Warde Manuel Appreciation/Apology Thread
I'm one of many people who has roundly criticized Warde Manuel around these parts. But after his deft ability to woo Dusty May - using Known Friends and Trusted Agents like John Beilein, Charles Ramsey, etc. - away from every other program vying for his services, he deserves due credit.
History will tell whether his decisions these past few years will bear fruit for our major sports programs, but for now: Warde, sorry I doubted you. Take a bow.
Reducing Harbaughs salary was a good thing?
Seems to have worked out ok, no?
He left so no?
Lol You wanted Harbaugh fired.
isn't the word on the street that ono and the regents pressured him to do this, and that saint beilein brought us may?
i'm sure he deserves some credit, but he is working off a big negative balance.
I laugh at the idea that "Beilein brought May in". It's called a team effort.
A good leader brings in expertise when needed for the sake of the organization. He recognized that Beilein would be able to describe in far more detail the intricacies of building a program to national prominence.
Bingo. Most people have never led a thing in their life so they can’t imagine someone in a leadership position using their contacts to help.
Arguably that's expected of a leader. Do people think a CEO gets hired because he knows how to run an excel sheet without a mouse?
Hell no, he knows exactly who to hire to do that.
i'm laughing at you laughing at us laughing at...you.
j/k. i'm sure warde deserves some love for this, but not sure how much and he's still in the dog house for a bunch of other stuff. he's grounded and he can't go to prom or use the car.
Hockey I get. Baseball I just don’t. Unfortunately like it or not Michigan baseball is and always will be an after thought
Seriously. I never knew how much people cared about Michigan baseball until Jim Harbaugh left for the Chargers and then suddenly not outbidding Clemson became a fireable offense.
The word on the street about Warde being brought to do this by others was IIRC implied by Bacon, whose overall veracity is, I think, fairly up for debate.
Not to mention ... if Beilein hated Warde ... if all the coaches that worked under Warde hated him as much as everyone here seems to insist they do ... wouldn't he stay out of the process, rather than actively recruit May?
Or do you think Beilein is so false that he simply, bald-facedly lied to May about the working conditions at the U of M athletic department?
What exactly are people hailing Warde for? Hiring an in-demand mid-major coach to take over the basketball program cratered by your previous hire? Odd thing to celebrate at this time.
Not hailing just understanding the hate has been manufactured by certain people on someone who probably doesn’t deserve it. Michigan fans love them a scapegoat to explain shortcomings
I think hate is a strong word, but I don't think the unrest and anger was manufactured by anyone.
Michigan's athletic programs are high profile and have high visibility, and Warde Manuel is identified as the leader of Michigan athletics. There were various points in the last 5-6 years were many Michigan fans expected more decisive, more assertive leadership from the leader of the athletic department. And you might say that's not his style, that's not how he does the job, and that's fine, but these things take on a life of their own and perceptions form and stick.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Santa Ono was so demonstrative and vocal in his support for Michigan sports. He was filling a vacuum the community needed to see filled, but it was really Manuel's job to fill it. Communications is like 50% of business leadership, and clearly Warde is not doing himself any favors on this front. Even if we treat the May hire as some sort of major coup - and I think it remains to be seen if it is - the internet is already full of stories of how we really need to thank John Beilein for it. That allows even those who love the May hire to do so without giving full credit to Manuel. It's a vicious cycle where Manuel can get the blame for everything that goes wrong and only at best half the credit when things go well, but I think it's something of a problem he created for himself. I think when he was hired people were prepared to like him.
Hiring an in-demand mid-major coach
Better that he hire a loser? I don't understand how May being the It Coach gets used against him. Give Warde credit, don't give him credit, whatever. But yes, getting the top guy that everybody wanted is actually a good thing.
I don't understand why you don't understand it. It's obvious. And doesn't exist all the the same time!
Wayyyyy too soon,blue...
You've got to fucking kidding me. The tub of goo sat on his greasy fingers and fucked up the Person firing, lost our best baseball coach in forever, lost our best football coach in forever and to be pressured by his boss to make the move on Howard and had to have our ex-HC broker the Maye deal because he apparently wasnt able to do that himself.
Throw in his unwillingness to publicly support Harbaugh after the 2016 OSU football game fiasco and said and did nothing after our basketball team had a God-Damn plane crash but the B1G refused to change their game time. Oh, and did I mention he never actually presented Harbaugh a contract for him to turn down? He was probably too busy to get to that over the past two years.
An appreciation thread for Warde? I'd rather sign up for an appreciation thread for Ace.
You may have hit on a key distinction. It may be people who follow hockey that really have it in for him. The most I know about Pearson is that he is a "hockey dude who had a thing that wasn't great." Maybe that is the distinction. It sounds like Manuel really had a significant hockey mishap of which some of us remain blissfully unaware.
I'm not a hockey guy but the Pearson thing wasn't a hockey thing so much as a "this coach is a VERY bad person and the administration knew and did nothing to stop it and in fact did everything to protect the program for as long as possible" that should always get ADs fired.
Hmmm. I don't know if I subconsciously stayed away from the story because I was sick of bad things but I still don't know anything about it so I will task myself with getting up to speed.
Edit - Ok read up on it. It sounds like Pearson was a gigantic jerk-face a lot of the time and Warde never really spoke out about it after it became public. I don't know, it doesn't push me one way or the other.
I'm not sure I'd frame it quite that way. My recollection was that the bad actor wasn't the coach, but a key staffer and Pearson protected him (and was also generally unpleasant to work with). When the report on that came to Warde he did nothing. And by nothing, I really mean nothing. He let Pearson's contract expire without renewal and for a while there, Pearson was working without a contract. I *think* he was trying to wait for the negative stuff to pass before extending Pearson, but who knows. Ultimately he didn't so much fire Pearson as just promote Naurato to an empty job as an interim, then he took forever to pull the interim tag. It was really, really strange.
I was oversimplifying a bit. But yeah, basically there was a culture problem in the hockey program, Warde was informed, and -- true to his style -- did nothing. Except this was a situation where you really, really, really shouldn't do nothing.
For me, the truly unacceptable thing was that, while Pearson was no Paterno in terms of what actually happened, how Manuel handled it -- or rather, didn't -- was exactly how such a thing could've happened. An AD who responds to serious allegations like that, I don't merely want fired -- I want them fired into the Sun.
For sure, and Pearson absolutely deserved to get fired for knowing a subordinate was actively violating policies and choosing to do nothing about it (and, I believe, retaliating against people who did try to report the issues). And your point about how he handled the situation presaging how he might handle an even bigger scandal is excellent. (And even further, I don't think this is separate from the complete lack of vetting that went into hiring Shemy or probably Weiss, and the lack of oversight for Stallions and company. Manuel is very risk-averse, but also fails to see the risk of burying his head in the sand over and over again.)
Strong. +1.
Change name to Warde Manuel’s diabeeeeetus meds.
I think a lot of people just miss Dave Brandon, so they lash out at Warde.... fortunately his shoulders are broad so he can carry that extra weight.....
I'm not apologizing. Fire Warde.
I agree. I have been extremely critical of Warde at times, but have to give him credit for pulling this hire off. Great job Warde!
Nah.
His track record is unimpressive at best. This appears to be a good hire. Small credit for enlisting the right parties to facilitate, I guess? When you couldn't get the job done on your own?
The last two years of Juwan required decisive action and leadership, which he displayed zero of - which confirmed what we all suspected watching him "handle" the Mel Pearson debacle and getting pushed around and bullied by the B1G during the Harbaugh nonsense.
Fuck off with this shit. Guy hasn't coached one game.
There was a guy who we all knew who could coach but Warde Never Missed a Meal couldn't stand playing fiddle #2 and said Buh Bah. Hiring Sherrone wasn't exactly some coup. Dood was on staff.
The best football coach, the best basketball coach, and the best baseball coach - arguably ever or for at least a century - have all left while your buddy Warde has been in charge
Just making a hire is a comically low bar for any AD.
If Michigan had pulled-off hiring a basketball coach who people thought was untouchable (Otzelberger, Oats, etc) then that's something to credit Warde with; May, while being in demand by other schools, was also extremely getable.
I'm glad Warde moved with conviction on the hire and I hope May works out (I'm reserved but hopeful), but Manuel will get his kudos from me when it's proven that he made the right hire.
That's an unfair bar, FWIW. You'll only decide to credit him if it turns out to be the right hire? Not now? So ... he only gets credit if we win?
But ... not if we win in hockey or football? No, no credit for those. (You can criticize him for the hockey thing, but at least he seems to have hired the right coach to replace Pearson, no?).
So ... when we lose it's his fault, but if we win, he gets no credit for it. Gotcha.
March 26th, 2024 at 10:56 AM ^
"So... when we lose it's his fault, but if we win, he gets no credit for it."
Uh, I clearly stated that I would give Warde credit if May (and Moore) turn out to be a successful hire. For now, I'm reserving any judgment.
It would be silly to give Warde credit for the Juwan hire, as it ultimately destroyed our basketball program. He also inherited Jim Harbaugh, gets points for not firing him in 2020 and then loses points for never getting a new contract signed when he had 3 years... but Jim was never Warde's choice or hire.
For better or worse, Warde's legacy will be tied to Moore and May. If both hit and are at Michigan for the next 15 years, Warde will be remembered mostly fondly. If both fail and we're right back to hiring a football coach and a basketball coach in five years, another AD will be making those hires.
I give credit to the May hiring and firing Juwan.
Although I get the message of Transformative vs Transactional I want the AD to see these equally as proactive needs.
I am ready to forgive the Pearson debacle but not forget. I am ready to move on from losing Harbaugh and question if Warde had a hand in that but if Ono sees Warde as the play then so be it I just don't know what I don't know.
I will say this. It can not hurt that Warde seems a part of the NCAA value system and if he can just get the NCAA not to go out of its way to hose Michigan that would be a plus.
Nope according to Bacon, Beilein deserves the credit for Michigan landing Dusty May. Warde had to be pressured by the regents and Ono to fire Juwan.
Because Beilein would happily recommend to May that he come work for a terrible, terrible AD, right?
No apology will be coming from me. I'll start to feel bad if and when he gets his NIL shit together and starts figuring out how to handle our admissions process.
2 things that are completely out of his control… OK then, let us know when you’re ready to join the real world.
This was a good hire for Warde and credit to him for it
He still has a ways to go to break even as an athletic director in my mind
But ... but ... but ... I got all stocked up at the big post-B1G tournament sale at Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork! What am I going to do with all this naptha????
Uh, way to finally do one thing that is part of your job, I guess.
Some folks around here make RCMB regulars seem gracious and open-minded.
thanks for... doing your job?
People are so desperate to praise Warde that he gets praise for things that he didn't have much of a part in. In the past month, he has gotten more praise for the women's gymnastics team winning the national championship than the head coach that has been there for like 30 years. He has gotten praise for the CWS appearance but when the coach leaves it totally isn't his fault. He gets praise for NIL for keeping the team around but when Michigan still doesn't have a top 10 recruiting class next winter it won't be his fault. He gets praise for deciding to keep Harbaugh and cutting his salary but when Harbaugh leaves it isn't his fault.