Michigan AD Warde Manuel to step down after Moore probe
Michigan President Domenico Grasso said Warde Manuel will remain through year’s end as the school starts a national search for his replacement.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Warde Manuel’s run leading Michigan athletics is set to end at the close of the calendar year, with the university preparing to replace the athletic director in the wake of an independent investigation tied to former football coach Sherrone Moore.
Michigan President Domenico Grasso announced that Manuel had told him he wanted to step down, according to TMZ Sports. Grasso said he had asked Manuel to stay in the job until the end of the year.
“Today, I am announcing that Warde Manuel has told me that he would like to step down,” Grasso said, according to the report. The president also thanked Manuel and said he had “the deepest respect” for the administrator and his work at Michigan.
The announcement follows an independent review that criticized Manuel’s response to allegations of wrongdoing within the athletic department, TMZ Sports reported. The review found that Manuel moved too slowly in dealing with the allegations, according to the report.
The investigation was connected to Moore’s relationship with Paige Shiver and Moore’s firing, TMZ Sports reported. The review included 350 interviews and produced a 20,000-page document, according to the report.
TMZ Sports reported that the investigation has already cost the university about $12 million.
Manuel has been Michigan’s athletic director since January 2016. His tenure included national championships in football and men’s basketball for the Ann Arbor school, according to the report.
The review also credited Manuel for his commitment to student-athletes, TMZ Sports reported. That praise now sits beside the criticism of his handling of the department’s troubles tied to the Moore matter.
Michigan starts its search
Michigan said it will begin a national search for a new athletic director, according to TMZ Sports. The next hire will inherit one of college sports’ most visible jobs and the fallout from the investigation.
Grasso’s announcement gives the university several months to manage the handoff while Manuel remains in place. The school did not name a successor in the report.
Manuel’s planned exit marks a major shift for Michigan athletics after more than a decade under his leadership. The department now heads into a transition period shaped by championship highs, a costly investigation and a public reckoning over how allegations inside the program were handled.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.