Warde hate seems to be everywhere right now

Submitted by Drenasu on January 25th, 2024 at 9:08 AM

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:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

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ChuckieWoodson

January 25th, 2024 at 10:21 AM ^

Why are you refusing to attribute even a shred of doubt/blame on Warde? 

"Unless you work in the athletic department, close to Warde and Harbaugh, I don't know how you'd know what their relationship really was." 

JUB said it was icy.  It's icy.

"I don't know if Warde is good at his job"

You don't? What do your eyes say?  How many top coaches has he let go?  Juwan Howard is still here after slapping another coach.

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shoes

January 25th, 2024 at 10:21 AM ^

Wendy- your opinions are always very thoughtful, Here though I disagree in two respects. Warde's only options in 2020 weren't to fire Jim or cut his pay in half. He could have maintained his pay or reduced it by a much smaller percentage. I have learned that one can get a skewed perception of the Michigan fan base writ large, by reading this site daily. The vocal critics here, including the leadership, were far more extreme than the overall fan base with respect to retaining Jim in 2020.

The second is that even without all of the insider chatter, we don't really have to guess about the chiiliness and distrust in the Warde/Jim relationship. Just look at 2 indicators: last year it was announced by President Ono- not Warde, that Jim was staying, and most recently, Jim's request for a 3 person panel , not Warde to determine whether he was culpable for NCAA issues as a fireable offense. 

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Larry Z

January 25th, 2024 at 9:59 AM ^

I agree with the OP.

I sadly, but honestly think that JH really wanted to go back to the NFL. That started to become obvious a few years ago, when he started flirting with the NFL. And part of me agrees, that maybe JH and his agents did make the immunity demands, knowing that they were going to be next to impossible to get approved, and throw in the late take effect date...This would give him the max amount of time to interview for as many NFL jobs a s possible.

Additionally, I wonder if knew that he had the players (especially QB) that he knew were great and fit what he wanted done, and that made staying at Michigan easier? Now that a large majority of them are leaving, staying after this year was a definite a "no-go"? Maybe he didn't want to stick around until another JJ Mccarthy showed up?

In the end, I think he truely wanted to be in the NFL. After "parting ways" (encouraged to mutually part ways, if not you are fired) with the 49ers, the Michigan job became avaialble, and when NFL teams started to become interested in JH again, he started flirting with them again. So again, the NFL was always his destination, IMO.

The thing that chaps me the most about this is, the thing that I was hoping Michigan and JH differed from the rest of the sporting world, JH mentioned he wanted to stay, he wasn't going anywhere, he wasn't going to entertain the NFL jobs anymore. But, in the end he left, and he chose to leave. Michigan football means something to me, and for reasons that I will not mention here, Michigan is something special, and for the program to get to the heights that it got to, and for JH just to walk away. That is painful. You don't just walk away from a place you love, even if it was the "11th" hour.

So, maybe the fault lies a little bit with everyone, but the ending, I do believe, was already predetermined.

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25dodgebros

January 25th, 2024 at 10:00 AM ^

I don't "hate" Warde. But he seems to think it is still 1980 in college sports and all Michigan has to do to win is go along and mind the NCAA and  everything will be hunky-dory.  He isn't in touch with today's reality of what big time college sports entertainment really is about.  Sadly, I think we are headed to relive the 50s and early 60s for Michigan major sports until someone wakes up and hires the 2030 version of Don Canham.  

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1408

January 25th, 2024 at 10:01 AM ^

Anyone badgering Warde about not getting Jim back here is ignoring the simple facts of the situation.  Harbaugh was seeking to go to the NFL well in advance of the NCAA/Big Ten nonsense.  If the Vikings offered last year, he would have left.

Santa is an exception - he genuinely enjoys sports.  Schlissel, and any UM president, is running one of the largest and most important institutions in the United States.  If you think they have fourteen seconds to spare for who the baseball coach is, you don't understand how these things work.

Harbaugh is a smart guy.  He got his people putting out there that he just wanted to be "loved".  Reputation preservation as he knew he would one day leave and not want to crush how those at Michigan think of him.  

If it is true that he was seeking some blanket indemnity, I am proud of Warde and the University for sticking to their guns.  Harbaugh was the second best coach in Michigan history.  He is a mega star.  But no man is above the institution.  Ever.

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mackbru

January 25th, 2024 at 10:02 AM ^

People feel the need to assign blame, create villains and find scapegoats when things don’t go the way. It’s childish and sometimes feels frankly a little racist. People here’s seem to find it particularly easy to assign blame to a Black man, who is often described here as lazy, shiftless and a stupid. Classic code. He did nothing significantly wrong here. 

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energyblue1

January 25th, 2024 at 2:17 PM ^

wtf is wrong with you?  Asking for all posters!  If you have read any of the posts on this board not one did I see remotely assign blame to Warde for anything other than Job Performance!  Why, what is that job again?  That's right, to be the Director of Athletics, ie Director.  His job wasn't AD as it pertains to anything else. 

Explain how Warde supported Jim, how he made the right decisions on Jim's contracts and how he advocated for him?  Cause the people close to Jim were saying it was toxic in the Athletic Department and all of it was pointed at Warde!

 

 

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LB

January 25th, 2024 at 10:05 AM ^

Trouble with the snap.

I don't know enough to place blame but OSU just spent a billion dollars on players and Michigan doesn't even know who will be coaching next year. It's inexcusable. If they could make the offer yesterday they could have made it a month ago and asked Harbaugh to make a decision for the good of the team if nothing else.

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Watching From Afar

January 25th, 2024 at 10:08 AM ^

Multiple things can be true.

Warde was fighting an uphill battle trying to get Harbaugh to stay. Similar with Bakich and the tennis coach who left for Florida. And Beilein didn't want to deal with the new landscape in college.

On the other hand, what have his accomplishments been? Not firing Harbaugh after 2020 is really about it.

He had Beilein and Harbaugh on staff when he was hired. So he didn't really do much in the 2 biggest sports. He hired Howard and while they had a few dead cat bounce years, it has turned into an embarrassment.

Hired Mel, which was the most obvious choice and pretty sure I could have been the AD and Mel would have come back to Michigan given his past and connection to Red. Warde then proceeded to completely bungle that investigation and firing.

Fired the women's volleyball coach awkwardly, who was good but not great. Never really got the full scoop there.

Hutch retired, can't do much given she was the program. But now women's softball is just... there.

In summary, the most successful programs Michigan has had under Warde have been where coaches were here before he was hired. Non-revenue producing sports also don't really see coaching turnover (firings) unless they seriously fuck up or create an embarrassment for the University so he hasn't made any great hirings or firings there because not many people care. Basically, had you put me in charge of the AD for those specific responsibilities (hirings and firings) I don't know that the outcomes are any different. He's good at running the department to make a bunch of money. There's value in that, but how much?

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Blue in Yarmouth

January 25th, 2024 at 10:09 AM ^

I  think you're misunderstanding why most here are pissed at Warde. I agree, there may have been nothing he could have done at this point to retain Jim, but much of that, in my opinion, was because of the things that took place between he and Jim over the past two seasons. I think the lack of support from his immediate supervisor over the past two season is what made it virtually impossible for Jim to be retained. I had a feeling when the university withdrew its lawsuit against the big ten that it was the end for Harbaugh and UM regardless how the season finished. Once he won the National Championship I was 1000% certain he was not coming back. To be able to leave on a high note after the way he was treated by the school, the conference and the NCAA was the Ultimate f-you from Harbaugh to college football as he rode off into the sunset a hero amoungst the team and it's fans. Now, within two years he will have the chargers in the super bowl and will probably win one before he is done. Good Luck Jim! 

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SalvatoreQuattro

January 25th, 2024 at 10:32 AM ^

Harbaugh helped create the mess with his inattentiveness in terms of running the program. For whatever reason fans do not want to hold Harbaugh accountable for his very real failings as an head coach of a football team.

LA isn’t making a Super Bowl within two years. Not with their massive roster overturn and a conference loaded with elite QBs. Harbaugh’s time in SanFran meant he had to get through Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson,  and…Eli Manning. This time he has to go through Mahomes, Allen, Stroud, Lawrence, Burrow, and Lamar Jackson. Good luck with that.

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LSAClassOf2000

January 25th, 2024 at 10:11 AM ^

You know, there's a selfish part of me that would have loved to see Jim stay, but especially after 2020, it seemed clear that he did not consider Michigan to be his final destination necessarily, but it also seemed clear that he was willing to entertain the notion of staying as well, and he did - for a magical run indeed that culminated in a National Championship. For me as a fan to want someone as marketable as Harbaugh knows himself to be to deny that to himself is rather silly and I cannot, in good conscience, do such a thing. In short, I assumed that if he did not go after the NC, it very likely would have been a short while afterwards. We will never really know, of course, and I am fine with it - this is all academic now anyway.

That said, I don't hold the upper echelons of the University entirely blameless. Good lawyers they are, and if we are honest with ourselves, you could just assume that any contract language guaranteeing Self-like immunity would make them wince, as it probably should under most circumstances. Even so, to not make your best offer - complete with pay and that very clause - until the final moments of his negotiations with someone else really seems like a massive dropping of the proverbial ball. Maybe he still would have said "No, thanks", and that's fine, but offering that way late was maddening all the same. 

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Drenasu

January 25th, 2024 at 10:25 AM ^

I am not sure that agreeing to the final immunity clause was in good faith, so to speak.  It seems like they only offered immunity after they were sure Harbaugh was leaving.  The point of doing it that way may have been to help protect against the PR backlash for losing Harbaugh without any intention of having to honor that clause.  We'll likely never know for certain.

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ottomatic

January 25th, 2024 at 10:18 AM ^

I've been a Harbaugh fan for 40 years - but he was always just buying time with the contract negotiations - that's not on Warde. If you consider that Warde knew exactly what was coming I'd give him passing marks for playing along and managing the optics fairly well. Coach Harbaugh leaves a conquering hero, the continuity / succession plan is already tested. Change is hard, no need for scapegoats. 

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Ghost of Fritz…

January 25th, 2024 at 10:24 AM ^

Manuel is below replacement level.  Michigan always self-inflicts handicaps and limits on its success.  While he is not the only problem, he typifies the problem.  Michigan football did so well over the last three years despite, and not because of, the way the Athletic Department approaches the enterprise.  On the merits he should be replaced.   

The way Michigan and Manuel handled the JH tenure was a firing offense.  Warde failed to make the correct moves at every step to benefit Michigan's position. 

The success of the last three years has caused too many to forget the JH was disengaged and somewhat lost in the middle years of his middle years and Michigan.  Manuel responded by cutting his salary in a public and embarrassing way. 

The worst move possible.  Either fire him then, or give him a couple more years to re-engage and perform without a pay cut.  Those are to only two valid options. 

It turns out JH did re-engage and did bring energy back to coaching.  But by cutting his salary, Manuel increased the chances that JH would leave, so the harmed Michigan.  If JH re-engaged and found success, Manuel had created a successful coach with valid resentments.

And what if JH had not re-engaged and had not performed?  Well, Warde would have had to fire him anyway, so where is the benefit in cutting his salary? 

If JH performs (he did), having cut his salary harms Michigan's position by fomenting resentment.  If JH did not perform, cutting his salary provided no benefit to Michigan and the end result would be the same--firing an underperforming coach. 

Michigan being behind in NIL is also Manuel's fault.  So is losing Bakich and Beilein.  

I cannot imagine a valid reason why Manuel should continue to lead the Michigan AD.  

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Ghost of Fritz…

January 25th, 2024 at 10:49 AM ^

By '21 the damage was done and the resentment intact.  After Manuel cut is pay by a huge amount JH started to look for NFL jobs.  He did not get an offer until this week.  And yes, Manuel and Michigan made several other mistakes WRT JH, capped by not meeting his demands util JH was already down to details in the Chargers contract.  But the biggest mistake was cutting his pay.  That is a 'heads you win, tails I lose' situation the Manuel manufactured for Michigan.

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True Blue Grit

January 25th, 2024 at 11:46 AM ^

You may be right about the pay cut.  But whether it was a coincidence or not, Harbaugh turned things around dramatically right after that.  And we've now won 3 undisputed Big Ten titles in a row, and a National Championship.  It may not have happened without the extra motivation of the pay cut.  Who can say?  If it did make a difference, I'd argue it was justified.    It's also not clear cut that Jim wouldn't have started looking for NFL jobs anyway - pay cut or no pay cut.  

So, there's usually different angles to view any decision, especially in retrospect.  

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Beat Rutgerland

January 25th, 2024 at 10:25 AM ^

I'm somewhat tired of talking about Warde. I'm in the "it mostly is his fault" camp, but the damage is now done. Warde is also going to hire the next football coach, hopefully he goes with the obvious choice.

 

We could debate this endlessly, but we'll never get to run the counterfactual.

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shoes

January 25th, 2024 at 10:32 AM ^

You don't really have to hope on this one because what Warde wants and Michigan's best interest align nicely with Sherrone Moore. I understand the risks with hiring a first time head coach, but I believe those risks are worth taking given that he has been a very good position coach, and coordinator, and has stepped up to greater responsibilities when asked to and appaears to have the respect of the locker room.

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Blinkin

January 25th, 2024 at 10:29 AM ^

I think an important perspective is Harbaugh's propensity for changing jobs.  He's never been a lifetime employee, even going back to his days as a player.  His time as HC at Michigan is the longest he's held ANY job, and more than twice as long as he's spent in any other coaching position.  

Bears QB: 7 seasons

Colts QB: 4 seasons

Ravens QB: 1 season

Chargers QB: 2 seasons

USD Head Coach: 3 seasons

Stanford HC: 4 seasons

49ers HC: 4 seasons

Michigan HC: 9 seasons

I don't think it was super plausible to expect that anyone with this body of work was going to spend another 10 years at Michigan and retire here.  

 

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Boner Stabone

January 25th, 2024 at 12:33 PM ^

My brother in law and I had a bet when Harbaugh was hired back in 2014.  He said Harbaugh would not last more than 4 seasons at Michigan.  I told him I will take that bet.  Sure enough I won that one fairly easily as we got 9 seasons from him.

I am sad to see him go.  I remember back in 2014 with all of the "It's Happening" memes and celebrations that happened when he was hired.  It was a great ride with Jim.  It had its bumps along the way, but in the end it was a legendary ride.

I will leave with this great Dr. Suess quote:  "Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened."

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Blue Dispatch

January 25th, 2024 at 10:34 AM ^

Well, if it took until "the 11th hour for Michigan to give in on certain contract language", then it seems Michigan dropped the ball. If Harbaugh's attorneys were trying to keep him at Michigan, what were the Michigan attorneys doing for months?

Why didn't they agree to this language months ago? Michigan dragged this negotiation along for months. 

Did it take a national championship to convince Michigan what they needed to do?

I think Michigan screwed this up big time. The opportunity to keep Harbaugh was absolutely there and Michigan blew it.

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