Warde Manuel's ruse is insulting. He should fire Juwan Howard and fix Michigan basketball

Give Warde Manuel credit for understanding one fundamental truth about the world.

We can’t all be a Michigan Man or a Michigan Woman.

And that, the Michigan athletic director must reason, means most of us non-Wolverines don’t have the requisite smarty-pants qualifications to see through a obvious and insulting ruse.

“It would be fair to say I have not really thought about any changes in our men’s basketball program at this time,” Manuel said Wednesday in a video conference call while discussing the Titanic that has become the Michigan men’s basketball team under Juwan Howard’s leadership.

Manuel continues to stick with his policy of preferring not to make in-season changes to any sport. It served him and the school well while it went through the tumultuous Jim Harbaugh era that eventually resulted in a national championship.

But Howard isn’t Harbaugh and Michigan basketball isn’t Michigan football. U-M hoops is still one of the jewels of the school’s athletic program, even if these days it plays more the part of cubic zirconia baguettes that encircle U-M football’s flawless 10-carat diamond.

Michigan basketball not only has the Big Ten’s worst record at 3-11 in conference and 8-17 overall, but its record through 25 games is tied for the worst in program history over the past 43 years.

Yet Manuel has preached patience all season with Howard. He preached it in late January and he preached it again Wednesday, after the Wolverines went 1-5 since his last sermon of sufferance. The past two games have been especially egregious, when the Wolverines have been roadkill in no-show blowouts at Nebraska and Illinois.

Still, Manuel doesn’t think the iceberg is approaching that fast. Or perhaps at all.

“I want to support Juwan to be successful,” he said, “and have not given any moment of thought about anything about changes at this time.”

Let’s be real: If Manuel has chosen to ride this out with plans to fire Howard after the season, that’s his right — and maybe not the worst course of action, because it’s too late to salvage this season.

But if Manuel wants anyone to believe he hasn’t given “any moment of thought” to firing Howard, he’s either lying or he’s the most irresponsible AD in the country.

Manuel said something similar last month, but back then it had a hint of plausibility because the negotiations to keep Harbaugh had just concluded. It wasn’t impossible to imagine that the guy who sucked all the oxygen out of the room had left Manuel and other administrators gasping for air after their exhaustive efforts failed to keep him.

But now? He wants us to believe he’s given zero thought to what has happened under Howard and what needs to happen?

Maybe Manuel is hoping for some kind of miraculous run by Howard’s squad. Maybe a feel-good win at Crisler Center against archrival Michigan State on Saturday that will vault them to a strong season close that might include a massive upset in the home finale against No. 2 Purdue.

Even if that happens, Howard’s only salvation is an extremely unlikely Big Ten tournament title.

But that’s not going to happen; the season will almost certainly end with Michigan missing its second straight NCAA tournament.

After that, maybe Manuel will begin to give changes to the Michigan basketball program a moment of thought. In case he needs reminding, Howard, 51, has just two years left on the five-year extension he signed in November 2021 and reportedly would be due just a $3 million buyout if he’s fired after this season.

On the same day Manuel steadfastly kept his head in the sand, Ohio State AD Gene Smith decided he couldn’t bear to watch his Buckeyes, at 4-10 in the conference, struggle anymore as the Big Ten’s second-worst team and fired coach Chris Holtmann.

Even in the midst of an AD change, Ohio State gave the situation a moment of thought and concluded that paying Holtmann a $12.8 million buyout on an extension that had four years left was better than doing nothing with a spiraling program.

By comparison, Michigan will get off a lot more cheaply if it takes the first steps toward fixing its own spiraling program by firing Howard. As they could tell you in Columbus, it doesn’t take a Michigan Man or a Michigan Woman to know what Manuel should do.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Warde Manuel's ruse is insulting. Michigan needs to fire Juwan Howard