After announcing last week that Warde Manuel will be stepping down as the Athletic Director of the school, Michigan has made public the buyout which Manuel will receive.
On top of the $7 million Manuel will receive in cash benefits, the agreement also shows more benefits which will be paid out after Manuel led the department which found both the football team and basketball team win a national championship in the past three years.
Some of the additional benefits which will be given start with continued payment of healthcare and retirement benefits.
On top of this, the University of Michigan will also continue to provide Manuel with game tickets, golf perks and release from a contractual requirement to back the school millions of dollars should he leave his position before the end of the current contract.
This agreement comes following a $12 million investigation by a private law firm to look at the culture of the athletics department following the need to fire football coach Sherrone Moore following the revelation of the latterâs inappropriate relationship with his Executive Assistant Paige Shiver.
The information on this report was found by the Detroit Free Press after a Freedom of Information Act request. The form was dated July 17, 2026. Just one day after the Board of Regents met to discuss Manuelâs tenure and whether it should continue.
While the regents never publicly discussed their decision or the findings about the athletics department by the law firm, this makes clear that the University of Michigan was done with Manuel at that point and just wanted to move on before any more harm or consequences came to the school.
With Michigan currently in a search to hire a new school president, the Athletic Director position will take a back seat for a bit of time. After a president is found, he or she will have oversight of the hiring process for the next leader of the Michigan athletics department. One of the biggest departments in the country and one of the most successful over the past three years.
With new football coach Kyle Whittingham being a veteran of more than 20 years and with the menâs basketball team coming into the 2026-27 season returning all of their potential transfers, the department is in a wonderful place and it will be a job which the best Athletic Directors in the country will envy the chance to interview for.
Money will be no issue as the search ramps up and the ability for Michigan to compete with any school in the country in NIL will also be a big draw for the administrator chosen to succeed Manuel in Ann Arbor.
The biggest key when looking at candidates will be to find one with a clean record at their previous stops and to make sure they are up for the challenge of a school as big and prestigious as Michigan is and wants to remain.
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