The Michigan athletic department unofficially ushered in a new era earlier this year when two of the most historic coaches in its two largest programs departed in the span of 58 days.

Though the moves happened in different ways — Jim Harbaugh bolted for the Chargers after leading Michigan football to its first national championship in more than 25 years while Juwan Howard was relieved of his duties from the basketball program after it suffered its worst season in program history — athletic director Warde Manuel was in the middle of both decisions.

Manuel, 56, also facilitated the hiring of their two replacements, Sherrone Moore and Dusty May. 

Though he’s been more approachable in recent months — Manuel spoke at both press conferences and following the national championship in Houston — but has largely been known during his tenure as a leader who spends most of his time in the shadows, speaking only when absolutely necessary. 

However, in recent weeks, U-M’s second-longest tenured AD since Don Canham opened his office to the Free Press for an unprecedented interview to discuss the present, shed light on the past and share his plans for the future.

Few figures in Michigan athletics have been as confounding as Manuel.

The Wolverines have won under his direction at unprecedented rates, setting a record with 13 Big Ten titles last year. The financials are in great shape as the department’s fiscal year 2022-23 revenues were the highest on record ($229.6 million) and the year before it turned out its second-largest surplus ($17.1 million) ever. All the while, academic success continues — the year before last U-M had a program record 507 athletes earn Academic All-Big Ten honors.

Simultaneously, there has scarcely been a moment without scandal.

There have been investigations into various arms of Manuel’s department by the NCAA, FBI and outside law firms just in the past two years. There have been half-a-dozen staffing firings the past 16 months in just the football program, with charges ranging from interfering with an investigation to driving while intoxicated to racially insensitive remarks to computer access crimes.

But there’s nothing more powerful in college athletics than a football national championship. And it’s hard to over state what it means that the national title trophy currently resides in Ann Arbor.

Manuel’s plate appears as full as anybody in the game as he tries to navigate his new role as College Football Playoff chairman, figure out how to keep U-M ahead of the game in NIL and keep the Wolverines at the top of the athletic world in a rapidly-changing transfer portal landscape.

Below is the conversation with the leader of Michigan’s athletic department, which was recorded in two separate parts, and has been edited for the sake of brevity:

‘Sleeping much better than I did in the fall’

Garcia: You just hired a football coach and a basketball coach. Have you had a chance to get some sleep?

Manuel: *Laughs* Yes, I’ve been sleeping well lately because of it. Two great people first and foremost with Sherrone (Moore) and Dusty (May). I’ve been very pleased with that, very pleased with how we’re doing this particular year. So for me, yeah, I’ve been sleeping much better than I did in the fall.

Garcia: You’ve got Dusty May and a big recruiting weekend already. See videos of him going into fraternities, rallying students, how important is that and can you discuss how quickly the vibe around basketball has changed?

Manuel: I just think Dusty has hit the ground sprinting, so for me, it has been great to see him interact with so many people so quickly. And it’s really just I think the type of person he is, the connector to people. I mean, that’s one of the things we talked about in the interview that he emphasized; that he loved to connect. Not only with his team, but with donors, with fans with students, it’s just how he is, so it’s lovely to see.

Garcia: That was the vision, right, but when you see it happening?

Manuel: Yeah, it’s what we talked about, but when you see it put in action it’s good to see. It wasn’t just part of what you say in an interview, if you will. It’s really, he’s doing exactly what he said he was going to do to connect with people to build up the excitement, go after recruits and do the things that he needs to do. Now, I did tell him, I said ‘I want you to build this for the long term’ so, and I think the combination of what he’s doing and who he’s bringing in that it’s pieces that will and could build it for the long term, so I was really happy to see that.

Garcia: Not just basketball with some momentum, football coming off a national championship, but I want to read a few things. (From 2018-22) Had five straight years in the Learfield Athletic Director Cup top six (counting last year) six straight years in the top 11 with this year still pending (currently fourth). Last academic year, your department set a Michigan and Big Ten record with 13 conference championships. Since you’ve taken over, seven different programs have competed for national titles, two have won them, and that’s not counting hockey, which has gone to three straight national semifinals. Twenty-two individual national titles and (more than 80) regular season and conference tournament championships. What do you think when you hear all of that?

Manuel: I’m proud. I’m proud of the student athletes, the coaches, the staff and their effort. And I’m really, I really put it in the context of not only who they are as people, but you put (aside) all of those records on the athletic side and we’ve set so many records on the academic side. I can’t ask for a better record when it comes to that. I mean, issues pop up, things pop up. But really, I’m here because of the student athletes. We’re here as the coaches and staff to support our student athletes, so that they can go on and be successful while they’re here and for the rest of their lives.

So even though things happened along the way, even with what happened in football — it was the student athletes who kept together, stayed together, allowed us to deal with the noise on the outside of the locker room and in the team and kept their focus. So when I hear all that, it just makes me very proud because of the other two aspects of it, which is the academic consistency and record setting performance of our student athletes and who they are as young people.

***

Firing Juwan Howard: ‘The hardest thing I’ve done in my career’

Garcia: As far as basketball, when do you make up your mind that you would move on from Juwan Howard and in hindsight do you think that decision maybe should have happened sooner after the situation in Wisconsin?

Manuel: No. Flat out no, it shouldn’t have happened after the situation at Wisconsin. We dealt with that the way we dealt with that. Nothing ever since that incident at Wisconsin happened physically in terms of anything that he did. He understood my perspective and my expectations. He was disappointed with himself in that, so that had nothing to do with it.

It occurred to me — I started thinking about it as the season went on, obviously wasn’t happy. But as I said I was there to support the student-athletes and Juwan.

I started thinking about it toward the end of the season, about whether or not we could turn it around. But the final decision came when I met with Juwan after the season. We discussed things and it came in that meeting as a part of that meeting. It was the hardest thing I’ve done in my career, because Juwan is a great person, he means the world to me, he gave everything he could give and more, he is a legend here at Michigan athletics and I appreciated him coming when he came to lead our program.

So, it was very hard because of who he is and what he means to Michigan and what he means to me, but it was a decision I felt was necessary to move the program forward. But I have great appreciation and respect for him, what he did coming here and for what he means to me and to Michigan athletics.

Garcia: One place (Howard) had a lot of success at times was recruiting, but even then, there were some high profile players who wanted to join the program — Terrance Shannon (Illinois), Caleb Love (Arizona) — who did not get in because of credit transfers. Is there a way to thread the needle between not compromising the university’s academic standard while finding a way to get top-15 NBA level guys in the door to allow help the program compete for championships?

Manuel: Yes and we’ve done it. It’s a situation that, it’s not that you can’t get them in. You just need to find the right ones that fit Michigan and there are plenty out there. And John (Beilein) did it probably the best in the last 20 years. The Fab Five was a great group of student-athletes who came here who were recruited.

But we don’t talk about grades as the normal course of it. We talk with our admissions department and we work through the expectations that this university has for admitting student-athletes and we have been successful. In those two cases, the public commitment got out before we were able to do the things we needed to do to figure out the number of credits that would transfer in and all those kind of things.

So it’s a situation where you learn from it. It’s not a negative to those two kids, to those two young men, it’s a process issue and an expectation level that Michigan has. So, we have to do everything we can to get in front of it so that we can help our coaches and help our student athletes not get into that situation. 

***

‘Choices to make’

Garcia: There were two high profile coaches who just departed. Big names leading big programs. I wonder how did that in any way dictate the way you needed to or chose to handle things?

Manuel: They both were great in terms of their communication with me. Talking about the needs of their program, how we could help get them to achieve success. They were great partners with their colleagues at head coaches meetings we had on a monthly basis. 

Very engaged in that process and were very helpful at raising money and talking to donors; this is pre-NIL and post-NIL, they were committed to helping drive success and doing what we needed them to do. I will miss both of them, personally, as it relates to who they are, what they meant to Michigan and what they meant to me.

Jim’s poster is here in my office because he was the captain my freshman year. I’ve known him since 1986 and I have a great respect for him. We didn’t always see things the same way, but I’ve never been in a situation where me and my boss always saw things 100% of the time the same way.

So I think a lot of people made a lot out about that. From my perspective, I had a great relationship, working relationship with Jim and Juwan. So I will miss them, but I don’t change my leadership style. I’ve worked with all the coaches, I always say I don’t want them to have my personality or change their personality.

They are who they are and I manage the relationships the way they are.

Garcia: You talk about the working relationship with Jim. Of course you just wished him success, but can you explain your feelings after he leaves. Then you see your team, the defensive staff, sort of taking a hit. You want him to have success but was there a part of you that wanted to almost call him and say “please stop taking our coaches”?

Manuel: No, people have choices to make, man. Jim knows what he wants to do at the Chargers, he made the offers and people had decisions to make. The mark of great success of people is when they come to a program or organization and leave it better than they found it. Jim did that. Those coaches did that. Whomever from the staff wants to go with Jim, I’m not going to have any animosity toward them.

I saw almost all of them before the spring game at the ring ceremony, talked to them, and I wished them all the best. As I told Sherrone as we were dealing with it, on the flip side, “look, now you can make it the way you want to make it, whatever that is,” and he’s done that and I believe has a great staff he’s put together across the board.

For me, I don’t spend much time with animosity against people. It’s a waste of energy and it’s not fair. I appreciate what Jim did for us. I love him for it. And I do sincerely wish him great success. I hope he wins a Super Bowl, I know what it means for him to want to do that. The drive. And I will be happy the day he succeeds in it.

Coming Friday: Part 2 of this interview, which digs into how Manuel handled the Mel Pearson firing, the football investigations and the Zavier Simpson/car situation.

Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.