Hanging Onto Brandon Gives Michigan the Best Chance At Harbaugh For Next Season--Sam Webb

Submitted by gremlin on

See link for exact language:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=162&f=1088&t=13280630

The gist is that it would take too long to fire Brandon, bring in a new AD, and then hire a new football coach.  So if we want a chance Harbaugh next season, we should want Brandon to remain AD at least through the football coach hiring process.

MayOhioEatTurds

October 21st, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^

Sam Webb is right about a whole lot of things, but on this one he's wrong.

First, Brandon had the power to name a Harbaugh as HC not many years ago.  He failed to do so then--why would he choose to do so now?

Second, by all accounts Harbaughs don't want to work under Brandon.  So even if Brandon tried to land a Harbaugh now, he'd likely fail. 

Third, all signs point to an (eventual) termination of Brandon's tenure.  Perhaps after the season.  That's a tenuous position for a new coach. 

Fourth, even if Webb were right--even if terminating Brandon now meant missing out on a Harbaugh--I'd say fine.  We need a new AD. 

There are other coaches out there, and once a new AD has been installed the football HC job will be more attractive to many of them. 

Especially to Harbaughs. 

caup

October 22nd, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^

Are you honestly saying you won't accept Jim Harbaugh with an obviously humbled Brandon as AD.

You are either an idiot or your level of spite scares me.

Give me a break. I would tolerate George Blaha as AD if it brings Jim Harbuagh home. 

tjking82

October 22nd, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^

Agreed.

However, I think the bigger point, and the one I agree with, is that Brandon and Jimmy could never coexist.  Sam Webb is thinking of the timelines, which is fair; maybe Jimmy won't be available if we fire DB at end of season and have to get a new AD who has to fire Hoke and start looking late.  However, I think Sam Webb is missing the bigger picture - Harbaughs don't like David Brandon.  Indeed, Scout's own inside sources indicate that DB felt he had a "gentleman's agreement" with Harbaugh to take the job in the middle of RRod's last season, and when Harbaugh became a hot commodity and faced all kinds of interest, DB expected him to stick with the "gentleman's agreement" and refused to negotiate for Harbaugh's services.  To a guy with an ego like Jim, that looks an awful lot like DB refusing to recognize his value.

I'd take DB if it meant getting Jimmy.  But I REALLY don't think DB would go after Harbaugh.  I think our best chance is if we fire DB ASAP and call Jimmy and say "we did this so you could come" it would appeal to his ego quite a bit and give us a great chance to bring him home.

TESOE

October 22nd, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^

Nothing personal but this is dumb.

Brandon is contained by the public and administrative opprobrium.  He is gone at the end of his contract or sooner.  The coaching job needs to be filled now.  The search is on.  Brandon is not bigger than CC.

I don't go to games to see the AD.  Ultimately it is not a money issue for me going to or watching Michigan sports.  It's a love of Michigan.  If Brandon stays to enable a better experience for the athletes and outcome for the school in the long run - so be it.

Brandon is not the devil.  He has screwed up.  He has done some things well.  As a school we are 3M into him.  Change the coach that is the priority.

 

wolverine1987

October 22nd, 2014 at 2:40 PM ^

There is only ONE coaching candidate that is a guarantee--a lock, to return M to the level we all want, and that is Jim Harbaugh. There may be other good candidates out there, but there is only one lock for success. All of them, whether it's John Harbaugh or any of the other candidates, have flaws that raise questions--they may end of being wildly successful, but as we look at them now, only one candidate is a sure thing. And since it is true that he is a sure thing, to hypothetically lose out on Jim Harbaugh so that fans can fire Brandon a few MONTHS sooner is the ultimate self-defeating action, it is spite over sense. It makes no sense at all.

willywill9

October 22nd, 2014 at 5:44 PM ^

I've seen you make this case a couple of times.  While I don't necessarily disagree, I'd like to inject one potential question: Do you not think that JH is so polarizing of an individual that he could eventually piss off former players and other folks and then add to this weird tension within the Michigan community?

UMgradMSUdad

October 21st, 2014 at 11:26 PM ^

First, ADs, even at Michigan, don't have the power to just name their coaches. If Brandon had that power, he should have just named Saban coach and been done with it. Harbaugh had his eyes set on an NFL HC job.  He wasn't coming to Michigan in 2011 whether Brandon or anyone else was AD.

Second, by "all accounts" don't you really just mean Bacon and people who are repeating what he claims?  Is that really "by all accounts"?

3rd. I really don't think if Harbaugh were hired his position would be any more or less tenuous no matter what Brandon's status is.  If Harbaugh were to be hired at Michigan and have any success at all, he would be in a position like Tressel was with the OSU AD (who seemed to be only half joking when responding to a question about firing Tressel, saying he worried more about Tressel firing him).

umchicago

October 22nd, 2014 at 1:16 AM ^

1. it was osu's president that said he was worried about tressel firing him.  that's what a joke that school is.

2. it is obvious that brandon wants top billing at all costs.  i've never seen an AD look for more media exposure than him.  he was there cutting down the nets for the final four a few years ago.  what a joke.  

3. he watches football game fiilm with the coaches.  again what a joke.

what coach worth his salt would want to deal with any of that BS.

justingoblue

October 21st, 2014 at 10:12 PM ^

Here's a link to the actual policy. I'll quote Brian's bullets from the link.

  • You might as well relate the gist of some paywalled content. It'll come out anyway.
  • Do not C&P. Rephrase.
  • Don't relate every last detail. Leave the paywalled content some value. In this case, "it looks good for Dee Hart and we should be getting good news relatively soon" would probably work.
  • If you do so, provide a link. Don't just say "Site X says." The link will draw some traffic, may spur conversions, and will help the site with search engine rankings.

alum96

October 21st, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^

Well if that is the reasoning it is poor reasoning.  Per multiple "smoke signs" feelers are already out to Bates and Manual.  So if those 2 have feelers one can assume Long has had the same ones.  That happened 2 weeks ago per these smoke signs.  The end of Nov is when the season ends.  Specific to Jim Harbaugh he is not leaving his team mid season.  So he is playing until first week of January.  So that's 5 weeks to secure Jim Harbaugh - unless he gets into the playoffs in which time it is more weeks.

It is not that difficult to throw an empty check on a table and say "come to Michigan". 

Wolverine 73

October 22nd, 2014 at 10:09 AM ^

Brandon can be fired tomorrow.  A new AD can be hired at any time--you don't have to wait until the football season ends.  So fire Brandon, find and hire a new AD over the next six weeks, and he will be in position to hire a coach as soon as the season ends and changes can be made.  Seems easy.

BlueGoM

October 21st, 2014 at 10:06 PM ^

not everyone has a sub to scout.com man

doesn't this run counter to what's been said?

I thought the current scuttlebutt was Harbaugh wouldn't come here if Brandon was still here.

Yooper

October 21st, 2014 at 10:56 PM ^

This stuff makes me weary. I am going to pull for Michigan in every game on the field and worry about this later. I have enough challenges in real life to come here and witness all the negativity. I love Michigan and Michigan football. I have confidence that the University will get it right over time. All the aggressive negativity and language employed is not worthy of Michigan

Blue in Yarmouth

October 22nd, 2014 at 7:35 AM ^

Like others have said, Sam Webb is pretty plugged in where UM is concerned most of the time but there have been times where he has been wrong, and this is just another of those times. 

For me there are only two reasons this could be the case when you're talking about someone like Sam Webb:

1) He is getting some information that is different from every other sources that has been mentioned and Jim would actually coach under DB. At the same time he is also missing the fact that there is plenty of time for UM to hire a new AD and contact JH prior to the 49ers season ending and the feeding frenzy ensuing.

2) Sam Webb is smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds him and is, with some prompting from the inside, going to bat for DB and in so doing trying to quell the storm that surrounds him right now.

He could be doing this for selfless reasons i.e. he genuinely likes DB and wants him to stay on or for selfish reasons like wanting to keep his contacts within the AD. Either way I think I know which scenario I believe is playing out here.

turd ferguson

October 22nd, 2014 at 9:36 AM ^

Also think about the level at which Sam is likely plugged in.  He's plugged into the coaching staff and maybe some folks in the athletic department more generally.  He's almost certainly not plugged in to the president's office, the regents, etc.  They're the ones who best understand what's going on here, and it seems very unlikely to me that Sam has his ear in on those conversations.  He might hear about what the coaches are chatting about, but even that could be completely detached from what the actual decision-makers are thinking.

alum96

October 21st, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^

I respect Sam's insider take but this makes little sense. 

Dave Brandon sitting in on a Jim Harbaugh film session... oh wow.  No wait, word is Brandon watches the film sessions on Sundays with the 2 coordinators without the coach present.  So let me rephrase that. 

Dave Brandon sitting in on Jim Harbaugh's coordinators film sessions.... oh wow.

gremlin

October 21st, 2014 at 10:11 PM ^

I really don't think Jim would allow Dave to sit in on his film sessions.  Jim is a pretty passionate man, so I would expect he would tell Dave to GTFO.  And given that Dave is on the hot seat, I'm sure he would comply.  

Additionally, JB has no problem whatsoever coaching with Dave as AD.  It's not like big name coaches won't coach here because he is AD.  We have two already doing so.

Real question is whether or not Dave could actually make the hire.