Warde Manuel, University of Michigan Associate Athletic Director, Selected as UB's New Director of Athletics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Looking to the University of Michigan and the Big Ten for new leadership for its intercollegiate athletics program, the University at Buffalo today named Warde J. Manuel, an associate athletic director who oversees the football and men's basketball programs at Michigan, as the new director of its Division of Athletics.

Manuel, who will report to UB President John B. Simpson and be part of his senior leadership team, will join UB on Aug. 29.

A Michigan alumnus whose degrees include an MBA from its Ross School of Business awarded this April, Manuel earned letters as a defensive tackle playing football under legendary coach Bo Schembechler, the winningest football coach in Michigan history.

His appointment, announced today by Simpson, comes just eight weeks after former NCAA President Gene Corrigan issued a report commissioned by Simpson that identified the hiring of an athletics director as a key factor to UB's athletic teams being successful in the Mid-American Conference (MAC).

"We have selected a director of athletics who is thoroughly steeped in the world of intercollegiate sports at the highest level, and one who knows the critical importance of balancing athletic and academic excellence," Simpson said at a press conference announcing Manuel's appointment.

"In searching for the ideal candidate for this role, we sought to identify a leader who is fully committed to fulfilling UB's institutional mission of excellence -- and one who understands at a fundamental level exactly what it will take to achieve this mission," Simpson added. "Clearly, UB has found just such a leader in Warde Manuel."

Noting Manuel's substantial and wide-ranging administrative experience at Michigan, Simpson added: "He knows exactly what true programmatic excellence looks like, and he has made it clear that he will accept nothing less for UB."

Simpson added: "As UB moves forward with the institutional transformation that is steadily taking shape through our ongoing strategic planning process, UB 2020, our successful pursuit of excellence is guided by the energy and vision of the strong senior leadership team we are assembling. I am delighted that Warde Manuel, as our new director of athletics, will be joining UB's senior leadership team."

Manuel said Simpson's "commitment to the combination of academic and athletic excellence" was the major factor in his accepting the position at UB.

"Once I met President Simpson, the search-committee members and the staff of the athletics department, I felt that there was a genuine commitment to establishing Buffalo as a leader in athletics similar to its leadership role in academics within the MAC."

Manuel added: "I am looking forward to establishing Buffalo as a very competitive university within the MAC and nationally.  It is a tremendous institution with the capability to reach great heights both within and outside of the Mid-American Conference. I look forward to working with President Simpson and the many talented people within the Division of Athletics, at the university and in the greater Buffalo community."

Corrigan was among those praising Manuel and his appointment. In his report to Simpson, issued on June 1, Corrigan noted the need for UB to hire a successor to Bob Arkeilpane, who resigned in 2003, as soon as possible.

"I can't imagine a better opportunity or a better fit for UB at this time," Corrigan said. "It's a great opportunity for Warde and for the University at Buffalo because there is a lot that can be accomplished there. He will bring a vision from the outside that will be very beneficial to UB in every way."

Corrigan added: "I think his bloodlines are terrific, and I'm a big believer in good bloodlines. I think he is exactly what UB needs -- someone who has an outstanding background in Division I-A athletics, both as an athlete and administrator, and who knows and understands the challenges he'll have at UB."

Rick Chryst, Mid-American Conference commissioner, said Manuel's appointment as UB's director of athletics "is an exciting appointment for the University at Buffalo and the Mid-American Conference.

"There is a sound, strategic blueprint in place to develop UB's athletics program," Chryst added, "and Warde brings the experience, the energy and the relationships to make that growth a reality."

Bill Martin, director of intercollegiate athletics at the University at Michigan, said, "The University at Buffalo has made a great hire. Warde is a wonderful guy. His toolbox includes everything it takes to make a successful athletics director and I am certain that he will be able to move the athletics program at Buffalo forward.

"Warde has had experience across the board in collegiate athletics. Whether it's sports management, fundraising, administration or facilities, he's done it all. Having been an athlete, having been involved on the academic side, he understands that every student-athlete is a student first," Martin said.

Michigan's football coach, Lloyd Carr, said Manuel "brings to the University at Buffalo a wealth of experience both as a student athlete -- he was an outstanding football player here at Michigan who started as a sophomore on the defensive line -- and also as an administrator who has been involved in every phase of our Athletic Department.

"He's a very articulate, smart guy and he understands, and will develop there, the team concept that he's been a part of here," Carr added. "He's going to have high expectations and he's going to bring excitement and enthusiasm. He brings strong leadership qualities. I think it's a great opportunity for Warde."

UB's national search was conducted by a committee led by Nils Olsen, dean of the UB Law School, who is chair of UB's Intercollegiate Athletics Board, and John N. Walsh, III, vice chair of the board of trustees of the University at Buffalo Foundation and a former member of the UB Council. Chairman and chief executive officer of the Walsh Insurance Group, Walsh previously served as chair of the Yale University Council Athletics Committee.

The 15-member search committee, which included campus and community leaders, as well as current and former UB student-athletes, worked with national athletics consultant Bill Carr of Carr Sports Associates, Inc. to identify and recruit top candidates for the position of athletics director. Manuel was one of four finalists who were invited to campus for interviews the week of July 14, following preliminary interviews with 12 candidates from a field of more than 40 applicants.

"The UB family deserves excellence, competitive opportunity and proper support for its athletic program," said Walsh. "Warde Manuel and John Simpson are committed to the provision of that quality and that assistance at UB.  All of us should be prepared to help -- as fans and contributors -- however we can.  It's an exciting time for our university!"

Olsen underscored Manuel's "extensive experience in athletic administration for an AAU institution with one of the strongest athletic programs in the country.

"Most importantly," Olsen added, "he has fostered and sustained a sincere and lasting commitment to the student side of the student-athlete. He has created and administered very effective academic enrichment programs for athletes at the institutions with which he has been affiliated, and worked tirelessly to ensure the academic success and highest possible graduation rate for all student-athletes."

Manuel has 14 years of collegiate administrative experience with progressively greater levels of responsibility and leadership. He is one of Michigan's seven associate athletic directors with responsibilities that include the management of Michigan's Division I-A football and men's basketball programs. The University of Michigan Athletic Department has more than 700 student athletes, 25 sports and operates on a budget of $58 million. The sports that Manuel oversees have operating budgets of $15 million and generate $45 million in revenue.

Manuel is the athletic department's lead manager for fundraising. He led the fundraising campaign for a $12 million Student-Athlete Academic Center that raised $14.5 million in gifts and pledges. He also has participated in fundraising efforts that have led to more than $19 million in facility renovations during the past four years.

A native of New Orleans, Manuel earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan in 1990, master's degree in social work in 1993 and MBA this past April. He is working to complete doctoral work in social work and psychology. He has conducted research in the areas of team, group and community organization theories, as well as student-athlete development within the confines of the team and the effects that coaches have on their development. He has taught sports marketing and collegiate athletics as an adjunct faculty member with Wayne State University's College of Education.

After graduating from Michigan, Manuel was coordinator of the university's Wade H. McCree, Jr., Incentive Scholars Program from June 1990 to August 1993. The program is a partnership with The President's Council of State Universities and Detroit Public Schools that helps students prepare for higher education at public universities in Michigan.

He subsequently worked briefly as an academic advisor with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) Athletic Association before being named assistant athletic director of academic affairs.

Manuel returned to Michigan in June 1996 as an executive staff assistant in the Athletic Department. In February 1998 he was named an assistant athletic director with responsibilities for overseeing operational facets of the university's athletic program. He was named an associate athletic director in September 2000.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York.