Warde Manuel stepped onto UB's campus as the university's new Athletics Director eight months ago, and with the academic year coming to a close, Manuel sees both successes in his first year here and places in which he can improve.
"I'd probably give myself a C, mainly because I give the effort I give and I think it's substantial and I put heart and soul into my job but I always think that there's room for improvement," Manuel said. "I look at administration and what I do the same way I look at what teams do - even after victory, you're glad that you had the victory but there's more work to be done."
"Until we can really start turning things around and winning (conference) championships, doing those kind of things on the fields of play and having success academically and not losing scholarships in a sport, then I am going to say that I'm probably a C," Manuel added.
According to Manuel, the Buffalo athletics program can be built on two things: pride and perseverance.
"We can't look away and not tell people that we're from Buffalo," Manuel said. "We have to take pride in the fact that we're Buffalo and that we're going to build this program. We have to have the perseverance in every effort so that it's never for lack of effort and trying that we're not going to have success."
Eight weeks before Manuel was hired, Gene Corrigan released a report to the university after extensive research regarding the athletics department. Manuel sees the report as very helpful, keeps a copy of it on his desk, and has talked to Corrigan about his findings.
Corrigan suggested in the report that UB cut back on some of its sports teams. Manuel, however, hopes to avoid that fate.
"My plan is to not cut any sports or opportunities for any students," Manuel said. "We need to support a broad range of athletics the same way we support a broad range of academic choices for our students. As I'm going through the budget now, I think that we have the financial resources to support all of the programs that we have."
Once the Corrigan report was released, UB President John B. Simpson set a spring deadline for the evaluation of the number of sports teams at the university. It appears, however, that the deadline is going to pass before a clear-cut assessment can be made.
"We've been looking at it and talking about it and I've asked for somewhat of an extension because we're currently working on the budget process and I want to see where we are," Manuel said. "It may be pushed back further but it's not something that we're putting on the back burner."
Another suggestion by Corrigan was the addition of regionally popular sports such as hockey. Manuel said that this suggestion is still on his mind but is not something that would occur in the near future.
"I've had some conversations with people and I was an administrator for (hockey) at Michigan and it's an expensive sport," Manuel said. "Michigan, in the last five to six years, even after winning national championships, has just gotten to the point where they are making money on hockey, with a 6,500-seat arena. It's not going to be a moneymaker, but the possibility is there to look at that as well as other sports that he mentioned."
One of the strongest points of Manuel's r?(c)sum?(c) upon entering his position at UB was his fundraising capability. As of yet, there have not been any announcements of large donations, but Manuel said that there would be donations released in the near future.
"Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, we'll be able to have an announcement on a couple of gifts that will make a substantial impact on the entire department," Manuel said. "It's the kind of thing that as we go forward, it will be necessary to increase fundraising in order to stay competitive and have fewer increases in other places, such as funding from the state."
Raising incoming money is one of Manuel's goals for next year.
"I'd like us to reach some higher goals in terms of corporate sponsorship and in terms of development money raised for the campus," Manuel said.
Gridiron woes
Manuel arguably made his biggest move, and according to him the hardest, in November when he decided to fire Jim Hofher as the head football coach.
"I think that was the hardest thing to do," Manuel said. "It's never easy telling people they're no longer going to be responsible and work at a place. It's probably been the biggest decision that I've had to implement in the time here."
Manuel hired Turner Gill to fill the position just over a month later.
"I know that he knows how to build a program," Gill said. "I know that he hasn't technically done it seeing he is a first-year Athletics Director, but based on what I've heard from other people and then getting a chance to see it firsthand, I believe in him wholeheartedly."
Since Gill has been hired and began to compile his staff, four individuals have decided to leave the university to pursue careers elsewhere. Antonio Goss was the first to leave Gill's staff and was followed soon thereafter by Alex Van Pelt and Charlie Jackson. Just a few weeks ago, R. Todd Littlejohn also left Buffalo's coaching staff, creating a revolving door of coaches for the building program.
"(Gill) is concerned about why and the rationale, and in almost every case you can understand why people leave," Manuel said. "You would rather, as we talked about it looking forward, those people not be a part of it now and get those jobs than get into the meat of the season and have people not want to be there and involved. It's going to be tough. As you develop and restart any staff, it's going to be tough. You need people there that want to be there and want to help you fight through it."
Even with the downfalls, freshman quarterback and next year's starter Drew Willy is excited about the impact Manuel has had.
"I think he's the greatest thing to happen here so far," Willy said. "He has done so much in a short time with the hiring of the coaches and getting the talk of the new facilities and seeing more spirit come to UB because of him has been great."
One of Manuel's goals for the upcoming year is to complete the football schedule sooner.
"I want to get on top of scheduling, particularly for football, so that we're not caught in a late time frame again so we can get an earlier sense of who we are going to play," Manuel said.
Gill said that the earlier schedule completion definitely wouldn't hurt the program.
"That's more of his department. He handles the majority of scheduling but I'm involved in it," Gill said. "It would be good to have that done a little bit earlier. It would definitely help."
Indoor facility in the horizon
Throughout the past two semesters, Manuel has begun to create a buzz concerning an indoor training facility for the university.
"I think we definitely, based on our location, need an indoor facility for our teams to practice," Manuel said. "We need increased weight room space for our student-athletes but we also need increased space for our students. It would be nice to have that field available for more intramural events to go on for students and our club sports. I will not look at that facility as single-mindedly set for athletics. Without question, it has to be for students and student-athlete use."
Manuel said that such a facility could take anywhere from four to six years to complete.
Athletic success
During Manuel's first year at Buffalo, the Bulls' teams achieved varying degrees of success. The men's soccer and wrestling teams both received national rankings, the men's basketball team received votes in the national poll and the football team dodged a winless season days after its head coach was fired.
"As I talk to the coaches and the student-athletes, no matter what the level of support, no matter what the level of fan interest is for a given sport in a given year, I want them all to be fighting to succeed, personally as student-athletes and coaches and as a team on behalf of themselves and a university," Manuel said. "It really just brought a smile to my face that (men's soccer and wrestling) were able to achieve what they were, that basketball was able to get Top 25 votes, and I was very, very happy for the football team when they had their first victory."
Even with the success, Manuel said he tries not to focus on what has occurred but rather what the future holds.
"I don't look back on the past and really worry about it because I am so focused on where we are," Manuel said. "I would have hoped that men's soccer would have won that game in overtime and that we wouldn't have had that injury in basketball to Parnell and to see if we could have kept that run going."
