Reports: Warde Manuel to become next AD at University of Michigan

From UCONN to UM

APRIL 10:NYSE Vice President Robert Power, University of Connecticut Director of Athletics Warde Manuel, and UCONN Huskies Women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma ring the closing bell at New York Stock Exchange. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

DETROITThe University of Michigan has found its next Athletic Director. 

According to multiple reports, Warde Manuel will leave his post at the University of Connecticut to take over for Interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett.  The permanent post has been vacant since October 31, 2014. That's when Dave Brandon resigned from the position after enduring endless scrutiny and public outcry for his dismissal. Brandon's departure stemmed from the mishandling of player safety and the subsequent media barrage that ensued.

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Who is Warde Manuel?

Warde Manuel grew up in New Orleans. He attended Brother Martin High School where he excelled on the football field.  He was heavily recruited by the top college football programs in the country, but decided that the University of Michigan and Bo Schembechler were right for him.  Manuel showed up to Ann Arbor as 6-5, 255 lb. Defensive Tackle.  On that very team with Manuel, Quarterback Jim Harbaugh, who was in his senior year. 

During Manuel's time at the university he flashed signs of leadership. In 1987 Warde won the Frederick Matthei Award, which is given to the junior-to-be gridder who has displayed leadership, drive and achievement on the athletic field and in the classroom,  His playing career was cut short due to injury, but that's when his career path truly began. He would earn a master's degree in social work and over a decade later an MBA from Michigan's Ross School of Business. Manuel honed his management skills as associate athletic director at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of former athletic directors, Tom Goss and Bill Martin.  

In 2005 Warde accepted a job at the University of Buffalo, where he transformed an underachieving lot of 20 sports programs to levels that the University had never been to before.  The football program earned their first bowl berth and the basketball team made it to the field of 64 three times in his tenure. 

The year 2012 was another new beginning for Manuel, he was hired as the University of Connecticut's Director of Athletics.  Now with a reputation preceding him, Warde raised the bar even higher. UCONN was, is and always will be known as a basketball school. Thanks in large part to former men's basketball coach, Jim Calhoun.  Calhoun led the Huskies to 10 Big Eats Championships, 7 Big East Tournament Championships and 3 National Titles.  He was an institution in Storrs, Connecticut.  In September of 2012 Calhoun called it quits - he retired.  So, 5 months on the job for Manuel and he lost his biggest asset.  In steps Kevin Ollie, new to the coaching trade.  Manuel decided to make Ollie the permanent coach following a 20-10 season in 2012-13, a season that had UCONN banned from the postseason due to past infractions. This decision was widely questioned.  Replacing a man like Calhoun with a virtual unknown in the coaching sense was cause for concern. 

Well, Warde made the right choice. Entering the 2014 season without much fanfare, ranked 17th in the preseason polls. They bobbed up and down in the rankings. Reaching as high as #9 and as low as unranked, for several weeks.  But when the tournament started the Huskies took the basketball world by storm, eventually winning the championship.  The first for Kevin Ollie, but not for Warde Manuel. Manuel watched his athletes in various sports collect 6 national titles under his watch. He knows how to make winners.

He also knows how to make better students. The UCONN Division of Athletics has enjoyed outstanding performances in the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) under Manuel’s watch. In 2015, UConn had 13 teams that posted a perfect single-season 1000 score.

Confirmation without confirming anything

Following a Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, UConn president Susan Herbst told the Associated Press, "He loves his alma mater, as most of us do, so it's really a great honor and it is one of the best jobs in college athletics, without question."

What's Next?

According to ESPN's Andy Katz and his sources, an official announcement is expected Thursday.


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