In his remarks, he thanked the people of UConn, and he said the school deserved to be in a Power Five conference and he hoped to see them there one day. UConn President Susan Herbst said in a letter to the school Rachel Rubin will serve as interim athletic director. The school will use the services of a national search firm to find a replacement.
Herbst also said:
When Warde Manuel, our Athletic Director since 2012, told me he was interested in the AD position at the University of Michigan, I was not at all surprised; Michigan is his alma mater where he spent years of his life as a student-athlete, playing football for Bo Schembechler, participating in track and field, and earning his degrees, later becoming assistant and associate AD there.
I was also not surprised when he was recently named to the position; Warde is a terrific AD and any university would be lucky to have him.
While we are sorry to lose him at UConn, we also understand how much the position at Michigan means to him and we wish him all the best.
Manuel was hired at UConn in February 2012.
In his four years in Storrs, UConn teams have won six national championships.
Manuel had spent the previous seven years rebuilding the athletic department at the University of Buffalo– where he helped improve the teams and the test scores.
Among Manuel’s biggest challenges at UConn— the Men’s Basketball team.
Shortly after he arrived it was ruled ineligible for the 2013 NCAA tournament due to substandard academic progress.
Manuel also hired UConn Men’s Basketball coach Kevin Ollie to replace Jim Calhoun. And he had to fire UConn Football coach Paul Pasqualoni and hire Bob Diaco and hired men’s hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh.
During Manuel’s time in Storrs, UConn left the Big East and joined the AAC.