Warde Manuel calls leaks of Michigan investigation 'wholly unacceptable and ridiculous'
Michigan Athletics Director Warde Manuel is unhappy with the fact that information continues to be leaked in regards to the NCAA investigation of the Wolverines sign-stealing scandal.
Before news is officially announced from the NCAA, media members have been getting information first. Manuel believes that the leaks are a big issue and need to be stopped.
“Well, first of all, I think it’s wholly unacceptable and ridiculous that people who have the information or get information about what’s going on are leaking it to the press and to the public,” Warde Manuel said in an interview with The Michigan Insider.
Manuel and Michigan have been working to find out where the leaks are coming from. However, thus far they have been unsuccessful.
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“We try to find it. We just don’t let it pass. We actively try to find where are these leaks coming from, in particular if it’s on us,” Manuel said. “The problem is it’s hard to get to the bottom of it. It doesn’t mean we’re going to stop trying, because it really does not help the process.”
Warde Manuel added that while some information that is leaked is accurate, other information is inaccurate. However, he is unable to respond to inaccurate reports due to the ongoing investigation.
He feels strongly that the leaks are unfair to Michigan and its football program.
“It doesn’t help the University of Michigan to go through. It doesn’t help the NCAA. Whoever is leaking this, it is not helping what we’re trying to do to resolve the cases,” Manuel said. “And it just puts stuff out there – in some cases, some of it wrong. Some of it I can’t respond to when it’s wrong. We are under a sense of not being able to talk about it publicly. But yet people are leaking things out there about the case. It’s just disappointing and unnecessary and sad.”
Warde Manuel states the belief he did not want to keep Jim Harbaugh was ‘dead wrong’
Michigan is about to really begin life in the post-Jim Harbaugh era, yet there remain some misconceptions out there about the process of his departure, according to athletics director Warde Manuel.
Manuel joined The Michigan Insider for a sit-down interview and pushed back on the idea that he let Harbaugh go without a fight.
“All the stuff that’s out there, man, it’s just ridiculous,” Warde Manuel said. “And again, it’s not that we didn’t have our differences. We did. But the feeling, the sense of people out there is just dead wrong about me not wanting Jim Harbaugh around and not doing enough to try to keep him.”
Harbaugh, of course, departed for the Los Angeles Chargers job right after winning a national title at Michigan. Things were never going to be better in college, but Harbaugh still had that NFL itch.