I really don't understand how Universities are run. They should be run like a Fortune 500 business, but they aren't With the new environment in college athletics, the Athletics Department at a minimum needs to. Warde has been a complete failure in his role and never should've been in it long term. Sure, on the surface it looked like a decent hire, former Michigan Football Player and UConn AD. I think we found out quickly that UConn is not U of M.
Some of you may have read the top paragraph and disagree with the "complete failure" narrative. Michigan did win 2 National Championships on Warde's watch. Your organization can be successful despite of you or because of you. Michigan Football and Basketball were run by great coaches that built a great roster. Sure Warde approved some things, but I believe his input was minimal on what Dusty and Jim was doing.
Warde has been failing up for many years, way too many years. As John U Bacon said today, he has had reliable sources tell him many times that Warde was out, just for the environment to change on a dime and he stayed. So much so Michigan had to hire a law firm to do a $11M investigation into the athletics department. If this was a Fortune 500 company, I can tell you two things, they know for a fact that Law Firms love billable hours and you don't need to spend $11M to fire someone. Big waste of time and money by the Regents and U of M.
Breaking news last night was that the Regents are meeting on Thursday, and are expected to buy out Warde and release the investigation findings. This is the investigation that was supposed to be completed in January. It's now July. What is taking so long, are you waiting for another coach to head to the professional level?
Warde did do some good things while at Michigan. He hired Dusty and then lost Dusty after winning the National Title. Also the hiring of Coach Whitt seems to be a solid one. He lost Coach B and he lost Harbaugh all to the NBA or NFL. He also hired a football coach, with no head coaching experience and a boat load of rumors of bad behavior. It will be his last straw in a mountain of last straws. I wonder where we would be as a program if Warde had picked Jesse Minter? I wonder what Jesse is doing these days? I'm sure he didn't replace a Harbaugh in the NFL.
Warde in an interview earlier this year, stated he felt betrayed by Sherrone. I guess Sherrone must of hired himself, didn't do any research on hiring himself, ignored all the terrible rumors about himself, and gave himself one of biggest jobs in all of sports without any experience. Warde, Michigan fans have felt betrayed by YOU!
My question to the regents is, why did it take so long? There is a long track record of terrible things happening on his watch. NCAA Violations, FBI investigations, Netflix documentaries, the list goes on and on like a bad novel. Did you let the two banners fool you? Why did it take a $11M investigation?
Michigan doesn't need anymore bad press and the firing of Warde won't amount to much. The investigation results will. We knew it was only a matter of time before someone would file a Freedom of Information Act for the results, Sherrone's accuser's legal team was the first to do so.
Iconically, Warde found himself in the same situation that he was in just in a few short years ago with the football team, when Dusty unexpectedly jumped to the NBA. Mike Boynton seems like a solid person and coach. He does have head coaching experience, even though it was a rough ride at OK State. The only situation Mike would find himself as the head coach of Michigan with a brand new 2 year contract, is the situation he finds himself today. That is not a reassuring fact to the Michigan Fan base. What is reassuring is that Mike has been able to return the entire roster and will take a run at a trip to Detroit next season. His two year deal is really a make it or break it deal next season. If he pulls a .500 year, Michigan will be looking to replace him quickly.
So now what?
- I expect the investigation report is ugly and will be bad for U of M. There is a reason they have been sitting on this thing for months, I expect a rough one. (I don't have any inside info, just telling you what my gut says).
- Warde and his trade marked quarter zip and sports coat will move on and probably out of Ann Arbor. Maybe the CFP Committee wants to bring him back on? What a tone deaf organization that is.
- Michigan will immediately start a search for a new Athletics Department leader. With such a strong business school, it would seem there should be many qualified candidates who have experience running an organization at a high-level. Don't look at current AD's look at business leaders (Yes, I'm aware that Bill Martin and David Brandon didn't work out, but James Hackett was probably the best interim leader the department has had since Don Canham)
Finally, after this week we can put this all behind us. The waters will be rough this week but this Michigan Ship is unsinkable!
