I have been a fan of the University of Michigan and UofM Athletics all my life. Since I was a little kid, I have taken an interest in Michigan football, Michigan basketball, Michigan hockey. I've gone to countless games with my father and other friends of mine over the years. I've spent hours upon hours of my life invested physically and emotionally in watching Michigan games.
Being a Michigan fan this past decade has been particularly exhausting and in some cases, flat out embarrassing. This University has been plagued with scandal after scandal after scandal. The latest scandal, with the Sherrone Moore coaching situation and Moore's actions behind the scenes, are one more in a long line of embarrassing and deeply troubling scandals.
In my view, it won't matter who the football coach is unless the culture changes within the University of Michigan and its athletic department. The culture won't change until Warde Manuel is gone. You can bring in Nick Saban himself, the best college football coach in America, and this athletic department will still remain broken as long as Warde is steering the ship.
Michigan has reached a point where keeping Warde Manuel as athletic director is no longer sustainable, given how he has utterly failed to handle some of the biggest controversies and scandals across multiple, major, athletic programs. From basketball to football to hockey, we've seen one scandal after another under Warde's tenure as AD. Enough already!
Under Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel's "leadership", Michigan athletics have went through went through multiple, highly publicized NCAA investigations. Its been the worst in our football program, but hasn't stopped there. Recruiting violations, players getting gun charges off the field, sign-stealing allegations, cheating in games, and now the Head Coach allegedly sleeping around with his subordinates. These scandals seemingly never end and yet Manuel was largely invisible throughout the process, offering little public leadership.
Beyond football, we have had numerous issues in other sports. Michigan hockey facing scrutiny during the Mel Pearson era when he was the Head Coach. You had allegations about program culture and creating a toxic work environment for women who worked with the team. You had Pearson apparently pressuring hockey players to lie about their Covid status as well. Warde's response appeared slow, opaque, and reactive.
Michigan basketball, under Warde Manuel and Juwan Howard, dealt with numerous incidents as well. Juwan Howard, the alleged leader of young men on the court, got into an altercation and threw punches at another Head Coach. He should have been fired after doing that, but Warde let him skate. He screamed at and had altercations with basketball staff and little was done there.
Warde has shown a consistent pattern of weakness, fecklessness, minimal visibility, and an inability to change the culture of Michigan Athletics. To borrow a line from Brady Hoke: "This is Michigan!" Michigan should be too significant and too proud of an institution to be dragged down by a "leader" who doesn't improve the culture, nor hold people accountable. When your AD shrinks when the moment demands real leadership, time and again, it's a problem with him personally.
For the stability, credibility, and to make any sustained cultural changes within Michigan's Athletic Department, it’s time to move on from Warde. The University and feckless UofM Regents need to buck up and bring in an athletic director who can provide the leadership necessary to change the culture and succeed on the field. Get Warde out of town now, otherwise nothing else matters and nothing else will change.