August 24th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
As a glutton for punishment, I cannot wait to read this
August 24th, 2015 at 11:45 AM ^
But honestly, it can't be as bad as actually sitting in the stadium during so many of those horrible games over the last 7 years, as many of us did - can it?
August 24th, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
I can't wait to read this book and watch Harbaugh take the team from a dumpster fire to the proverbial Phoenix rising from the ashes.
August 24th, 2015 at 12:58 PM ^
As a glutton for punishment, I cannot wait to read this.
I think this will be a very easy read, that is, not punishing at all. Because it all comes out right in the end. The RR book was excellent and fascinating but I was really, really pulling for RR to succeed here, it didn't happen, and the book was full of optimism that was tough to take because you knew it didn't end well. This one will be way easier to digest.
Put another way, the good guys lose in Three and Out, but the bad guy loses in Endzone.
August 24th, 2015 at 11:35 AM ^
Does this book just focus on the Dave Brandon era? Because the decline of Michigan football extends back into the late Carr years at least.
August 24th, 2015 at 11:37 AM ^
This isn't Bacon's first book
August 24th, 2015 at 11:56 AM ^
That was a book focused on the RIchRod years without much analysis or insight into what was a long term trend.
August 24th, 2015 at 1:10 PM ^
There's a lot of backgroun in Part I that starts before 2010, so I think that will answer some of the concerns?
August 24th, 2015 at 11:47 AM ^
Yeah, can't wait to read the whole thing.
August 24th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^
"The most difficult part of Endzone, in my estimation, is resolving the dichotomy between the student-athlete support for David Brandon (built on the notion that he viewed them as his core constituency, which may have been an admirable choice, but not necessarily the wisest course of action) and his seeming hand-waving dismissals of the non-athlete students, the alumni, and fans."
Super interested to read about this. Brandon did have a good emphasis and respect for non-revenue sports. Which, is and was a good thing. However, he was so irresponsibly stupid about his treatment of the fanbase, and his handling of the biggest sports team, that it made his support of non-revenue sports part of the problem. (spent boatloads of money on them that he squeezed out of the fanbase; spending more is a great goal, but you can only do it if the incoming money is coming from a sustainable business model, clearly it wasn't).
I always had a hard time last fall between the respect we should have for the athletes, but also the student-athletes' incredibly myopic view of the situation. He was basically buying their "votes". The worst part of Brandon (and Hoke did this as well) was making it us (the AD) vs them (students, alumni, fans, the media). This is a team environment and towards the end Brandon and Hoke purposefully widened the gap as a self-defense mechanism and that is the one thing I could never, ever forgive. On a similar note, their (especially Hoke's) emphasis on treating college athletes as "kids" always enraged me. Every part of college, especially at a presitgious school like the University of Michigan, is about becoming and acting like adults, and they treated players as children who needed coddling. Maybe it's because I'm the same age as the student athletes, but I find that ridiculous. This isn't high school.
August 24th, 2015 at 2:11 PM ^
The bottom line here is that ministering to the needs of the student-athletes as well as trying to meet the needs and expectations of the alumni and the fans are all part of the Athletic Directors job, and they aren't mutualy exclusive. If you can't do both in a balanced fashion, then maybe being the Athletic Director for a major college sports program isn't for you.
Bill Martin did a decent job of giving attention to the non-revenue sports as well. The first facility upgrade he made when he took over was the baseball / softball complex. He had to know that investment would never be fully paid for by those respective programs, but he did it anyway because it was necessary.
August 24th, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
is an explanation for the love UM's athletes had for Brandon--he pumped a buttload of money into every program: I would be appreciative, too. What they saw, as you point out, was the fruits of a process initiated by Martin. But yes he did do that and yes the other sports did profit, and will continue to.
August 24th, 2015 at 3:12 PM ^
As we heard the student athletes supported Dave Brandon but the next home game after the Minnesota debacle my tailgate in the Blue Lot put up two signs on our canopy.
One read "Fire Brandon" the other one read "We Support the Players."
During that tailgate we had multiple non-revenue athletes come up to us and thank us for the support and really appreciated the sign. Through their tone and demeanor I took every one of their comments as they weren't happy with Brandon either but they couldn't say that.
This is just what I took away from it. I am sure there were plenty athletes that supported Brandon but I am sure there were quite a few that didn't care either way or understood the fan bases' issues.
Just thought I would throw this out there.
August 24th, 2015 at 12:24 PM ^
August 24th, 2015 at 12:46 PM ^
"Going for Two, up by 20" Jim Harbaugh and Michigan's 16th straight National Title
August 24th, 2015 at 2:23 PM ^
I was looking for it but didn't see it. There was one person that complimented Bacon as the best Michigan Man out there.
I actually agree we don't have a similar writer, was looking to see who my kindred spirit over at 11W is. Jack Park is a great resource for us, but more from a trivia persective and not the reflective style that Bacon has. Of course, we don't hate ourselves as much as you guys do. :) A Bacon style book on the Cooper years would be interesting to some of us. In some ways he was our RichRod. He was an outsider, he was going to modernize how we played the game, etc. He also had a bit of an accent and did rub some folks here the wrong way early on. Some of his endorsement choices, etc. It was also a different time, so he was given more time to get things going. He did that to some extent, though 2-10-1 and poor bowl perfomances, etc ended up him being a failure in the eyes of many Buckeyes.
August 24th, 2015 at 4:06 PM ^
The firing of Earle Bruce and the hiring of John Cooper forever severed my mom's love of the Buckeyes. She was an Ohio transplant from the age of 15 (moving from Tennessee) and idolized Woody Hayes.
In 1989 during a family vacation, we met an older guy/alum from Columbus who tried to convince my mom that firing Coach Bruce was the best thing for Ohio State. She would have none of it and talked of the whole affair as a traitorous act.
When Cooper eventually got fired himself, I'm not sure, but I may have seen a twinkle in her eye....
August 24th, 2015 at 1:19 PM ^
but would love to hear from any TRU employees on any changes Brandon has made.
August 24th, 2015 at 7:39 PM ^
August 24th, 2015 at 4:43 PM ^
One of the things that struck me as I read this is that I am not sure there would be an audience for a book like this among many college football fan bases. Bacon has acknowledged repeatedly, in previous books and on Twitter, one of the fundamental notions of Michigan fandom: There is a segment of this fan base that isn't happy unless it's unhappy.
There are probably several other fanbases facing similar dilemmas, although to his point, I don't know that they would come together with the sort of characters that ours did and in the sort of moment that ours did. If they are out there, other fanbases may even see different ends to their frustrations, but I can think of a few fanbases that might be interested in the base issues raised.
August 24th, 2015 at 7:24 PM ^
It's written just as well as any of his books, and I am finding it hard to put down. I'm only half way through it, but the crap on DB is... Well... It is extensive. He doesn't come out smelling rosy.
Also, lots of Brian Cook quotes.
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August 24th, 2015 at 7:36 PM ^
How'd you get your hands on a copy?
August 25th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
... and that's the whole story. In this case, it happened to be a guy who happened to have a book he could part with. And I'm thankful.
If you like any of the other books Bacon wrote, you'll like this one. There are parts that are nails on a chalkboard awful (like how Brandon impacted Adidas and then threw them under the bus, breakdowns of the amazing coaches who left, the clearing out of Schembechler Hall, and what they did to students with basketball tickets), but it's still pretty incredible.
All I can say is... Harbaugh! Please be awesome.