Warde Manuel Position: Director of Athletics Institution: University of Buffalo

Warde J. Manuel, an associate athletics director who previously oversaw the football and men's basketball programs at Michigan, was named the University of Buffalo's Director of Athletics on July 22, 2005.

Manuel has many years of collegiate administrative experience with progressively greater levels of responsibility and leadership. He was one of Michigan's seven associate athletics directors with responsibilities that included the management of Michigan's Division I-A football and men's basketball programs.

A native of New Orleans, Manuel earned letters as a defensive tackle playing football under legendary coach Bo Schembechler, the winningest football coach in Michigan history. Manuel earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan in 1990, a master's degree in social work in 1993 and MBA from Michigan's Ross School of Business in April 2005.

After graduating from Michigan, Manuel was coordinator of the university's Wade H. McCree, Jr., Incentive Scholars Program from June 1990 to August 1993. He subsequently worked briefly as an academic advisor with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) Athletics Association before being named assistant athletic director of academic affairs.

Manuel returned to Michigan in June 1996 as an executive staff assistant in the Athletisc Department. In February 1998 he was named an assistant athletics director with responsibilities for overseeing operational facets of the university's athletics program. He was named an associate athletics director in September 2000.

Manuel and his wife, Chrislan, have a daughter, Emma, and a son, Evan.