News
Manuel leaving UB for UConn
Warde J. Manuel, who has led UB’s athletics programs during a time of unparalleled success, is leaving the university to take over as athletic director at the University of Connecticut.
Manual served as vice president and UB’s athletic director for the past six years. His appointment at UConn is effective March 12.
A national search for a new athletic director will begin immediately; an interim director will be named within the week.
President Satish K. Tripathi notes that Manuel’s selection to lead one of the nation’s top Division I athletic programs at Connecticut “reflects the national reputation he has achieved through his outstanding leadership and impressive achievements here at UB.”
“Since his appointment in July 2005, Warde has served our university and the UB Division of Athletics with distinction, raising UB athletics’ national profile and helping to build a nationally competitive Division I program dedicated to the pursuit of academic and athletic excellence,” Tripathi says.
UB racked up a number of impressive accomplishments under Manuel’s watch, including the university’s first Mid American Conference football championship in 2008 and first bowl game appearance at the 2009 International Bowl—against, coincidentally, UConn.
Other accomplishments include three postseason appearances by the men’s basketball team in the past seven years; three-straight Dad Vail Regatta titles by the rowing team; six wrestlers earning spots at the 2011 NCAA Championship; and an appearance by the women’s tennis team in the 2008 NCAA tournament.
UB’s athletic program also enjoyed success from an academic standpoint. When Manuel arrived at UB in 2005, four programs—football, men’s basketball, wrestling and baseball—fell far below the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) cut score of 925. By the end of the 2009-10 academic year, those four teams posted a four-year APR rate above the cut score and 10 of UB’s 20 sports had scores of 975 or higher.
In 2007, the Division of Athletics was named a Program of Excellence by the NCAA Division I-A athletic directors—the only program in the nation so named that year.
Reader Comments