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Athletics on the same team as academics, new AD asserts
By MARY COCHRANE
Contributing Editor
Don't let his title fool you: UB's new director of athletics, Warde J. Manuel, holds academics just as close to his heart, he told members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee yesterday.
As a student at the University of Michigan, Manuel was proud to be a member of the track and football teams.
"I started as a sophomore at defensive end," Manuel said. "Then I injured my neck junior year and I couldn't play anymore. The reason I tell that to you is because it really changed my outlook on how I approached academics, and my values in relation to academics and where I personally went from there."
Manuel went on to earn three degrees from the institution—a bachelor's degree, a master's in social work and an MBA—and completed "all the coursework" in the university's doctoral program in social work and psychology when he became an assistant, then later an associate, athletic director at Michigan.
"I want you to understand that my sense is in academics and athletics—in that combination—not in athletics being more important than academics, ever. I do believe that you can do both and you can be successful in both," Manuel said.
The athletics director said he wants to see UB student-athletes winning in the classroom, whether or not they win on the field.
"We've had our struggles here in terms of academics overall with our student-athletes in our programs, and we will turn that around," he said. "If we don't win a game, we're going to win it at academics, I'll make sure of that. We can change that instantly and we will."
Changing the wins/losses records across the board of UB sports teams may take a bit longer.
"We're young, very young. It's a five-year-old program in this level of play, in this division," Manuel said. "Similar to this, the university is young in the AAU sense, of being an AAU research-accredited institution. When I came in, the president asked me to look at how we can make this a competitive athletic program within our confines. So athletics is competing the way you are competing in your areas to be successful."
But a strong athletics program "adds a lot of value to an institution," Manuel said.
"It would bring some pride to this institution from an athletic standpoint," he said. "I've gotten numerous emails about the lack of pride that people feel when we don't do well, when a university in terms of an athletic department—or a football team, in this particular case—does not do well. And I think if you look at the converse, it's certainly true. When the team is doing well, similar to how they did in basketball, I think there was a lot of pride around here and a lot of excitement."
Samuel D. Schack, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematics, raised the question of whether the money UB invests in its football program might be "a very bad bet for us" and wondered if "we'd get a lot more bang for our buck if we got out of the football business."
"I don't think it's been a drain, in my personal opinion. It's not been something that's been invested in here. You may think there's been a lot invested. I think there have been things that have been talked about. I think the investment has been significant in words," Manuel said.
Football tends to get the most press attention, despite successes in other sports at UB, including the men's soccer team, ranked in the top 20 for the first time since entering Division 1 in 1991, Manuel noted.
"Even if football wasn't there, I don't think soccer would make the front page. This is a football town," he said.
As a result, many people don't hear about other UB sports, such as the men's and women's tennis teams, each of which was undefeated in tournaments last weekend.
"That was a great showing; those are your students. Of the kids that were out there, nine of them are international students who have come here because of athletics, who add to the culture and climate of what we have here as a university," Manuel said.
But investing in football, and all other UB sports, is worth every dollar in terms of what it can bring to the university, he added.
"In football, if we can turn it around here and if we can make it happen, Homecoming will be more of an event here than it is now," Manuel said. "Then we'll be able to drive more in terms of the things that we do as a university around Homecoming for different schools and organizations that exist within the university. That is the hope, that's the goal and that's what I'd like to do."
Manuel said his other priorities include improving and expanding the recreational sports facilities on campus for students, faculty and staff.
"If you really want to know, I think we need a new rec center here for students and faculty," he said.
Maureen Jameson, associate professor and chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, asked Manuel whether he was prepared to make a commitment to improve access to the facilities for faculty, staff and the non-student-athlete.
"I'm not prepared to make any commitment on the subject right now, Maureen, because I don't really know or understand the extent of the issue that you are talking about," Manuel replied. He added later: "I need more time to look at it and really get a good sense of the use of the facility."
Peter G. Bradford, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology, asked Manuel what he thinks about how the athletics portion of the student fee is distributed in the Division of Athletics. Bradford said that 92 percent of that fee goes to intercollegiate sports and 8 percent to recreation/intramurals.
"I definitely think the resources need to increase in terms of the operational budget of both areas," Manuel answered, noting in particular the outdated workout equipment in the recreation facilities. "I can only try to look at where we are now and go forward."
In other business, Satish K. Tripathi, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, announced the establishment of a UB University Club to provide "a place where faculty and staff can gather together, talk to each other." The club will be open from 4-6 p.m. Wednesdays, beginning Oct. 19, in the Tiffin Room of the Student Union on the North Campus.
"We want to see what kind of interest there is for faculty and staff to get together, and try to do something before a big building that we've always been talking about is built," Tripathi said.