National Football Foundation

Warde Manuel, a two-sport athlete at Michigan who played defensive end for Hall of Fame Coach Bo Schembechler, took over the Wolverine athletics program in January of 2016. He became just the 12th athletics director in the university's 140-year intercollegiate athletics history, overseeing U-M's 29 varsity teams and more than 950 student-athletes.
 
Manuel became athletics director in the second year of head football coach Jim Harbaugh's tenure, and from 2016-2023, the Wolverines won 78.2% of their games with an overall record of 79-22, including a national championship, three consecutive Big Ten titles and seven bowl game appearances. The team placed in the Top 25 in six of the eight seasons, including the past three seasons with a school-best ranking of No. 3 or better.
 
In January 2024, Harbaugh departed for the NFL, and Manuel tapped Sherrone Moore, the Wolverine offensive coordinator, as the new head coach. Moore notched a 4-0 record during the 2023 season as an acting head coach, including wins over Ohio State and Penn State.
 
Manuel's reputation and knowledge of football landed him a spot on the prestigious College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee in 2022, and in February 2024 he was named committee chair for the 2024 football season, the first year of the 12-team format.
 
Four College Football Hall of Fame inductees from Michigan, Charles Woodson (2018), John Elliot (2020), Mark Messner (2022) and Steve Hutchinson (2024), and two NFF National Scholar-Athletes, Aidan Hutchinson (2021) and Zak Zinter (2023), have been honored by the National Football Foundation with Manuel at the helm of the Wolverine program.

During Manuel's seven-year tenure, the Wolverines have captured an NCAA Championship in football (2023), women's gymnastics (2021), and finished runner up nationally in wrestling (2022), field hockey (2020), baseball (2019), men's basketball (2018) and women's cross country (2017). Wolverines have combined to win 23 individual NCAA titles during Manuel's tenure, 85 regular season and tournament conference titles, 61 Academic All-Americas honors, 535 Big Ten Distinguished scholars, and 3,548 Academic All-Big Ten honors.
 
Manuel has also served on the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) executive committee since 2009 and served a one-year term as president during the 2020-21 academic year. He also serves on the board of directors for The Collegiate Women Sports Awards, the executive committee for the Black AD Alliance and is one of Michigan's representatives on the Big Ten Conference Equality Coalition.
 
Prior to his arrival at U-M, Manuel served as the director of athletics at the University of Connecticut. UConn teams won six NCAA national championships under Manuel's leadership -- the most ever by UConn teams in a three-year period.  He also led a 20-sport program at the University at Buffalo from 2005-2012.
 
A native of New Orleans, Manuel was a high school All-America football player before playing at U-M for Schembechler. He earned multiple letters and started at defensive end in his sophomore year. His football career was cut short by a neck injury, and he subsequently lettered as a member of the Wolverines' track and field team.
 
Manuel earned his bachelor of general studies with a focus in psychology in 1990, his master's degree in social work from U-M in 1993 and an MBA from U-M's Stephen M. Ross School of Business in 2005.
 
After earning his bachelor's degree, he became coordinator of U-M's Wade H. McCree Jr. Incentive Scholarship Program. He then worked briefly as an academic advisor with the Georgia Tech Athletic Association before being named assistant athletic director of academic affairs. Manuel later returned to his alma mater in 1996, working in various capacities until eventually becoming athletics director.