Remembering the Halo
I'm posting this because I just came across a great aerial photo of the ugliest-ass thing in Michigan Stadium history.
In the wake of our national championship, the Halo was only around for two seasons - 1998 and 1999. U-M President Lee Bolinger announced in January of 2000 that they were tearing it down. Daily story HERE.
The Halo certainly ranks up there with the hires of Brian Ellerbe and Rich Rod as the worst decisions in U-M athletic history.
But as we wait for the boys to kick it off on Saturday night, for one last time, behold the Halo!
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:09 AM ^
Let's be fair, all championship rings are gaudy. The stadium deserved a ring for the '97-'98 championship as much as the players. And in keeping with good taste, you can't wear it all the time, so it was a good decision to take it down.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:16 AM ^
Imagine how long it would take to rotate through Tom Brady’s championship ring collection.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
Yeah, it brings back some good memories and I think it looks quite good actually, but not something that needs to be permanent. If we win another National Championship I wouldn't mind constructing a new halo for a year or two, lol.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:40 AM ^
so you're saying lloyd has the halo in a display case in his walk-out basement?
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
WD, not Lloyd Carr.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
Looks like opening kickoff with a few fans still making their way into the big house. No line for my section 19. I can almost see myself in the next to the top row.?
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
I'm in 19 as well, row 52.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:47 AM ^
Judging by the weather and what looks like some pockets of orange, I wonder if this is the Donovan McNabb game.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
The Halo destroyed the look of the Big House. It was terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:11 AM ^
I thought you were talking about the old “halo rule” where you would get a 15 yard penalty for being too close to the punt returner
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
pretty sure the penalty was to lose our first two games after putting it up
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:12 AM ^
As an architect, I don't hate it. Didn't seem to be particularly well executed but I don't hate the idea of having some bold element accentuate the profile of the stadium.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
I think the scoreboards could have a nice water feature above them similar to the Bellagio in Las Vegas. I also think many would benefit from a zen rock garden in the concourse. Lastly, there's ample space to install a quaint breakfast nook for those getting in early.
I will say they got it right with having an open concept floor plan within the stadium. It's much easier to entertain 111,000 guests.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:48 AM ^
I actually didn't mind the idea. It was executed poorly (those helmets and footballs they put on there looked baaaaad) but I like the idea of color and excitement in a facility that exists for that sort of thing.
So I was cautiously optimistic and didn't hate it when it went in.
But I was 19 when it was installed. I was wrong about a lot of things at 19. I still don't loathe the idea, but... it was a bad idea.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
It looks like it was poorly executed with a lot of tacky elements slapped onto it. I think a simple clean maize colored band wrapping the edge is a pretty solid idea. Gives the stadium more prominence and accentuates the shear size of the structure.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
Ugliest?
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:49 AM ^
Thank you. Was thinking the same thing.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
That's bad
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^
I forget, was the Kraft noodle a Dave Brandon thing?
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
You betcha
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:23 AM ^
I wouldn't doubt it, because Kraft and Brandon could easily have the same slogan:
"The cheesiest."
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:28 AM ^
When that photo leaked there was an uproar, naturally. So Brandon claimed that it was a temporary fixture for a donor event or something. And IIRC his public statement had a tone of condescension. The thing is, I'm pretty sure that early in his time as AD he had talked about trying to get advertising inside the gates but not inside the bowl itself. So he hadn't exactly earned the benefit of the doubt with that stuff.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:31 PM ^
It was “Fan Day”( formerly Youth Day). The noodle was there for probably 5 hours. People got autographs and could get a Macaroni picture. It was probably at a county fair the next day.
October 22nd, 2020 at 1:53 PM ^
Didn't realize that. That was like a third of my life ago and memories tend to blur over time.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:35 AM ^
I don't know about you, but I love it.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
Terrible. That was my freshman year and from the uniforms that looks like the mauling given to us my Syracuse and Donovan McNabb.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
is the halo stored with the Fab 5 FF banners
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:41 AM ^
Wasn't a bad idea but it looked like they went with the lowest bidder and got what they paid for.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:42 AM ^
I don’t recall if it was already in place at my May 3, 1998 graduation at the stadium. Think I was too drunk to notice.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:52 AM ^
Thanks for posting. I don't think I've ever actually seen it, only read the horrified references to it.
And I agree with Hab: get gaudy to celebrate a championship, then go back to real life.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
It was much worse in person.
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:55 AM ^
The RichRod hire was not the bad decision.
Letting someone hijack our coaching search and then undermine RR after he was hired was the worst decision that was made.
That, and then doubling down on that bad decision by hiring Hoke.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
Your newsletter sounds promising...
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
Section 1, is that you? Do you want to know who Lloyd Carr spoke to and when?
October 22nd, 2020 at 10:59 AM ^
Hated the halo, so tacky
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
#BRINGBACKOPPONENTWATCH
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:01 AM ^
Just to be clear: Nobody snuck in and put that thing up in the middle of the night when we were not watching.
We paid to have that thing put up on purpose.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
From the picture, I don't see what the big deal was.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
I agree. Not great but it's far from the worst.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:16 AM ^
I always thought the lettering made it look tacky. Without it, it would have been a better idea. Just IMO.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:04 AM ^
"The halo debuted during the first game of the 1998 football season - the same year the Athletic Department recorded a deficit of $2.784 million for the 1998-99 fiscal year." Any idea how much it cost?
While it looks bad I don't think it ranks anywhere close to the Richrod hiring process.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:17 AM ^
I remembered this was a thing not too long ago and looked up how long it was around, I forgot how widely criticized it was and I feel even the biggest die hard hated it, there were photos from when I was 3 at the Spring Game in 1998 with construction going on, little did I know how much of a monstrosity was taking place around the stadium
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:26 AM ^
I was there with the Halo for my first UM game. Syracuse, and it didn’t go well. We got our first vs CMU the following week.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
I've finally come around to reading JUB's EndZone and it hasn't ceased to astonish me how horrible Dave Brandon was to the University. His hiring as AD has to be one of the worst decisions, outside of the sexual abuse atrocities, at the University level.
Regarding the "Hackathon" hosted by MPowered Entrepeneurship in 2013 at the Big House...
"After everyone packed up and went home, the athletic department sent the M-Hack club an additional bill, this one for almost $60,000 more, bringing the total to host the event to almost $100,000"
Sad how one man can destroy so much so quickly.
edit - I know Dave wasn't responsible for the halo, and it was tacky as all, but it paled in comparison to what DB would do.
October 22nd, 2020 at 11:43 AM ^
I vaguely recall during the deconstruction process some students stole the huge university seal and rolled it down the street to their house. I think they ended up returning it. Too bad as it would've made a nice addition to someone's man cave.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:07 PM ^
You all do realize that it was just a "New Coke" ploy to get a bigger stadium built. When Coca-Cola sales were slipping to Pepsi they introduced New Coke and everyone hated it, but then they all rushed back to Coca-Cola Classic and sales boomed. Same with the Halo, people hated it so much that they pledged support and a ton of money that they normally wouldn't have to enlarge and beautify the Big House. Marketing geniuses played consumers like a fiddle. *Boom, Mindblown!!!*
October 22nd, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
Straight out of Art of the Deal my man. Screw up royally....on purpose! Then when you've pissed everybody off you get them to agree to what you really wanted and then make things great. Again. Like they were before you started.
October 22nd, 2020 at 12:08 PM ^
I remember seeing it for the first time when I drove up to MI from Lubbock, TX for a long weekend visiting family and went to the Purdue game. From a distance it was looking pretty cool but as you walked up closer to the stadium the uglier it looked.