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Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel will be sticking around Ann Arbor for the foreseeable future. Angelique Chengelis of The Detroit News reported on Monday morning that Manuel signed a contract extension with the University of Michigan in early February with an announcement that could come as soon as Monday.
Terms of the deal were not readily available as of this posting.
Am told Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, 52, signed a contract extension earlier this month. He was hired in March 2016 and his original deal expires on March 13. The new contract has not yet been formally announced -- would expect that as early as today
— angelique (@chengelis) February 15, 2021
Manuel, a former two-sport athlete at the university and football player under Bo Schembechler, was hired to run the athletic department at his alma mater in 2016 as the replacement to interim director Jim Hackett.
Some have criticized Manuel for his handling of the football program and Jim Harbaugh’s contract extension. However, he has drawn praise for the hires of Juwan Howard for men’s basketball and Mel Pearson for hockey, among other moves that have been made.
Manuel has been a steady hand in the department’s attempts to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on college sports. There was never a question of if he would be back or not and it was a matter of time before some sort of deal was worked out.
This story is developing and will be updated when more information becomes available.