Warde Manuel has been Michigan's athletic director for just over a decade and, in that time, the former Wolverine defensive tackle who played under legendary coach Bo Schembechler from 1986 to 1989 has overseen an unprecedented combination of highs and lows. Manuel's stint at the top of Michigan's athletic department has included four national championships (including one in football and men's basketball) while also being ridded with controversies and incidents that span from NCAA violations to the arrest and departure of football coach Sherrone Moore.
Manuel, 58, who was the athletic director at Buffalo and UConn before landing at Michigan, has never been cited for being involved in any of the scandals. But with the news that the University of Michigan's regents are expected to discuss an investigation into the culture of its athletic department Thursday and will be looking at Manuel's future as part of the review, here's a timeline of the major events during Manuel's complicated time in Ann Arbor.
August 2017: Grant Perry's arrest and suspension Manuel was hired by Michigan in January of 2016 and was faced with a decision just eight months into his tenure. Wide receiver Grant Perry had pled guilty to one charge of resisting a police officer and one charge of assault and battery as a way to eliminate multiple sexual assault allegations stemming from an incident in 2015 when he was accused of grabbing a woman's backside and groin while arguing with her and then running from police officers.
Perry, who was sentenced to 12 months' probation, was suspended from the team for two games in the fall and then once again for the bowl game and spring practice. Once the legal process concluded, the university conducted its own internal review and decided to reinstate him .
Then-coach Jim Harbaugh said the decision to reinstate Perry was made by Manuel. January 2019: Hiring of ex-USA Gymnastics executive Rhonda Faehn Less than a year after USA Gymnastics parted ways with Faehn because she came under fire from survivors of former national team doctor Larry Nassar's abuse while she oversaw the women's elite team, Manuel hired her as a consultant for the Wolverines' gymnastics team in early 2019.
The hiring was short-lived. Despite Manuel's claim that Michigan did "exhaustive due diligence" before deciding that Faehn was not responsible for the way she handled the allegations against Nassar in 2015, there was backlash from alumni and survivors about the hire.
Manuel reversed his decision just a day after hiring Faehn and took responsibility. "It was the wrong decision, and I apologize," Manuel said at the time.
May 2019: Men's basketball coach John Beilein leaves for the NBA; Juwan Howard hired After 12 seasons in Ann Arbor and a year after signing a new deal that paid him more than $3 million per year, Beilein left his job with the Wolverines to take the head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Manuel quickly made the hire for Beilein's replacement, tabbing former Fab Five member Juwan Howard to be the program's head coach.
April 2021: Michigan wins its first women's gymnastics national championship February 2022: Juwan Howard's suspension Manuel's hire of Howard appeared to be a success. Howard led the Wolverines to their first Big Ten title in seven years during the 2020-21 season, won multiple Coach of the Year awards and earned the program a top seed in the 2021 NCAA tournament.
In November of that year, Manuel signed Howard to a five-year extension that ran through the 2025-26 season. But in February 2022, Howard was involved in a postgame incident in which he hit Wisconsin assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft in the face after he grabbed his arm.
Howard was suspended for the remainder of the regular season and fined $40,000 for being in violation of the Big Ten conference's sportsmanship policy. He was allowed to return for the conference tournament and the NCAA tournament that year.
Michigan was eliminated in the Sweet 16. August 2022: Investigation into hockey program leads to Mel Pearson firing Pearson was another coach hired by Manuel who saw his tenure cut short.
An investigation into the program conducted by an outside law firm revealed that there had been a pattern of misconduct by Pearson, leading to his dismissal . Among the issues the investigation revealed was that Pearson pressured student-athletes to lie about COVID-19 contact tracing during the 2020-21 season.
It also revealed that there had been discriminati