Warde Manuel to Receive 2024 NFF John L. Toner Award from the National Football Foundation
Irving, Texas – The National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame announced Wednesday (July 23) that University of Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel will be the recipient of the 2024 NFF John L. Toner Award. Manuel will officially be honored during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner presented by Las Vegas at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on Dec. 10.
First presented in 1997, the John L. Toner Award recognizes athletics directors who have demonstrated superior administrative abilities and shown outstanding dedication to college athletics, particularly college football. The award is named in honor of its inaugural recipient, the late John L. Toner who was a former athletics director and football coach at Connecticut. Toner, an NCAA President from 1983-85, joined the NFF Board in 1988 and served as the vice chairman from 2000-2008.
The Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics, Manuel has led the Michigan Athletic Department since January 2016. He is just the 12th athletics director in the school’s history and oversees 29 varsity teams and more than 950 student-athletes. During Manuel’s seven-year tenure, the Wolverines have captured an NCAA Championship in football (2023), women’s gymnastics (2021), and finished runner up nationally in wrestling (2022), field hockey (2020), baseball (2019), men’s basketball (2018) and women’s cross country (2017). Wolverines have combined to win 23 individual NCAA titles during Manuel’s tenure, 85 regular season and tournament conference titles, 61 Academic All-American honors, 535 Big Ten Distinguished scholars, and 3,548 Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Manuel became athletics director in the second year of head football coach Jim Harbaugh’s tenure, and from 2016-2023, the Wolverines won 78.2% of their games with an overall record of 79-22, including a national championship, three consecutive Big Ten titles and seven bowl game appearances. The team placed in the Top 25 in six of the eight seasons, including the past three seasons with a school-best ranking of No. 3 or better.
This past January, Harbaugh departed for the NFL, and Manuel tapped Sherrone Moore, the program’s offensive coordinator, as the new head coach. Moore led the Wolverines to four victories as an acting head coach during the 2023 season, including wins over No. 2 Ohio State and No. 9 Penn State.
Manuel has also served on the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) executive committee since 2009 and served a one-year term as president during the 2020-21 academic year. He also serves on the board of directors for The Collegiate Women Sports Awards, the executive committee for the Black AD Alliance and is one of Michigan’s representatives on the Big Ten Conference Equality Coalition.
A native of New Orleans, Manuel was a high school All-America football player before playing at U-M for Bo Schembechler. He earned multiple letters and started at defensive end in his sophomore year. His football career was cut short by a neck injury, and he subsequently lettered as a member of the Wolverines’ track and field team. Manuel earned his bachelor of general studies with a focus in psychology in 1990, his master’s degree in social work from U-M in 1993 and an MBA from U-M’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business in 2005.
After earning his bachelor’s degree, he became coordinator of U-M’s Wade H. McCree Jr. Incentive Scholarship Program. He then worked briefly as an academic advisor with the Georgia Tech Athletic Association before being named assistant athletic director of academic affairs. Manuel later returned to his alma mater in 1996, working in various capacities until eventually becoming athletics director.
Manuel will be honored during the 66th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Presented by Las Vegas on Dec. 10 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino alongside recipients of the other NFF Major Awards.
