Warde Manuel is a Michigan man no more.
Following an internal investigation into the culture of the schools athletic department, Michigan announced its athletic director Warde Manuel will step down at the end of the calendar year.
The investigation, which cost the school $12 million dollars and was done by outside law firm Jenner & Block, found no widespread culture issue or misconduct but rather issues with leadership.
“Manuel demonstrated important leadership strengths, particularly his commitment to student-athletes,” the findings state. “At the same time, it identified failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by Athletic Department employees.”
The Michigan athletic department has found immense success since Manuel took over in 2016, winning a national title in football in 2023 and basketball in 2026, but has also been plagued with scandals.
In 2023, Michigan and former head football coach Jim Harbaugh found themselves in a “sign stealing” scandal involving former staffer Connor Stalions that led to a three-game suspension for the head coach.
Just a year later, the school’s former offensive coordinator Matt Weiss was indicted on 24 federal cybercrime charges for aggravated identity theft and unauthorized access to computers.
Finally, in the last straw for the university’s administration, Harbaugh’s replacement Sherrone Moore was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with staff member Paige Shiver and subsequently arrested for trespassing and malicious use of a telecommunications device.
Manuel was cited for playing a part in all three incidents.
“Neither the investigation nor the culture review found that misconduct was widespread throughout the department,” Michigan’s summary of the investigation read. “The culture review found that weaknesses in accountability, organizational structure, oversight, and reporting created conditions in which misconduct was not always addressed consistently, promptly, or in accordance with University expectations.”
Michigan’s interim president Domenico Grasso called the findings unacceptable and said the university has “significant work ahead” to get Michigan athletics back to a model program on and off the field.
That includes a national search for Manuel’s replacement as well as a promise to hire an “Ethics, Integrity, and Compliance Office” and “strengthen the accountability and independence of the Athletics human resources [department].”
Manuel, a former Michigan defensive lineman under Bo Schmenbechler, future with the university first became unclear last week when ESPN reported that Michigan’s board of regents were meeting to discuss the athletic director.
It was later reported the board did not discuss Manuel because the report found “no major smoking gun.”
The specific details of the report have not been released.
