ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Embattled Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel on Tuesday addressed the latest round of reports about his potential exit from the university, saying he has had conversations about a potential buyout.
“I think I’ve been fired by social media three times in my ten years here,” Manuel said during a previously scheduled interview on The Big 1050 WTKA.
Multiple media outlets recently suggested his job is in jeopardy amid investigations into the culture of the department and fired football coach Sherrone Moore’s relationship with his former executive assistant.
The investigations have cost the university about $12 million, and it may not release all the related reports.
“Documents related to these attorney-directed investigations are privileged and confidential and protected by attorney-client privilege,” school spokesman Paul Corliss said Tuesday. “Maintaining the confidentiality of these documents preserves the integrity of the investigative process, protects the privacy of those who participated and helps safeguard those individuals from potential retaliation.”
Michigan’s board has a meeting on Thursday, where the publicly accessible agenda does not mention Manuel or the investigations.
“I have four years left on my contract,” said Manuel, who acknowledged talks about a possible buyout. “I don’t know what the future is going to be.
“I do feel confident in the things I have done here at Michigan. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished.”
Manuel said he has helped the Wolverines have their best 10-year stretch, winning this year’s national championship in men’s basketball along with recent football, men’s and women’s gymnastics NCAA titles, 95 Big Ten championships and 4,000-plus student-athletes earning academic all-conference honors.
Michigan also has had a string of scandals under his watch.
Manuel fired Moore for having an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant, who sued the school earlier this month.
The football program is on NCAA probation, was tarnished by a sign-stealing scheme and has seen many former staffers have run-ins with the law, including Matt Weiss, who is charged with hacking into the computer accounts of thousands of college athletes to find intimate images.
Manuel is also named in a lawsuit — along with the university, its board, a former school president and Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti — filed by fired assistant football coach Chris Partridge that claims Michigan knew about the sign-stealing scandal nearly a year before the public did.
The 58-year-old Manuel, who played football at Michigan under the late Bo Schembechler and was on the track team, was hired to lead the department in 2016. He signed a contract extension at Michigan in 2024 that runs through June 2030.
Manuel, a New Orleans native, previously served as athletic director at Connecticut and Buffalo after working in Michigan’s athletic department in various roles from 1996 to 2005.
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