange way of showing support for an undefeated, #1-ranked team.
Last week, the University apparently wouldn't offer Harbaugh the same immunity clause Kansas had offered Bill Self. Only yesterday did we hear that U-M had finally conceded, when it was probably too late.
Would he have still left if some of these things had gone differently? Maybe, but I don't think we can know that for sure. He stayed here nine years, after all.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:13 AM ^
Great summary.
January 26th, 2024 at 12:56 AM ^
School with functional and leadership worth anything wouldn’t have given Harbaugh any reason to leave, let alone 737389292 reasons.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^
The fact that yesterday the school is willing to concede on Jim’s contract terms says everything. They had the ability to get the terms but chose not to until it was far too late. Warde has utterly failed on the single most important thing he needs to manage. That is fireable. Full stop.
contrast Warde and Hackett — singular focus and deploying everyone associated with Michigan football to demonstrate the love.
Warde doesn’t follow through on fighting the big ten. Warde pulls back on the contract negotiations that started before October. He treated the single most difficult to replace employee of the AD as if he was a mid level paper pusher.
The behavior of Hackett and Warde couldn’t be more different.
January 25th, 2024 at 11:18 AM ^
Warde can't hold a candle to Jim Hackett.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:22 AM ^
No, Warde does not have unlimited authority on contract negotiations, but if he was in JH's corner against the regents then it's HIS JOB to emphasize just how fucking important JH is to the program and by extension the school. That's why giving in on contract demands late in the game hurts so bad--if this aspect of the deal was in fact negotiable, they should've gave in earlier and given themselves a better chance of retaining JH.
I was personally ready to give JH the AD role--I think he's way ahead of the curve on player rights and relations, and I would imagine this would benefit all athletes, not just the football program. I still hope he comes back one day to do this role. JH is a real visionary in his field.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:21 AM ^
"Dropping the ball/being slow on Pearson was not so great and maybe we should have moved on from Juwan after the second 'incident'."
Not so great is one way to describe it, I suppose.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:21 AM ^
Nice try, Warde.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:22 AM ^
I'm not mad. Only reason jim would come back was if he didn't get a solid NFL offer. He was leaving.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:26 AM ^
Agree with this. I'm not sure why Harbaugh's agent (I assume) leaked that story to Chengelis last night. It just made a certain portion of the message board posting fan base want blood.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:49 AM ^
It's all about damage control for Harbaugh and to direct blame on Warde and the AD. There's a reason why the agent leaked it to the media.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:01 AM ^
I don't think it was needed. The vast majority of the fan base understands his decision and wishes him well. This feels like he did it as one last jab at Warde which feels petty at this point.
January 25th, 2024 at 11:59 AM ^
You wouldn't know it if you go by social media and message boards. Harbaugh did it for PR purposes.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:32 AM ^
This may be true and if there was a concerted effort to get Jim the contract he wanted with all the realistic indemnity clauses he asked for, well before the contract negotiations with the Chargers commenced in earnest, I'd be fine with the way it went down.
That didn't happen, so now there's this little voice saying did we really do all we could to retain him?
January 25th, 2024 at 9:48 AM ^
Reading between the lines, Warde and Co were fine with him leaving.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:38 AM ^
Warde may not be sorry to see him go but I thought Ono would have pushed the contract Jim wanted through faster.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:33 AM ^
Bingo. I'm just glad he didn't get the Minnasota job a couple years ago. That would have felt like unfinished business.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:23 AM ^
I think its indirectly Warde's fault in that he's not a great athletic director.
I don't know about Bakich, but it's clear that Beilein and Harbaugh both wanted to coach at the highest level of their professions (Beilein because it was probably his last chance, Harbaugh because he wanted to win a Super Bowl). One thing that might have given them both pause was if Warde was excellent at his job. Because he appears to be mediocre, that argument and experience couldn't be used to convince either to stay. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered, I don't know, but I don't think Warde as AD helped either situation.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:38 AM ^
What are you basing this on? JB likely knew his window to coach in the NBA was coming to an end and seemed like he did not want to deal with the NCAA and college basketball in its then current state, which arguably was more corrupt and with less parity than football these days.
Harbaugh lost the Super Bowl to his older brother by a hair. Other than Stanford and a stint at USD, he's been an NFL guy through and through. He's been actively trying to go back to the NFL for years and has consistently been linked to NFL jobs even before he interviewed and has never once shot them down.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^
I would look at some of the above from MGrowOld and jmblue with regards to Warde's tenure as AD.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:48 AM ^
it's clear that Beilein and Harbaugh both wanted to coach at the highest level of their professions (Beilein because it was probably his last chance, Harbaugh because he wanted to win a Super Bowl).
Let's be real - Harbaugh is 60. He doesn't have many great years of coaching left. If he re-ups on his contract now, the NFL is less and less likely. His stock is at an all-time high, he's leaving the program in a good spot, and he's not getting any younger. If he's going, now is the time.
He's already the 5th oldest head coach in the NFL now (Andy Reid is 60, John Harbaugh is 61, and Mike McCarthy, Todd Bowles, Jim Harbaugh, and Sean Payton are all 60 and all born in Nov/Dec 1963).
Of course, there is still time for Belichick and Carroll to get HC jobs, although Carroll at least seems destined for a front office job at Seattle.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:23 AM ^
Reads like a list of reasons why Warde should be fired. Cool.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:25 AM ^
Other than the truly obsessed wing of the fanbase, I suspect that most people don't even know who Warde is, let alone invest any time or thought in being a hater of Warde. They're too busy celebrating the fact that Michigan won a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:28 AM ^
If you don’t know who the AD of the program is then you aren’t a fan.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:42 AM ^
Big money donors will have a say. Will the money donated for the Harbaugh contract be followed up on now? Might influence who we are able to keep.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:49 AM ^
Thanks, Mr Gatekeeper
January 25th, 2024 at 9:25 AM ^
You really have to squint to make the argument Warde’s tenure has been a success. You have to really contort reality to believe Jim’s distrust of Warde wasn’t a primary motivation behind his departure.
Per the Gospel of John U. Bacon:
“Harbaugh's attorneys, who had been trying to work with Michigan to keep him in Ann Arbor, said, however, it took until the proverbial 11th hour on Wednesday for Michigan to give in on certain contract language. By then, it was too late. After months of Michigan rejecting the contract terms his lawyers proposed in late 2023, a source with knowledge of the negotiations told The Detroit News that Michigan finally agreed to Harbaugh's proposal on Wednesday afternoon when Harbaugh was already in the final stage of discussions with the Chargers.”
But I dunno, the Olympic sports are doing okay, I guess.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:33 AM ^
If you believe that Michigan = Warde and Warde alone you are correct.
But my strong, strong belief, having worked in large organizations but nothing as large as Michigan is, would be he is merely one voice and not necessarily the loudest one at the table when Jim's contract demands were being discussed.
When the autopsy is performed on Harbaugh's tenure at Michigan I think the cause of death will be the following and in this order:
1. The results of the 2013 Super Bowl
2. That he accomplished what he set out to do at Michigan
3. The unbelievable hypocrocy of the NCAA as it relates to rules enforcement
4. Michigan's regents & legal counsel
5. Warde
January 25th, 2024 at 9:48 AM ^
I agree with this fully. Your second paragraph is a more succinct point of my original post. Warde does not have the power that people seem to think he does. Big decisions at large organizations are almost always made by several people.
Your autopsy rings true as well. I think very little, if anything, of why Jim left has to do with what Warde and Michigan did and didn't do. He's an absolutely compulsive competitor and it's clear from his 'sitting at the big kids table' comment, that he very much wants that Super Bowl win. He got the national championship done - for which I am eternally grateful - and now he wants to one-up his brother and dad.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ^
I'd flip #2 and #4. If (as I think both of us seem to agree) Warde was at their mercy, the lawyers & regents seriously misread the whole damn situation and overplayed their hands.
While I'm not impressed with the overall job Warde has done as AD, there's not a whole helluva lot he could have done when cockblocked by dummies who waited until everything burned nearly to the ground before acting.
Yes, Jim has always coveted another shot at winning a Super Bowl. But reportedly he had an opt-out agreement weeks ago on his contract offer that would have made that possible down the road. Instead, the regents and legal counsel chose to fiddle until Wednesday by not recognizing the seriousness of Harbaugh's demand for legal protection from the NCAA Mobsters.
I believe he would have waited to scratch his NFL itch (the Chargers, LOL!) and instead defend Michigan's National Title if it wasn't for the ineptitude of those above Warde.
January 25th, 2024 at 10:36 AM ^
This order seems correct to me. Except I'd flip 4 and 5. Harbaugh probably interacts more with Warde than the regents. But either way, number 1 is far and away the biggest reason. He doesn't interview with Denver last year and Minnesota the year before if that isn't the case. We can argue about the contract language and what the lawyers said, but none of that was in play the last 2 years when he interviewed for the NFL.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:38 AM ^
John U Bacon is not a preacher. He continues to tout "updates" on contracts that he has no inside info on. Coupled with his random Tweets about sideline workers/chain pullers vs. MSU last year and he is losing a step. We should stop clinging to every word he says. He's getting more out of touch each year.
January 25th, 2024 at 9:42 AM ^
1. Santa was in the negotiations. Will you fire him as well?
2. Warde represents the university and rightly held the line on immunity.