sports
Michigan Regents Hold Meeting Without Discussing Athletic Director or Investigation Report
The University of Michigan board of regents met Thursday in Traverse City without addressing athletic director Warde Manuel or an internal investigation. A source told ESPN no timetable exists for decisions on his future or release of a nearly $12 million report. Regent Paul Brown said the report contained no major smoking gun.
Jul 16, 6:48 PM·2m read1 source
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The University of Michigan board of regents held a meeting Thursday in Traverse City, Michigan, but did not discuss the future of athletic director Warde Manuel or any aspect of an internal investigation into the school's athletic department, ESPN reported.
A source told ESPN there is currently no timetable on determining Manuel's future or releasing any part of the nearly $12 million investigation conducted by the Chicago law firm Jenner & Block. com that he expected at least some of the report will be released.
Brown said the report contained no major smoking gun and that any failures were the result of death by a thousand cuts, a lot of little things that may not have been done as thoroughly or as best followed practices as could have been. In some ways, it would have been easier if there was one glaring thing in the report, but there wasn't, Brown said.
Manuel, a former University of Michigan defensive lineman, has served as athletic director for over a decade.
The department won the men's basketball national championship in 2026 and the football national championship in 2023. The athletic department faced multiple scandals during that period. Former head football coach Jim Harbaugh received a three-game suspension at the start of the 2023 season due to NCAA violations.
Former staffer Connor Stalions was involved in a sign-stealing scandal that led the Big Ten to suspend Harbaugh for three additional games in 2023. The NCAA levied a fine on the university that could reach over $30 million related to the sign-stealing scandal.
