David Brandon Is Under Fire, But Michigan May Be Stuck With Him
By Ty Duffy
Michigan football appeared to hit DEFCON1 against Minnesota. The Wolverines were getting blown out, as double-digit favorites, by Minnesota. The few students remaining chanted “Fire Brandon.” A rubbernecking national media had descended. Then, things got worse. Michigan left an injured Shane Morris on the field in an already lost game, then pulled him, then put him back on the field for a play with a concussion, inciting a national furor.
The school’s response to the crisis has been a farce. An ill-prepared, bungling or dishonest Brady Hoke bumbled through a press conference nearly 48 hours afterward. Hoke’s comments were undercut and refuted, in less than 24 hours, by a more composed statement from AD David Brandon. Whether it is discord or incompetence, Michigan’s athletic department is a mess.
We can presume, barring the miraculous, Michigan will fire Brady Hoke at the end of the season. The more interesting question is what this means for Dave Brandon.
Brandon is unpopular with a large segment of the fan base. Increased ticket prices and tweaks to the game day experience have not gone down well. There has been a steady stream of PR gaffes from Coca Cola product ticket deals to skywriting over East Lansing. Many students, irritated by prices and a revoked general admission policy, have stopped buying tickets. A student petition for his removal already has more than 2,000 signatures. He’s not well liked, but will that have consequences?
From a base perspective, Brandon’s job is to generate revenue and to fund improvements for the athletic department. Michigan’s next budget projects $151 million in revenue and a surplus north of $5 million. He has added sports and raised the money for the $168 million construction of an athletics campus, after Michigan has already spent hundreds of millions upgrading facilities. Unpopular or not, that gives him a lot of staying power.
Brandon is well-connected. He was a former player. He was active around the university in multiple official and unofficial capacities before becoming athletic director, including eight years on the Board of Regents. Stephen Ross, in a piece published Saturday, called Brandon “terrific” and “probably the most qualified athletic director in the country.” That would be the Stephen Ross who has donated more than $300 million to the University of Michigan.
Any move to oust Brandon would have to come through the President’s office and the Regents. Mark Schlissel, a former provost at Brown, has been on the job for a few months. He is focused on academics, not athletics. He doesn’t seem like the type itching to mount a major power play outside his purview, months into his tenure. The Regents have mostly supported Brandon, besides blocking his fireworks initiative.
There was a report from Pete Roussell that Michigan had reached out to BC’s Brad Bates and UConn’s Warde Manuel. Multiple sources contradicted that report.
Brandon is responsible for hiring Brady Hoke. It’s the most important decision he has made. It was a failure. But, one could argue all of the present animosity stems from that decision. If Brandon makes a splash hire in his second attempt, problem solved.
Should Michigan decide to part ways with Brandon…
Perception outside seems to be that the school should clean out the “Michigan Men” and embark in a radical new direction. Perception inside Michigan, if Brandon were let go, would be that Michigan went too far outside the paradigm hiring a Dominos CEO who didn’t respect the tradition. Thus, looking for a replacement, you’re probably looking at (a) an experienced athletic director and (b) someone with ties to Michigan.
Unlike the barely-existent Lloyd Carr coaching tree, there are a number of successful Schembechler scions in athletic departments. Bates and Manuel were obvious choices. Both were rumored candidates when Brandon was hired in 2010.
Bates is a Michigan native and played under Bo Schembechler. He was AD at Miami of Ohio before that. He has orchestrated four football head coaching searches with mixed success. He appointed and dismissed former OC Shane Montgomery, which did not work out. He hired Michael Haywood, who had a nine-win season his second year before taking and ultimately losing the Pitt job. He hired Michigan State OC Don Treadwell, who was fired in his third season. He hired Steve Addazio at Boston College in 2013, with thus far positive results.
Manuel was a player at Michigan and rose up to associate AD before leaving. He made two football hires, Turner Gill and Jeff Quinn at Buffalo, that eventually led to bowl games. He fired Paul Pasqualoni four games into 2013 and eventually hired Notre Dame DC Bob Diaco after making a run at Pat Narduzzi. He oversaw the transition from Jim Calhoun to Kevin Ollie in basketball and kept Kevin Ollie from jumping to the NBA after the national title. Some parts of the fan base would criticize him for UConn being snubbed during realignment, but unfairly.
Michigan could also look at even more experienced “Michigan Men.”
Current Arkansas AD Jeff Long spent a long time in the athletic department and rose to associate AD before leaving Michigan. His wife is from Ann Arbor. He has also managed two high-profile, contentious coaching transitions. Petrino worked out, on the field. Bielema appears to have Arkansas heading back to competence in his second year. Both were surprising, outside the box maneuvers.
Bob De Carolis at Oregon State could be another “Michigan Man” in the running. He spent 19 years in Michigan’s athletic department before joining the Beavers. He has made one football coaching hire: Mike Riley, who has brought Oregon State to eight bowl games and four Top 25 finishes.
Michigan has viable options, if it wishes to replace Brandon. It would gratify many. The problem is it’s hard to see Michigan removing Brandon and hiring a replacement in time to make the obvious coaching change needed. That process will begin formally in two months or sooner. It should, through back channels, be already underway. The Wolverines’ path of least resistance is to give Brandon one more shot and hope he catches the whale.
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