Warde Manuel comments about Juwan Howard and Jim Harbaugh

Submitted by ThadMattasagoblin on January 27th, 2024 at 7:09 PM

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/2024/01/27/warde-manuel-focus-is-on-supporting-juwan-howard-talk-about-future-will-happen-after-season/72380708007/

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2024/01/michigan-ad-warde-manuel-opens-up-about-contract-talks-with-jim-harbaugh.html

These articles don't really give me much confidence. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Warde doesn't think that anything is "way off" in our basketball program. Additionally, he didn't even talk to Harbaugh himself in his contract negotiations so he doesn't know how he felt about everything. This seems a bit different from Hackett calling everyone he could possibly find with connections to Jim to get him to Ann Arbor in December 2014.

Football

matty blue

January 28th, 2024 at 9:51 AM ^

i’m not sure if warde should be retained or fired.  because i, like the VAST majority of people here, have no earthly idea what an AD’s actual, day-to-day job actually consists of.  i’m pretty sure it’s way more than the hiring and firing football and basketball coaches, though.

we lose at ohio state, and y’all want him to behave like you do, which is to have a very public freakout, and when he doesn’t, you lose it.  his hire of a basketball coach (almost universally admired at the time, except by the ‘get pitino” types) turns out poorly, and since he hasn’t fired him yet, you freak out again.  we lose a coach that wants to win a super bowl, and since he didn’t make him forget his literal lifelong dream of winning a super bowl, you freak out again.  these things all suck, of course, but bad things happen and you fight through them and keep working.

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PeteM

January 28th, 2024 at 11:34 AM ^

I can't easily find it online, but my recollection is that Scott Bell took an online poll in 2020 and most wanted to retain Harbaugh. I think the loudest voices online are often assumed to reflect the majority. The 2015-2020 seasons weren't what we hoped when Harbaugh, but were significantly better than the previous 7 seasons. 2019 included dominant wins over Notre Dame and MSU, and I really think many assumed that Covid disruptions played a large part what happened in 2020.

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jsquigg

January 27th, 2024 at 9:52 PM ^

He also has moved quickly to lock Sherrone down. I'm also no Warde fan, but let's be honest, Harbaugh is a tough guy to work around. He clearly didn't have the organization buttoned up which is where Warde failed most in regard to football (not counting the Mel BS). It has seemed that Warde is just there, doesn't do much and takes the path of least resistance. I would also say that there is a lot we don't know.

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Midukman

January 27th, 2024 at 10:09 PM ^

Such shit! Yes there was some screaming for it. Most had the same attitude of “who you gonna replace him with”. The ones pissing and moaning to fire Harbaugh were the ones creating threads and are still bitching about him. It definitely wasn’t a majority and nothing like a typical Saturday on 11Ws

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bo_lives

January 27th, 2024 at 10:34 PM ^

The idea that MOST Michigan fans wanted the Prodigal Son fired is absurd, bullshit revisionist history. Not even a majority of whiners on this board wanted that. There was plenty of groaning and BPONE resignation, but there was no obvious alternative. As Brian said many times, “if Harbaugh can’t win at Michigan, no one can”. And Harbaugh was winning at Michigan, he just couldn’t beat OSU. Virtually no one else but Saban and Dabo could either at the time though.

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Frank Chuck

January 27th, 2024 at 10:51 PM ^

"The idea that MOST Michigan fans wanted the Prodigal Son fired is absurd, bullshit revisionist history."

That's definitely not how I remember it. 

I remember having serious, protracted arguments here with many know-it-all fans.

We can revisit some threads on MGoBlog. Here's a thread that popped up right away.

Oh...would you look at that...some very frequent well known MGoBlog posters on that thread. Interesting...

https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/fire-harbaugh-10

@bo_lives: Would you like me to link more threads? The postgame threads were particularly nasty and vicious. They reeked of anti-Harbaugh sentiment. Perhaps you need to be reminded of the things that were said and repeated against Harbaugh during and after the COVID season. We can also revisit preseason threads before 2021...

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bo_lives

January 27th, 2024 at 11:14 PM ^

Your evidence is a thread, posted on the day of the 2020 PSU loss, with less than 50 replies? The only notable regular calling for Harbaugh’s firing in that thread is MGrowOld. And nothing in that thread even remotely resembles a “serious, protracted argument”. It’s the typical shitposting that comes after every loss.

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ca_prophet

January 27th, 2024 at 11:26 PM ^

How about Brian, does he count?

From The Edge of Space:
"I was not in a mental space to regard 2020 as fake, which it now clearly was, and wanted someone other than Harbaugh in 2021."

Seth and Ace were in a similar position.  The blog has a When Can We Fire This Guy tag, you should really check it out.

And they're pretty calm, compared to the commenters.
 

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bo_lives

January 27th, 2024 at 11:54 PM ^

Brian has been pretty open about not being in a good headspace at the time. The PSU game summary thread is devoid of actual arguments and full of morose feelings-ball takes about Harbaugh having a grating personality. Half way down the comments is the only level-headed take, coming from BronxBlue:

My unwillingness to believe that Harbaugh must be fired after an absolutely awful year during a pandemic in which nearly half of his starters have missed significant time and he's apparently down to his 3rd or 4th QB, with the likely replacements being a combination of a barely-.500 coach from another P5 program, a coach at an AAC program who has made it pretty clear he doesn't want to come here, and assorted assistants who have little track records is, of course, a massive character flaw.

Yes, I disagree with Brian believing Michigan fans aren't "losers" because they are disappointed with the historical norm for this program basically since the majority of people on this site have been alive.  If that's douchy so be it.

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NewBlue7977

January 27th, 2024 at 7:53 PM ^

"Mob mentality" is a result of bad job performance by Warde.  He didn't hire Harbaugh, then Harbaugh left on Warde's tenure.  As much as I love Howard as a person and passion for Michigan basketball, Warde hired him and the program is in shambles, Bakich left, Beilin left, and the hockey mess under his watch.  

I will say that I like the Moore hiring and will root for him to be an elite coach for the football program.  Time will tell if he will be a great coach his entire time at Michigan. 

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AMazinBlue

January 27th, 2024 at 8:58 PM ^

There are not a lot of torches and pitchforks coming at Warde because he stays quiet and doesn't really do anything...inso doing he doesn't stir the mob. But he has failed miserably as an administrator. He never really backed Harbaugh ever during any of the negative press or accusations. He has said or done nothing in relation to Juwan or the disaster that is the basketball program. He should fire Howard the day after the last game, if not sooner, and then resign himself. Or Santa fires him. Either way Juwan has to go and the basketball program needs a complete house cleaning.

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FrankMurphy

January 27th, 2024 at 8:03 PM ^

I'm not a Warde defender. He's had his share of missteps as AD. He's no Don Canham. But I just don't see any actual evidence to support the idea that he's in any way to blame for Harbaugh's departure.

Harbaugh wants to win a Super Bowl. The loss to his brother in 2013 still gnaws at him. He's on the record about that. The Chargers situation is practically tailor made for him.

How is any of that Warde's fault? Harbaugh's departure was a foregone conclusion the moment the clock hit 00:00 in the NCG.

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othernel

January 27th, 2024 at 8:14 PM ^

Even if JH leaving was inevitable, everything that's come out about the negotiations have shown that Warde doesn't know what he's doing. 

He didn't sufficiently lawyer up during hamburger-gate, he didn't defend JH during sign gate, he didn't publicly show love for JH during contact negotiations before the playoff, he didn't even seem to be involved in the negotiations after the NC, he didn't coordinate the NIL collectives to have an offer ready for JJ to come back...

Regardless of whatever JH did, it was clear that Michigan was not putting it's best foot forward with Warde at the helm. 

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gruden

January 27th, 2024 at 8:18 PM ^

Well here's the question of it:

Warde knew in November exactly what Harbaugh wanted.  He didn't deliver on those points until it was too late.

From the outside we can read this two ways:

1. Warde worked hard to convince the stakeholders and it took time to bring everyone to that point and achieve consensus.

2. Warde sandbagged until it was too late then delivered when he knew they'd already crossed the Rubicon and the door had closed, passively removing Harbaugh with the appearance of attempting to retain Harbaugh without actually making a real effort.

So which is it?  I'm inclined for #2, because Warde hardly spoke to Harbaugh during negotiations, meaning they stayed at arms-length.  We also know that Pres. Ono was firmly on Harbaugh's side, so it's not clear to me who Warde had to convince to accept Harbaugh's terms.

Harbaugh spoke effusively about Pres. Ono, but I never saw such words from him for Warde.  What isn't said can be just as telling.

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The Mad Hatter

January 27th, 2024 at 9:14 PM ^

It was absolutely #2. Warde wanted Harbaugh out, but he didn't want to take the blame for it. He played it perfectly and got exactly what he wanted.

Now he has his coach, who will presumably be easier to deal with than Jim was.

I don't think Harbaugh had some burning desire to go back to the NFL, last fall his own brother said that he thought he would be a lifer at Michigan.

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