Michigan athletics wants Warde Manuel to reform corrupt culture. That's absurd | Opinion

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Michigan athletics suffered from poor oversight and accountability failures at the top levels of its university leadership.

Those are the words of interim president Domenico Grasso.

“This must change,” Grasso said.

Grasso earmarked just the man to help effectuate change.

Outgoing athletics director Warde Manuel will help implement sweeping reforms before he scoots out the door, according to Grasso.

This is the same Manuel who’s resigning at the end of the year after an embattled tenure filled with department scandals. That includes ex-football coach Sherrone Moore having a yearslong extramarital affair with a direct report. After Moore’s affair became public and Michigan fired him, Moore barged into his mistress’ residence, got hold of knives, and got himself arrested on a felony charge, before he ultimately reached a plea deal to lesser crimes.

Moore’s affair and subsequent meltdown happened under Manuel’s watch. So, too, did Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines cheating en route to a national championship. And still, Manuel’s going to stick around for several months to help spearhead evolution.

“I have asked (Manuel), along with one of my trusted vice presidents, to serve as a special advisor to the president and help implement” reforms, Grasso said.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

When one of the guys who steered Michigan into this mess is tapped to help spearhead reform, it makes me skeptical that Michigan is serious about reform.

Michigan failed in Sherrone Moore saga. That includes Warde Manuel

Jenner & Block, the law firm Michigan hired to investigate after Moore’s affair, meltdown and arrest, asserted that Manuel failed “to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing” by athletics employees.

That’s a lawyerly way of saying Manuel was slow footed to root out cheating — cheating that occurred both on and off the field, if you catch my drift.

Instead of firing Manuel, Grasso wants him to stick around for several months and be part of the reform he failed to implement in his 10-plus years as athletics director.

Excuse me?

Good grief, Manuel’s failures are part of why reform is needed. That much is clear from the investigation summary Jenner & Block released.

By Michigan’s logic, apparently being a failed athletics director makes Manuel qualified to lead reform.

Make it make sense.

In just the past few years, football staff minion Connor Stalions wore a disguise and stole opponents’ signals. Harbaugh got slapped with 14 years’ worth of show-cause penalties from the NCAA. Assistant coach Matt Weiss was indicted on federal allegations of computer hacking and creeping on women. And, Moore cheated on his wife and “terrorized” his mistress, who also worked for him.

Frankly, Manuel lasting this long after so much corruption unfolded under his nose is no small feat, and it’s appalling he’d be asked to be involved in any efforts to create a more righteous future.

Michigan maintains secrecy of its investigation

It’s unclear the extent to which Manuel knew about Moore’s affair, prior to Moore’s December firing.

At best, Manuel was asleep at the wheel.

We might have a better idea of what Manuel knew and when he knew it if Michigan released the full findings of Jenner & Block’s investigation, but the university has no intentions of transparency.

Michigan paid the law firm big bucks to conduct an investigation that apparently included 350 interviews of 300 people and a review of more than 20,000 documents.

Instead of releasing the full findings, Michigan asserted attorney-client privilege and distributed only a 2,000-word summary from Jenner & Block that offered scant details but ample self-praise.

I suppose that means transparency won’t be part of the reform Michigan tasked Manuel with helping lead.

Moore’s ex-mistress is suing the university on freedom of information grounds to try to obtain more details uncovered by Jenner & Block.

“This public university paid Jenner & Block $12 million to investigate the Sherrone Moore scandal and the abuse, … yet now refuses to release the investigation’s findings,” her lawyer said in a statement.

That pretty well sums it up.

Michigan looks more serious about keeping the details of Jenner & Block’s investigation secret than it does about instituting substantive transformation.

Although the details of Jenner & Block’s findings are skimpy, we know the law firm determined Manuel failed to swiftly and effectively act on allegations of malfeasance by athletics employees.

Michigan thinks that makes Manuel the ideal person to lead reform.

That’s absurd. It’s also par for the course for Michigan.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com. Follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan athletics wants Warde Manuel to reform corrupt culture. That’s absurd | Opinion

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