00:00Well, good morning and welcome to the Karsh and Anderson program. Gator out today, just Karsh today. Hope everyone had
00:06a great weekend and what a weekend it was. Lots of people to get to and nominations for champ and
00:11chump at a weekend and we will be getting to the champ and chump today at 1035. But as everybody
00:18heard there during the morning show, there is there is breaking news as Ward Manuel, the athletic director at the
00:25University of Michigan will be out at the end of the year, which isn't the most
00:29shocking conclusion ever. There had been rumors that this might be in the works. When you hear that he is
00:39working to the end of the year, that tells you that that this is a probably a mutual decision. It
00:50is probably a hey, I'm going to guess that what the Jenner and block and we have some conclusions that
00:59we're
00:59get to here in a minute because it's been published and the Wolverine had a copy of it, but the
01:03university has put this out and I'll read from what it cut and pasted from the Wolverine website. But when
01:11you have cause for firing, it's easy. And some of the things, some of the accusations that were out there
01:18and some of the stuff that was floated out there, I thought was cause for termination. If indeed true, whether
01:24or not it is, has been true.
01:27I haven't had a chance to read the whole thing, but based upon the conclusions, I get the sense that
01:31some of it wasn't true. But when you talk about death by a thousand paper cuts or brush fires all
01:37over the place and some fires bigger than brush fires that happened under Ward manuals watch, there is one thing
01:44that I think stands out.
01:46And I'm going to read this so that people can get a sense that the culture of you. And this
01:54was an excerpt printed by the Wolverine at the conclusion. And so people can get a sense what was considered
02:03failings, what was considered strengths under Ward manual, because there were some high highs.
02:09They won a national championship in football. They won a national championship in basketball. They got their NIL in order.
02:16And there were some low lows, Connor Stallions, Matt Weiss, losing coaches that, that people wanted to hang on to.
02:27And, and, and they, they really are extremes, right? They were, there are extremes that, that are in conflict with
02:35one another. And I guess some of these conclusions aren't surprising, but let's read this. So everybody can hear it.
02:40The culture review found the department of athletics has many significant strengths, including a strong commitment, student athlete, success, competitive
02:46excellence, and academic achievement.
02:47That includes a 96% student athlete graduation rate. In addition, staff members spoke highly of the department's workplace culture
02:55and 87% of employees who departed the university said they would recommend working there.
02:59At the same time, the culture review identified a three overreaching areas for improvement.
03:04One leadership accountability, ensuring leadership at all levels consistently follows through when misconduct is identified to organizational structure, addressing weaknesses
03:14and investigations, human resources, compliance, and oversight.
03:17Three reporting culture, reducing barriers to reporting concerns and fostering an environment where employees and student athletes feel comfortable raising
03:25issues.
03:27Uh, then they've got sort of a Q and a, did the investigation or cultural review find that misconduct was
03:33widespread throughout Michigan athletics conclusion?
03:36No, neither the investigation nor the cultural review found that misconduct was widespread throughout the department.
03:42The cultural review found that weaknesses and accountability, organizational structure, oversight, and reporting created conditions in which misconduct was not
03:50always addressed consistently, promptly, or in accordance with the university expectations.
03:55Two, what did the cultural review find regarding athletic department, leadership, and accountability?
04:01The answer, the cultural review found the department leadership consistently communicated the importance of integrity, compliance, and accountability.
04:08The cultural review also identified opportunities to strengthen accountability by ensuring misconduct is addressed promptly, consistently, in accordance with the
04:16university expectations.
04:18I think you're starting to see a bit of a pattern here.
04:20Three, what did the cultural review find regarding reporting concerns?
04:23The cultural review found that some employees and student athletes were reluctant to report concerns and that the athletic department
04:30could address this by strengthening reporting process, protecting individuals who raise concerns, and reinforcing a culture that encourages speaking up.
04:38Four, what did the cultural review find regarding oversight of the football program?
04:43The cultural review found the football program's prominence and organizational structure created unique oversight challenges.
04:50As the department's most visible program, as the department's most visible program, with the largest roster, coaching staff, and support
04:56organization, football requires particularly strong oversight and accountability.
05:00The cultural review concluded that existing oversight mechanisms were not sufficiently effective in recommending strengthening leadership oversight, clarifying responsibilities, enhancing
05:11reporting relationships, and improving compliance process.
05:15Next, what did the investigation conclude regarding Sharon Moore?
05:19The university terminated former head coach Sharon Moore on December 10, 2025, after establishing the fact that of his undisclosed
05:26workplace relationship with a direct report, which violated the university policy, outside investigators did not identify any current university employee
05:36with direct contemporaneous evidence of the relationship.
05:42Next, what did the cultural review conclude regarding Athletic Director Ward-Manuel?
05:49Goes on to say, the cultural review found Ward-Manuel demonstrated important leadership strengths, particularly his commitment to student athletes,
05:55at the same time, and identified failures to quickly and effectively act on alleged wrongdoing by athletic department employees.
06:03Then there's a whole bunch of recommendations and actions, but there's one that stands out to me, and that is
06:09one that I guess doesn't completely surprise me, based upon what we saw there.
06:13The university will strengthen leadership, the question is athletic department leadership and structure, as far as recommendations.
06:23The university will strengthen leadership, accountability, and department cohesion by clearly defining the responsibilities of sports administrators, enhancing oversight across
06:31all athletic programs, and reinforcing expectations regarding accountability, integrity, and zero tolerance for retaliation.
06:38Additional actions include evaluating whether football should have a dedicated sport administrator, increasing regular reporting on the status of compliance
06:49matters, and investigation to the president and the board of regents, formalizing cross-department collaboration, requiring regular all-staff meetings,
06:57and increasing engagements with all athletics programs to ensure consistent oversight and support.
07:01Okay.
07:03There's a lot of, obviously, formal writing there in concluding what happened at Michigan, under Ward-Manuel's watch.
07:13There's, again, good and bad.
07:15The bad stuff, though, goes back to who's watching?
07:20Who's watching?
07:23And in an organizational structure, who is paying attention to somebody in the scouting department?
07:31That is, is out there wandering into very gray areas as it pertains to NCAA rules.
07:37Who is paying attention to, and can they make sure that nobody is doing anything wrong on their work computer
07:45when it comes into breaking into accounts?
07:47Who's paying attention?
07:49Whose responsibility is it?
07:51There's one thing that I talk about all the time is, what is the expectation for me?
07:55In whatever light of work, whatever job I've ever had, I always want to know, what am I responsible for,
08:02and what is the expectation?
08:04And it sounds as though that was not clear whose job it was to oversee things.
08:09Like, and I'll go back to the head coach of a football program with hundreds of people working in the
08:15department, can't have his finger on what everybody is doing.
08:19But there should be people under him who, that do, everybody should have a watchful eye over them and, and
08:27making sure that you're compliant with everything.
08:31And it feels as though that was lax.
08:34The conclusion is here that there wasn't real clarity on who is responsible for some of the people in the
08:40department.
08:41Now, look, you know, ultimately it falls on the head coach and the athletic director, and that's why we're probably
08:47sitting where we are today.
08:49But at the end of the day, in the chain of command, people need to be more identified as responsible
08:57for people underneath them.
08:59So if you have a, somebody in the scouting department that is allowed to get away with something, who's, who
09:06is he reporting to on a daily basis that is responsible for making sure that isn't happening?
09:11Because the head coach has other things going on and needs to be delegating and have the right people in
09:18place to look out for that.
09:19That's what it feels like.
09:21The conclusion, one of the more important conclusions here is as far as I'm concerned, in the meantime, word manuals
09:28out.
09:28So what happened there?
09:29And he will be out at the end of the year, I should say.
09:31So what happened there?
09:33Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
09:35Michigan fans, you want to sound off on this, your reaction to this news, what you'd like from the next
09:40athletic director?
09:43Because Michigan's NIL is in good shape, which is important.
09:48But what is clear in reading all of this is that there needs to be better delegation.
09:54There needs to be clear chain of command.
09:56It needs to be clear who people are reporting to.
09:58And there needs to be clear follow through.
10:02But, you know, the bottom line is a tighter ship is what is necessary.
10:08And this is from an outside investigation.
10:10Two, four, eight, five, three, nine, 97, 97.
10:13You want to get your two cents in.
10:14In the meantime, champ and chump.
10:16My nominations today at 1035.
10:18Want to hear from you on this Monday here on Carson Anderson on 97.
10:22971.
10:23Hey.
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