Warde Manuel gets high honor from National Football Foundation

This will ruffle some #Michigan fan feathers. #GoBlue

Michigan fans may have qualms with the leadership of the athletic department — mostly due to head coaching losses in John Beilein and Jim Harbaugh as well as being slow with NIL — but greater organizations are bestowing honors upon that same AD.

Perhaps in a surprise to those who ardently follow the maize and blue, but not to those outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel — who is soon set to become the chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee — was honored by the National Football Foundation as the 2024 NFF John L. Toner Award, given to the best athletic director in the country.

Here is the full release from NFF:

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that Warde Manuel, the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics at the University of Michigan who also headed the athletics programs at the University of Connecticut and the University at Buffalo, will be the recipient of the 2024 NFF John L. Toner Award. He will officially be honored Dec. 10 during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

“As a former student-athlete at Michigan, Warde Manuel knows first-hand the value of college athletics. He has subsequently crafted a career that has allowed him to become one of the top collegiate athletics administrators of his generation,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “He has guided the Maize and Blue program during a period of unprecedented change while ensuring that the school’s 29 varsity teams have competed at the highest academic and performance levels, including winning the CFP national title last season. We are thrilled to honor him as the 2024 Toner Award recipient.”

First presented in 1997, the John L. Toner Award recognizes athletics directors who have demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics, particularly college football. The award is named in honor of its inaugural recipient, the late John L. Toner who was a former athletics director and football coach at Connecticut. Toner, an NCAA President from 1983-85, joined the NFF Board in 1988 and served as the vice chairman from 2000-2008.

“I am happy to congratulate Warde Manuel as this year’s recipient of the NFF John L. Toner Award,” said Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti. “He is highly regarded in the Big Ten Conference and across college athletics for the valuable leadership he has provided throughout his career. The entire Big Ten Conference congratulates Warde on this well-deserved recognition.”

Manuel, a two-sport athlete at Michigan who played defensive end for Hall of Fame Coach Bo Schembechler, took over the Wolverine athletics program in January of 2016. He became just the 12th athletics director in the university’s 140-year intercollegiate athletics history, overseeing U-M’s 29 varsity teams and more than 950 student-athletes.

Manuel became athletics director in the second year of head football coach Jim Harbaugh‘s tenure, and from 2016-2023, the Wolverines won 78.2% of their games with an overall record of 79-22, including a national championship, three consecutive Big Ten titles and seven bowl game appearances. The team placed in the Top 25 in six of the eight seasons, including the past three seasons with a school-best ranking of No. 3 or better.

This past January, Harbaugh departed for the NFL, and Manuel tapped Sherrone Moore, the Wolverine offensive coordinator, as the new head coach. Moore notched a 4-0 record during the 2023 season as an acting head coach, including wins over Ohio State and Penn State.

Manuel’s reputation and knowledge of football landed him a spot on the prestigious College Football Playoff (CFP) Selection Committee in 2022, and this past February he was named committee chair for the 2024 football season, the first year of the 12-team format.

Four College Football Hall of Fame inductees from Michigan, Charles Woodson (2018), John Elliot (2020), Mark Messner (2022) and Steve Hutchinson (2024), and two NFF National Scholar-Athletes, Aidan Hutchinson (2021) and Zak Zinter (2023), have been honored by the National Football Foundation with Manuel at the helm of the Wolverine program.

During Manuel’s seven-year tenure, the Wolverines have captured an NCAA Championship in football (2023), women’s gymnastics (2021), and finished runner up nationally in wrestling (2022), field hockey (2020), baseball (2019), men’s basketball (2018) and women’s cross country (2017). Wolverines have combined to win 23 individual NCAA titles during Manuel’s tenure, 85 regular season and tournament conference titles, 61 Academic All-Americas honors, 535 Big Ten Distinguished scholars, and 3,548 Academic All-Big Ten honors.

Manuel has also served on the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) executive committee since 2009 and served a one-year term as president during the 2020-21 academic year. He also serves on the board of directors for The Collegiate Women Sports Awards, the executive committee for the Black AD Alliance and is one of Michigan’s representatives on the Big Ten Conference Equality Coalition.

Prior to his arrival at U-M, Manuel served as the director of athletics at the University of Connecticut. UConn teams won six NCAA national championships under Manuel’s leadership — the most ever by UConn teams in a three-year period.  He also led a 20-sport program at the University at Buffalo from 2005-2012.

A native of New Orleans, Manuel was a high school All-America football player before playing at U-M for Schembechler. He earned multiple letters and started at defensive end in his sophomore year. His football career was cut short by a neck injury, and he subsequently lettered as a member of the Wolverines’ track and field team.

Manuel earned his bachelor of general studies with a focus in psychology in 1990, his master’s degree in social work from U-M in 1993 and an MBA from U-M’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business in 2005.

After earning his bachelor’s degree, he became coordinator of U-M’s Wade H. McCree Jr. Incentive Scholarship Program. He then worked briefly as an academic advisor with the Georgia Tech Athletic Association before being named assistant athletic director of academic affairs. Manuel later returned to his alma mater in 1996, working in various capacities until eventually becoming athletics director.

Manuel will be honored during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 10 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino alongside recipients of the other NFF Major Awards. In addition to the presentation of the NFF Major Awards, the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas will provide the stage for the induction of the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class; the presentation of the 2024 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards Presented by Fidelity Investments; and the bestowing of the 35th William V. Campbell Trophy® to the nation’s top football scholar-athlete.

Click here for the full list of previous recipients of the NFF John L. Toner Award, and click here  for more information on the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas, including how to reserve tickets.