Like Michigan State, Michigan is going through some major changes in its athletic department that could reshape the future of the university’s varsity sports.
Also like Michigan State, Michigan’s athletic director situation has become an absolute mess.
Fortunately, Michigan State has at least figured out its athletic director situation, even if just temporarily. Jon Palumbo was named the interim athletic director earlier this week and that was probably the best-case scenario, given the circumstances. He learned under the now-departed J Batt who left after one season for Kentucky.
Michigan, on the other hand, is at the starting line of its athletic director problems while Michigan State is nearing the finish line.
On Sunday, news broke that Manuel was out as Michigan’s athletic director but then new reports surfaced that it wasn’t official just yet. The conflicting reports were just further proof that Michigan has issues that extend far beyond what the public sees. Michigan can never seem to handle things within the athletic department correctly, making Michigan State’s sudden athletic director mess look like child’s play.
Michigan State’s situation actually feels almost tolerable now.
Michigan fans have been waiting for the day when the headline reads “Warde Manuel officially fired” but they’re now uncertain following the conflicting reports.
This comes just a few days after Manuel decided to sign basketball coach Mike Boynton Jr. to a two-year deal, removing that interim tag following Dusty May’s NBA departure. Boynton has only ever made one NCAA Tournament and had a 51-74 record in Big 12 play at Oklahoma State.
Just a complete mess over in Ann Arbor.
Michigan State fans envy the titles, but don’t envy the scandals
Every single Michigan State fan would tell you that they’d trade just about anything for a national title, but if it came at the expense of the long-term health of the athletic department, some would probably shy away from that deal.
Michigan won a football and basketball national title, but Jim Harbaugh and several of his assistants have since come under investigation for a cheating scandal and have been banned from the sport for years. The Wolverines also won a basketball national title but May was accused of tampering and the program is now set back years because of the coaching change and removal of Boynton’s interim tag.
That’s not even mentioning the countless off-field incidents that were handled poorly like the Jeff Jackson debacle, the Sherrone Moore scandal, and the Matt Weiss computer hacking scandal that were mostly swept under the rug.
Michigan fans would tell you that Manuel should have been fired years ago despite the on-field and on-court success. He’s made several questionable hires and has fumbled several scandals that have led to ongoing investigations and now his demise.
I think it’s safe to say that we would all love some national titles but winning them the way that Michigan has would leave a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths.
Unfortunately for Michigan State fans, Michigan’s nightmare may soon be over if Manuel is fired.
My guess is that this gets messier before it gets cleaned up.
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