After a $12 million investigation and much public speculation, the University of Michigan finally announced Monday that the 10-year tenure of embattled athletics director Warde Manuel will end — but not until the end of this calendar year.
Manuel, a former Michigan football player under legendary head coach Bo Schembechler, has helmed the athletics department during a series of scandals that involved the Michigan football program stealing signs en route to a national championship and its subsequent head coach fired over an extramarital affair.
Manuel has agreed to a buyout, but first he has been tasked with helping reform a department found to have “weaknesses in accountability, organizational structure, oversight, and reporting” under his watch, per the investigation results.
Blake Toppmeyer of USA TODAY called the prospect of Manuel reforming the corrupt culture of Michigan athletics "absurd."
“I have asked (Manuel), along with one of my trusted vice presidents, to serve as a special advisor to the president and help implement" reforms, interim president Domenico Grasso said, as reported by USA TODAY.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," Toppmeyer wrote Monday. "When one of the guys who steered Michigan into this mess is tapped to help spearhead reform, it makes me skeptical that Michigan is serious about reform."
Dan Wolken of Yahoo Sports called the university's statement about the fate of Manual "nonsense."
"According to the University of Michigan, an independent investigation of its athletic department, including interviews with 300 witnesses, turned up no widespread misconduct related to the handling of former football coach Sherrone Moore or any other aspect of the school's day-to-day operations," Wolken wrote Monday.
"But athletic director Warde Manuel has to go anyway.
"Huh?"
Others have a problem with Michigan's handling of the situation, as well. As reported by the Detroit Free Press, a lawyer representing Paige Shiver, the former Michigan athletics staffer with whom ex-coach Sherrone Moore had a longstanding affair, suggested the school is misleading the public with its summary of an investigation into what prompted Moore's firing and "blasted" officials for not releasing the full report.
Sports, business and history author John Bacon, a Michigan graduate considered to be a leading voice on the university and the Big Ten Conference, posted the following Monday morning on social media: "Michigan's response, once again, makes no sense. If AD Warde Manuel is NOT a central part of the problem President Grasso cited from the $12M report, why push him out? If he IS a central part of the problem, why keep him as an advisor to enact the needed reforms?"
By Monday afternoon, Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated posted, "No publicly available full report. No press conference. Transparency at its finest."
As for where Manuel himself stands, fans and interested observers will have to wait some more. “I am happy President Grasso asked me to stay on to work with him to implement the recommendations for continuous improvement,” Manuel said in a statement released by the athletic department, according to The Associated Press. “I promise everyone I will have more to say about my decision at the appropriate time.”
