Michigan's Warde Manuel receives prestigious award for athletic directors

A national championship trophy isn’t the only hardware coming to Warde Manuel’s office.

On Tuesday, U-M's Manuel was announced as the 2024 NFF John L. Toner Award recipient, which "recognizes athletics directors who have demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics, particularly college football."

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti announced Manuel as the recipient of the award, given by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, to open the first day of Big Ten media days in Indianapolis. Manuel, 56, was named the the 12th athletic director in Michigan history back in January 2016 and since has compiled a .782 winning percentage across his programs.

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During Manuel’s first seven years, U-M won an NCAA championships in football (2023) and women’s gymnastics (2021), and finished runner up in wrestling (2022), field hockey (2020), baseball (2019), men’s basketball (2018) and women’s cross country (2017).

In total, the Wolverines have netted 23 individual NCAA titles during Manuel’s tenure as well as 85 regular season and tournament conference titles, 61 Academic All-American honors, 535 Big Ten Distinguished scholars, and 3,548 Academic All-Big Ten honors.

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Manuel, a former defensive end at U-M in the 1980s under Bo Schembechler who was named the chair of the College Football Playoff committee back in February, will receive his most recent honor at a ceremony in Las Vegas on Dec. 10.

Though he's being recognized on a national scale, Manuel has not been without his share of trials and tribulations. He saw significant backlash from the fanbase after he handed former head coach Jim Harbaugh a three-game suspension to begin last season; then got even more push back from the program's supporters when they felt he didn't do enough to offer Harbaugh a new contract before he left in January to coach the Los Angeles Chargers.

U-M also remains under investigation by the NCAA for an an alleged sign-stealing scheme that involved former staffer Connor Stalions (you may have heard a documentary will soon come out on Netflix), which the league's commissioner addressed Tuesday.

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"There was a lot of cooperation with the NCAA in terms of the information we had access to," Petitti said. "We were working with our administrators and, ultimately, our presidents and chancellors as well. It was completely a collaborative process.

"I don’t know of a time table, I’m not aware yet on when the NCAA might come to any final determination whenever that might be."

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan's Warde Manuel receives prestigious award for athletic directors