Warde Manuel to Step Down as Michigan AD

On Monday, Michigan president Domenico Grasso announced athletic director Warde Manuel will step down in the wake of multiple scandals at the athletic department, most recently the Sherrone Moore affair. Manuel will stay on until the end of the calendar year.

“I have the deepest respect for Warde and his countless contributions to Michigan, and have asked him to stay on until the end of the calendar year,” Grasso said. He will stay on as a “special advisor to the president” to help “implement” the reforms recommended in the wake of a report into the athletic department’s culture after the Sherrone Moore affair.

It is unclear what Manuel’s financial future will hold. Manuel’s annual base salary is $2.4 million per year, and his contract stipulates he be paid through his term or for 36 months if he is terminated without cause.

The news comes after a tumultuous week for Manuel and Michigan as multiple leaks suggested he was aware of an affair between former head football coach Sherrone Moore and executive assistant Paige Shiver—and did not adequately investigate the situation. 

In multiple statements to media members this week, he denied that he had been informed the school was considering firing him, though he implied he had conversations about his future. 

Manuel, who has served as athletic director since 2016, was also at the helm during the infamous “sign-stealing scandal,” a cheating scandal where a former coach at Michigan, Conor Stalions, surveilled other teams to steal their signs (the NCAA handed down tens of millions of dollars in penalties). In the middle of this scandal, he received a vote of confidence—in December 2024 he signed the 2030 contract extension. 

But Manuel was also leading the department that saw some of the school’s recent wins, including the 2023 football national championship and the 2026 men’s basketball national championship (though neither football coach Jim Harbaugh nor men’s basketball coach Dusty May remain at the program).