Dave Brandon on Attack Each Day podcast

Day of the Beaver. 

 # Tough ain't enough.

The fact that he resigned from Michigan and still goes on a Michigan related podcast leads me to believe he occasionally orders himself some Domino's.

wait, what? Is RR on next week to preview the new season?

If we are entirely honest, 90% of DB’s problems at Michigan really go back to Brady Hoke. The implosion of the football program under Hoke ultimately amplified Brandons negatives and negated his positives. He went from a vaguely dislikable person with a questionable management style to a cartoon villain primarily for that reason.

Dave Brandon did a lot of good things here but he screwed up the most important part of the job. 

He is responsible for the facilities building boom of the 2010s here. He extended Beilein when many wanted him canned, hire Bakich, Dr. Marcelo Leonardi of Water Polo, Mike Bottom as W Swim coach, Chaka Daley of M Soccer that eventually did work out after a bad start. 

Ew.

Was DB responsible for the Car Wash in the football locker room? If so, they should name it after him.

Dave Brandon knows nothing.

FUCK Dave Brandon that duplicitous piece of shit

My take on Brandon has always been that he was both good and bad as an AD and as a person. He is undeniably arrogant. He focused on the bottom line too much at times while running a department that's only partially a business. Anything that relies so much on donations and has to spend its profits is not a true business. Anything that takes in that kind of money has to be run somewhat like a business. He's far from the only AD to struggle with what's clearly a difficult job.

Brandon didn't focus on his own bottom line. He sacrificed a lot of money to take the AD job and he truly cares about the school. I think he was actually a pretty decent AD, not great mind you, with one big exception. He wanted to be way too involved in the football program. I wonder if that would have been different if he hadn't been a former player. In any case, he meddled too much and not too well. You can't be the AD at Michigan and screw up the football program, even with a better personality.

I am confident that if Brandon had stayed as AD, the Big House would not still be (uniquely) free from advertising.

I was at the Barcelona soccer game and they had small, portable video boards ringing the field with ads on them. They were fairly unobtrusive but it was definitely jarring to me. It really highlighted how special our usual ad-free environment is, especially compared to certain stadiums (cough...Spartan Stadium...cough) where every square foot of space seems to be festooned with ads.

In my opinion, his blind nepotism combined with huge salary increases for his hand-picked cronies sticks out the most to me.  It was consistent and clear from the very beginning.  He would fire people who had been in the department for years, were loyal, and were likely underpaid, just because they disagreed with him.  And he would replace them with people who were from barely comparable backgrounds, didn't care if this was Michigan or Ohio State, and for a much higher salary. 

Bacon's last book detailed so, so many of these situations.  Brandon's bully "agree with me or else" attitude did more damage to that department than most other things, in my estimation.  That type of leadership makes me sick.

I do not care to get into the weeds of exactly what Brandon did or not do. Most people are complex and do both good and bad things.

If you were paying any attention at all at the time, you would plainly see that Dave Brandon was (and probably still is) an unpleasant individual who does not deserve much regard or respect.

I am surprised by the number of comments on here trying to either be revisionist or make excuses on his behalf.

For those saying that we should begin to accept him as a former player, AD, regent, alumni, etc., I would be fine with that, but he has to take the first step. Did he apologize for his persistent, offensive behavior on the AED podcast? No?

Then there is no rehabilitation to begin.

Interacted and met with him several times and he definitely bleeds Maize and Blue. Actually, I was there for the last week on his job when he knew he was going down. He had a very different private persona that he never showed. Never really understood that the job wasn't about him and his love for Michigan-- was too forward-facing and acted like it was his fantasy camp. But he fundraised like crazy and spent a ton of money to improve all sports, not just football.

The problem is that he flexed his powers in weird ways and was too corporate when he knew damn well that Michigan was never going to kowtow to corporatization. He was too reachable to some folks, but oddly distant from others. He meddled in stuff that no AD needs to be doing, but let other departments reign unchecked. 

At the end of the day he was a terrible fit for AD, but he still can be a proud Michigan alum. Michigan fans don't need to forgive him, but no need to tapdance on his grave. He's got a boatload of money so he'll be fine, but he loves Michigan and it broke him that he failed so epically. 

How we escaped his tenure without that beautiful football stadium getting tagged with some hollow corporate moniker is beyond me. He was a mediocre AD at a place that does not take well to mediocrity. But, he’s gone, let’s all just move on. 

Is he trying to pitch a mascot? JH needs to stay as far away from him as possible. He’s herpes.