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From recruit to the AD’s chair

Warde Manuel discusses early memories as a student at Michigan and his outlook on coaching, hiring and the collegiate experience of today’s athletes.

Warde Manuel, athletic director at the University of Michigan, speaking at SBJ’s 2018 Sports Facilities and Franchises conference.Rick Osentoski

The one thing Bo [Schembechler] did was really, he won over my mom and he got her comfortable with me being 1,000 miles away from home and my dad just loved Bo’s toughness and his demeanor and the way he handled things.

 

The one moment that my dad really got excited is [when Bo] says, “And, Anthony, I’ll tell you, if Warde messes up, I’m gonna grab him and I’m gonna take him in my office and I’m gonna set him straight.” My dad was just excited, you know? But that was how Bo was.

 

Because I was a thousand miles away from home [in New Orleans] and I didn’t have my father with his finger on the pulse of everything I did every day, I slacked off a little bit academically. Bo and my father had a conversation [with me] on the speaker phone that I still remember to this day. 

 

It produced a nine-page letter that my father wrote to me about what it meant to be a man and the opportunity that I had in front of me and it reset the academic importance in my life. 

 

And on those occasions when I’m not getting through to [student athletes], I tell them the story and show them the letter that my father wrote to me, 32 years ago now, that I still cherish. Although, when he first shared them, I wasn’t cherishing them because there was a threat for him to fly up and actually put into motion some of the things he had written down on that piece of paper.

 

Athletics was an avenue that I hoped would take me to the professional level, but it didn’t. But athletics prepared me to go on because it opened doors academically to come to a great university like Michigan that my mom and dad wouldn’t have been able to afford.

 

The most important thing that we can give to the students who participate in athletics is to ensure that they’re doing what they need to do academically. For me, it’s personal. It’s something I love. I love learning.

 

To receive the call about the potential to come back to a place on the field where my blood, sweat and tears are, a place where I learned the most, has meant so much to me, where I met my wife. A place that my son was born.

 

[Jim Harbaugh is] a former teammate of mine. He was the captain when I was a freshman. Jim is extremely, extremely smart and so it makes me work hard.

 

We have more academic all-conference student athletes than we’ve ever had before in our history and this year we won 12 conference championships.
Warde Manuel
Michigan Athletic Director

He loves to bring up ideas. He also loves to receive ideas. If I bring an idea to him, even if it’s about something reflective of the whole department or doesn’t really include something that would be involved in football, he gives great insight. 

 

One of the great things about great leaders and particularly great coaches is they have that fire inside of them constantly. It motivates people around them. It motivates me to want not only for him, but for the department. 

 

Coming out of undergrad, I also thought about becoming a chef, so not only do I have a body that can eat … I do love to cook and had a catering business when I was in grad school.

 

I have 29 sports. Every one of them … they want to be first. They want what they want for their programs and they’re working hard to win championships, but what they all understand is that the financial model of Michigan is really built on what we do in football.

 

Our tennis team went overseas last year to Paris. Women’s basketball went to Italy and Greece. This year, our men’s basketball team is going to Barcelona. With all of the conversation about paying student athletes, [it’s] the one way we invest in pay, for lack of a better term.

 

I don’t see the student athletes as employees. Through education and through this educational experience, we are investing in them for their lifetimes. 

 

We do things differently. We don’t have any advertising at Michigan Stadium. We don’t serve alcohol in our suites or our stadium or Chrisler [Center]. There’s a lot of things we could do to generate more income than we have.

 

Here’s what I’ll say to you as the AD of Michigan that I’m most proud of. We have over 60 percent of our student athletes who have a 3.0 [GPA] or higher. That’s a record in terms of percentage. We have more academic all-conference student athletes than we’ve ever had before in our history and this year we won 12 conference championships. 

 

I’m going to hire the best people for Michigan. We’re going to open the pool to be a wide swath, but it’s up to us to prepare everyone and prepare women and minorities to take that step when they’re called upon to sit across from me, to sit across from you, to sit across from presidents and search committees.

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