The new five-year contract between the University of Michigan and its athletic director, Warde Manuel, includes an increase in annual salary and the amount directed to his retirement fund.
And in the case of the retirement fund, it’s a increase of more than 10 times the original amount.
The agreement — signed by Manuel and university president Mark Schlissel earlier this month, and approved by the university’s board of regents on Thursday — includes an annual base salary of $1.1 million paid to Manuel when it goes into effect on March 14, 2021.
MLive obtained a copy of the new pact this week through a public-records request with the university. It expires on June 30, 2026.
“I am pleased to recommend the reappointment of Warde Manuel as the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Intercollegiate Athletics,” school president Mark Schlissel said in a statement on Thursday. “With the support of Mr. Manuel’s leadership as the athletic director, Michigan Athletics has excelled in the classroom and on the fields of play.
The uptick in salary is a 17 percent increase from Manuel’s pay in 2020, when he collected a base salary of $940,000. Manuel signed his original five-year deal with Michigan in 2016 with a starting salary of $800,000 and built-in raises.
But the stark difference between the original deal and this new one is the amount the university plans to direct to his retirement fund. Under the new contract, Manuel will receive a $350,000 employer contribution to his retirement fun beginning on March 30, 2021, with an annual payment equal to that amount on June 30 of each year through 2025.
Comparatively, Manuel only received a total of $151,500 in employer contributions to his retirement fund from 2016 to 2020 — a $51,500 contribution in 2016 and an annual $25,000 contribution in years two through five, per the terms of his previous contract.
The new contract also includes permission for the continued use of two department-funded vehicles, all-expenses paid business trips for he and his wife and a three-year buyout if he’s fired without cause before June 30, 2023.
Manuel, 52, is closing in on his sixth year at Michigan, his alma mater, overseeing one of the largest, financially successful college athletic departments in the country. He’s had to hire a new men’s ice hockey coach (Mel Pearson) and men’s basketball coach (Juwan Howard), negotiated a contract extension for football coach Jim Harbaugh, one that was financially friendly to the university, and navigated a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic that has crushed finances.
