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RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Warde Manuel has managed more institutional turbulence than most athletic directors see in a career. A sign-stealing investigation. The arrest and firing of his football coach. A national basketball championship. A rejected private-equity bid. An Amazon streaming deal that sparked tensions within the conference.

Yet Michigan keeps winning. And in doing so, the program continues to push forward, setting the pace, rejecting conference pressure when warranted, and traversing uncharted waters as a new era also begins with a new head coach leading the storied football program.

“I always aim for steadiness,” Manuel stated Tuesday outside the Big Ten’s spring meetings in Southern California. “Believe me, this is not anything that I’ve desired or wanted or hoped for. But I deal with it. My goal as a leader is to provide the steadiness in the wake of dealing with issues to the rest of the department and my staff and student-athletes. We have done that as a department and an organization. I don’t take any of it lightly. It’s not something I welcome, but we’ve dealt with it. 

Steady through chaos: Manuel’s leadership tested

Sports and business can naturally mix emotions and objectivity, testing patience and business practices while blurring the lines between both, which can also evoke emotional responses. It got so wild in November that Michigan regent Jordan Acker floated the possibility of leaving the Big Ten in 2036 if a deal with a private equity group were forced on the school. 

Manuel is not in the business to act out.

“It’s been a great conference for Michigan, for a century plus, and I don’t know what the future will bring, and nothing’s ever fully promised in the future,” Manuel stated Tuesday outside the Big Ten’s spring meetings. “All you have to do is look around at some of the things that have happened in college athletics. Look, I was the AD at UConn and the Big East fell apart. UConn and three other schools, which were still together and weren’t included in the Big East, had to form the American Conference.

“You know, the world changes. You just have to be prepared, but I’m happy, and Michigan is happy being a part of the Big Ten.”

The private equity proposal would infuse $2.4 billion into the conference, creating a new entity called Big Ten Enterprises. UC Investments would take a 10% stake in that new entity. The proposal seems to have died on the vine after opposition from Michigan and USC, but Manuel stated “never say never.”

“But right now, it’s not what I think is in our best interest at Michigan, and so until we think about it differently or circumstances change, we feel at Michigan we’re in a different position and don’t need that for us or in the league right now.”

Rights, revenue and relationships

More imminent issues linger for the Wolverines. Michigan agreed this spring to a basketball game against Duke next season to be broadcast on Amazon Prime, which falls outside the Big Ten’s media rights partnerships. The Big Ten believes it owns the broadcast rights for the game to be played at Madison Square Garden in New York City, rather than ESPN, which agreed to allow Duke to sell the game rights to Amazon in exchange for three ESPN-sanctioned events in the future.

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has argued the conference holds the rights to the Madison Square Garden matchup and should receive a cut of the revenue. He stated Tuesday, “there are a couple of solutions,” but declined to elaborate.

“We felt strongly about where that game should sit,” he stated. “We’ll see how it ends up getting resolved. Michigan was a great partner. They understood. It was not a Big Ten issue at all.”

Manuel stated his staff told him that they understood the deal needed to be cleared by the Big Ten.

“What I didn’t know, and it’s fine, and they didn’t necessarily need to disclose, but I was surprised when it became three games that [Duke] was putting together,” Manuel stated.

Duke’s version of the story is different. Athletic director Nina King told ESPN there should have been no surprise.

“From Day 1 with Michigan, we told them what the plan was,” King stated.

Duke agreed to a multi-year agreement for three nonconference games (UConn, Gonzaga and Michigan) on Amazon Prime.

Manuel stated he has spoken with King since the report.

“We’re working through it,” he stated. “Hopefully, it’ll be resolved. It’s a great college basketball game, given who we are, who they are in college basketball. I love the opportunity to play them, but we just had to make sure everything was right. We have great TV partners. They have ESPN, they brought in Amazon, and I’m sure they’ll do a great job on the game, but I’m also going to make sure that we do everything we can to protect the television partners that we have because of the investments they make in this league – and therefore in us. We’re working through it. I think it’ll be fine.”

Asked if he expected the structure of the game itself to change, Manuel stated he did not know.

The view from the other side of the dispute has been considerably warmer, though several ACC athletic directors have expressed concerns about programs striking broadcast deals outside the conference’s partnerships and footprint. The ACC’s athletic directors discussed Duke’s arrangement on a virtual call two weeks ago, according to a person familiar with the meeting, but the topic did not come up in depth when the league gathered for its spring meetings on Amelia Island last week. Commissioner Jim Phillips, asked Wednesday whether the deal undermined the league’s contract with ESPN, stated it did not. He called the deal “innovative,” but added Duke needs to work out the details with the Big Ten. 

“I’m happy for Duke,” he stated. “It’s additional dollars into the conference — obviously, it’s going to Duke. If there’s other opportunities that are out there that schools bring forward, we’ll look at it.”

Other ADs inside the ACC have begun exploring the possibility of scheduling nonconference football games outside their geographic footprint, which could pave the way for media-rights agreements for single games outside the ACC’s contract with ESPN. Such agreements could fetch eight-figure deals – new revenue for schools in desperate need of new money to combat rising costs associated with revenue-sharing with players.

“You want to be a good partner (with ESPN), but you’re also going to explore all options to see what is in the best interest for Florida State,” Florida State athletics director Michael Alford stated.

Winning amid the noise

Once again, Michigan is a driving force in college sports, shining a light on new possibilities for programs inside and outside its shadow.

Meanwhile, things on the field at Michigan seem to have calmed down. Three teams reached the Elite Eight and two advanced to the Final Four, with the men’s basketball team winning the national title in April. The athletics department has produced nine conference titles this academic year.

A law firm’s examination of the athletic department’s culture and leadership following the Sherrone Moore scandal continues, raising questions about the department’s future. 

Still, drama and distractions did not affect the Wolverines’ runs in the postseason.

“My goal is to limit the impact that it has on the great people that we have in our department,” Manuel stated. “But we deal with it. And we learn from it. And we get better. That’s what I’ve always tried to do. That’s what I was taught to do by my mom and dad, and Bo Schembechler and a lot of great leaders along the way.”

A wild winter that began with Moore in a jail jumpsuit ended with Utah’s Kyle Whittingham providing a steady, disciplined hand leading the football program. Hope springs eternal in Ann Arbor as the promise of a new era dawns next fall.

“Listen, the vibe’s been awesome,” Manuel stated. “And I take the cue from a lot of our student-athletes and their feedback about how things are going. They really enjoy Kyle, the staff and the way things are going.”