Michigan interim athletics director Jim Hackett announced on Dec. 2 he would not seek the Wolverines’ AD job permanently. As we sit nearly eight weeks later, Michigan still sits in his Ann Arbor office, awaiting a successor.
But, according to a report, Michigan is getting close.
Mark Bladschun, formerly of the Boston Globe, wrote on his independent site AJerseyGuy.com that Connecticut’s Warde Manuel (pictured second from the right) interviewed for the gig last week and, “if Manuel came out of the interview process without making major mistakes,” could be named Michigan’s AD “in the next few days.”
Manuel is in the running for the job alongside Boston College’s Brad Bates, Arkansas’ Jeff Long and Colorado State’s Joe Parker.
Manuel played football at Michigan under Bo Schembechler -- giving him something in common with the Wolverines’ head football coach -- and worked in the administration before moving on to Buffalo (2005-12) and UConn.
When asked by the Hartford Courant last month whether he’d be at UConn in a year, Manuel responded, “I don’t know. I can tell you I’m very happy here. While all the rumors and speculation are out there, it’s just that [speculation] at this point. If I’m here next Dec. 30, I’m going to be a happy person, as happy as I am now. I don’t put too much worry about the future. I focus on doing a great job as best I can and making people in Connecticut happy with what we’re doing. That’s what’s most important to me.”
Whoever the hire ends up being owes a debt of gratitude to job Hackett did in cleaning up Dave Brandon‘s mess. The two biggest issues facing the Wolverines’ athletics department -- fixing the football program and signing an apparel contract -- have been fixed in a big way with the hiring of Jim Harbaugh and a $169 million Nike contract kicking in later this year.