'It's ridiculous and sad': A.D. Warde Manuel slams those who said Michigan wouldn't make basketball leadership change

Before the end of Michigan’s disappointing 2023-24 season that ended with an 8-24 record, there were rumors that athletic director Warde Manuel was likely to give Juwan Howard another year at the helm. However, U-M acted quickly in firing Howard 48 hours after his team lost to Penn State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Eight days after that, Manuel officially hired Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May as the program’s 18th head coach.

“The stuff that was said is wrong. The stuff that they said is wrong,” Manuel said passionately.

Manuel and Howard developed a strong relationship from the time the latter was hired in 2019 and over the five seasons he was in charge of the Michigan basketball program. However, Manuel said, it wasn’t a personal decision to oust Howard, it was a choice he made because U-M thought it was the best move for the future.

“It was the hardest thing I had to do, but the decision to do it was something that I came to because it was necessary,” Manuel explained. “But just like I expressed with Juwan, he means a lot to me; he means a lot to Michigan. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to do what I think is best for Michigan and the basketball program.”

Manuel said it was “insulting” that, at least from what he was told, some on social media and in the media believed he wouldn’t move on from Howard even if he thought he should.

“And what do I mean by, ‘it’s insulting?’ It’s insulting when people think, ‘Well, he’s not going to do it.’ Why? Because I’m black and he’s black, or because I’m a former player and he’s a former player? What drives that in people? I don’t know,” Manuel said. “But I’m here to do a job. And I think I’ve done that in my career. And the disrespect and the vitriol that’s out there on social media, it’s ridiculous.

“And I only hear about it. But some of the stuff people say that people are saying, I just think it’s ridiculous and sad — that they ‘know everything.’”

The Michigan athletic director compared his decision to let Howard go to retaining former head football coach Jim Harbaugh after a 2-4 season in 2020. Manuel slashed Harbaugh’s salary in half but didn’t fire him despite a faction of fans pushing for a coaching change. The Wolverines won three-straight Big Ten titles and a national championship from 2021-23.

“I’m always going to do what I think I need to do for our programs,” the Michigan administrator explained. “When everybody was telling me to fire Jim, I did what I thought was the best for our football program. I didn’t do it in spite. I did it because I believed in him and I believed that he could do what he did. It turns out that I’m absolutely right. But it also turns out that, amazingly, the person that kept him is blamed for the reason he left. That’s crazy! Crazy.

“I’m sorry to go off on that social media stuff, but it’s not about proving anybody wrong or right or whatever. It’s about doing what I think is best, communicating with my president, when necessary communicating with the board — and that’s what I do. Listen, man, I’m always going to do what I think is best so we can win and so these kids can have success.

“I love Juwan. I loved him as our coach. I’m sorry that he’s no longer our coach. But it’s what I felt was best.”

Manuel made the biggest splash hire of this coaching cycle so far, with hiring May being the first significant domino to fall in the carousel. He was Michigan’s top target to replace Howard.

“I always feel pressure when I’m trying to hire the best person for our teams — it doesn’t matter what team,” Manuel said when asked if he felt extra pressure. “He has the same characteristics for we want to hire in any position here.

“And I put a lot of effort into every coach, because it matters to those kids, it matters to those programs, it matters to our department and to our university. That’s what we try to do. Luckily, most times I’ve been successful at it; and sometimes I haven’t. But that’s the nature of being an athletic director and having to make choices. So, we learn, we move forward and we do the things that we think are best for this program and for our institution.”