Bacon said something interesting on 105.1

Submitted by M Gulo Gulo on

He said his souces wouldnt go on record so it is not in Endzone, but a caller brought up that Bandon made personel recommendations when he came in to watch film on Sundays with the staff (so not cool) and said he was thinking of firing Hoke midway through last season and bringing in Greg Schiano. Did anyone else hear about this or have any more information? 

As mentioned Bacon said he couldnt go into it but the way his voice sounded it wasnt difficult to tell there had to be some truth behind it.

The Mad Hatter

August 25th, 2015 at 7:06 PM ^

Les went to Michigan. He played for Michigan. And he coached at Michigan. He's every bit a Michigan Man and he has a deep love for the school. I simply refuse to believe that he would do anything to dishonor the school or the program if he was hired as the head coach. He coaches at LSU, where he won a NC and played for another one, and he does what it takes to win there. He's an excellent coach.

Njia

August 25th, 2015 at 7:23 PM ^

Those same descriptors re: Michigan also apply to Brandon (/shudders). I don't know that Miles would or wouldn't have been a good coach here. None of us ever will. But I also think that whatever reasons and reservations so many had about him may have been good ones.

stephenrjking

August 25th, 2015 at 6:07 PM ^

The problem with the 2007 coaching search is that you don't always have a good selection to pick from. It's like the quarterback class in the NFL draft every year--some years you've got Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger to pick from, and they're all good choices. Other years you're sifting through a putrid new release rack and trying to talk yourself into Blaine Gabbert or Christian Ponder. In 2007 Michigan was looking at: Greg Schiano, who is the guy that had good stats because he played in a system with a bunch of great athletes; RichRod, the superstar with all of the tools but two bad ACLs; a nobody from a division 2 school with no track record that's the GM's nephew but says he doesn't like you (Jim Harbaugh, who went 4-8 at Stanford and would have been great but who no reasonable person would have pursued at the time); and Les Miles, the guy with the rocket arm and a coke problem whom you're not sure wasn't involved in a shady sexual assault complaint last spring. There's no way we could have known Harbaugh was the only good choice. Just glad we fixed it this time.

allintime23

August 25th, 2015 at 6:24 PM ^

We could have had Harbaugh then but he was never asked. We could have skipped the Richrod-Hoke era all together. Did you really just ask me what Martin did? You dont remember the whole "gone fishing" failure? The Les Miles weird shit with the spray tan guy from college gameday? YOU ASK JIM HARBAUGH!!!!!!!

BluByYou

August 25th, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^

Carr could have hired JH as QB coach instead of Leoffler, not that Leoffler was a bad QB coach.  Why would you not if you had the opportunity?  Like most hires, politics enters into it. JH could have succeeded Carr and no doubt would have been wildly successful, but then the NFL would call and we might be doing this all over again.

jmblue

August 25th, 2015 at 8:17 PM ^

Now that's a more interesting hypothetical.  If Harbaugh is on our staff from 2002 onward, maybe he's promoted to OC in '06 and becomes the heir apparent.  Oh well.

Having said that, Loeffler was a fine QB coach in his own right and Carr was familiar with his work, as he'd been a GA here to work with Brady.

jmblue

August 25th, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^

Bill Martin did a lot for this athletic department. If you compare our facilities now with how they were in 2000, it's pretty remarkable. He also hired Beilein. If he'd have gotten the 2007 football search right he'd be a legend. As it is, it's a stain on a legacy that is still pretty good overall.

ElBictors

August 25th, 2015 at 7:00 PM ^

Bill Martin is a real estate guy - that's what he does and did.  His legacy at the University should most certainly tied to the incredible facilities and M Stadium renovations he came up with.

He is not a people person ...and has an odd personality.  The whole "sailing around instead of hiring a coach" is an urban legend that grew from the complexities of Les Miles leading LSU to a national title and "someone" in the Carr camp leaking to Herbie that Miles would be the next coach.

Suddenly he wasn't going to be.

 

Stadium looks great, Crisler looks so much better ...the volleyball and wrestling venue ...all Bill Martin's doing.

Bando Calrissian

August 25th, 2015 at 8:09 PM ^

...because they knew Les would be (rightfully) pissed that someone would leak that information to GameDay on the same day he's supposed to be coaching a conference championship game. It was all inside baseball machinations, as it's pretty well known Les does not consider other options while his season is still going on. 

Reader71

August 26th, 2015 at 1:03 PM ^

Has there been any proof? Or is this even a common rumor? I always assumed it was one of Les's guys who had caught wind of the discussion between Miles and Martin saying he would never say no to Michigan and jumped the gun. Ockham's razor and all that. I know a few guys who were downright giddy about Miles before the ESPN thing broke, and they were definitely guys in his camp.

ElBictors

August 25th, 2015 at 8:38 PM ^

That's why the leak worked - Herbie and GameDay is as legit a source as there (was) is in CFB and they went on air to proclaim Miles as the next HC.

That forced Miles' hand on the subject and he had to publicly decline.  Now unlike other coaches named Meyer and Saban he didn't then change his mind weeks later and instead stayed in Baton Rouge, but he was cornered by his own success.

Because the theory at the time was ....defeat Ohio State in the BCS Title game while at LSU and then following the win, announce his move to MICHIGAN.

 

Plan was foiled

mgoblue0970

August 26th, 2015 at 1:17 AM ^

... and he gave us PSLs

Shit OOC scheduling

Started alienating students and alum before DB ever could

Made Michigan a national laughing stock during the coaching search -- it is inexcusable that a big boy org such as Michigan didn't have a succession plan.  Even in the case of an emergency

Assaults at the ND and New Hampshire game

 

snarling wolverine

August 26th, 2015 at 1:41 AM ^

PSLs were coming.  That's just the reality.  Everyone has them nowadays.

The crappy scheduling likely was  as well - though note that Martin extended the ND series for a very long time, only for it to break under Brandon.

Alienating students?  They continued to buy season tickets en masse throughout his tenure.

The 2007 coaching search obviously is his major downside.  I'm not arguing otherwise - though I think you are overstating the "national laughingstock" part.  Most fans of other teams didn't really care.

 

 

Mr Miggle

August 25th, 2015 at 5:58 PM ^

of firing Hoke and hiring a new coach mid-season. He might have said they'd be better off with Schiano, but Brandon was a dead man walking after Minnesota. By midseason he was negotiating the terms of his departure. Surely, even he knew that he wasn't going to be allowed to hire a new coach. There's delusional, but that's a step beyond. 

 

UMProud

August 25th, 2015 at 6:01 PM ^

Listened to this and it was very interesting. I also found myself further disappointed with Brandon concerning his requirements that someone opens his car door on trips. Turning down free plane rides from boosters because he had to stoop a little in the plane just sealed my opinion on top of everything else. This is a very insecure person who had no business as our AD.

True Blue Grit

August 25th, 2015 at 6:08 PM ^

what has become my final impression of Brandon:  an ego-driven, meddling, controlling, profit-driven asshole who had little regard for anyone outside of his "circle of trust" which was comprised only of athletes, some ex-athletes, and large donors. 

bronxblue

August 25th, 2015 at 6:12 PM ^

I've given up hope believing Brandon was competent AND that we'll ever get a true story about his time at UM.  He's not going to say anything, and Bacon has a known axe to grind, so any chance (in most cases real) he has to rail on him, he will.