"Not a penny will be given until this is resolved"

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Brian just tweeted this....interesting article from Scout. 

According to the Daily, Kaplan’s effort is being funded by “a generous donor.”  The willingness of donors to voice their displeasure appears to be on the rise. As was mentioned on GoBlueWolverine two weeks ago, there are high ranking donors that have voiced their feelings to Schlissel during meetings over the last few months. Now comes word that some donors are planning to speak with their checkbooks.

“(Schlissel) has been told that not another penny will be given until this is resolved,” a source told GoBlueWolverine on the condition of anonymity.

http://michigan.scout.com/story/1474305-major-developments-could-speed-u-m-timeline

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Stephen Y

October 29th, 2014 at 1:44 AM ^

Really curious... What happens if let's say we hire someone now, but not fire Brandon until next year? So technically he would still be the athletic director, but his duties would be assumed by the new guy. Could we get around the big buyout?

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Nardudeski

October 29th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^

Has there ever been such a ridiculous dynamic between an AD, the coach, and fans? I can't even recall a comparable situation. The only thing that parallels this that comes to mind on just a "wtf" level is Lane Kiffin leaving Tennessee like it was Vietnam. 

Joined: 11/26/2011

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Bill in Birmingham

October 29th, 2014 at 9:55 AM ^

I get your point, but in some ways this is worse. In a sense, the Kiffin situation united UT...as much bad as they had gone through they were uinted in their hatred of one Lane Kiffin. In this case, there are so many issues (Brandon being at the very least a micromanaging interpersonal asshole, Hoke a clueless incompetent, an entire program that was once respected for being the top of the heap when it came to stability and being well run and on and on) that this seems worse. Most of the country actually felt some level of sympathy for UT (difficult given its frequently onoxious fan base) because what Kiffin did was so over the top sleazy. We are basically becoming a universal laughing stock.

Joined: 08/30/2008

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alanmfrench

October 29th, 2014 at 1:56 AM ^

At this point I think it is fair to say that Mr. Brandon is very much an elitist and it gives me so much joy to think of how absolutely furious he must be right now to see so much exploding in his face. You made your bed buddy...sleep tight.

Joined: 06/23/2010

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IncrediblySTIFF

October 29th, 2014 at 2:01 AM ^

I want to play the devil's advocate here and say: resolved =\= Brandon fired, but thinking in it today I want to change my tune. yeah, eff this guy, he is not likable(regardless of his effectiveness)

Joined: 03/26/2011

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CompleteLunacy

October 29th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^

We have punch and pie.

But seriously, an AD should never get this much attention from a fan base. If he's doing his job right nobody would be talking about him at all. Like the offensive line.

Some have said that if we were winning it would be different...which is so much "duh" to me...but we've been complaining about Brandon basically since the process. Shoot, as a former band member, my #1 grief with Brandon was the MMB-to-Dallas crap that got blamed on a "miscommunication" even though he never actually talked to the band director once. And that was coming off the heels of a BCS bowl win! So yeah, eff that guy.

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IncrediblySTIFF

October 29th, 2014 at 10:29 AM ^

Thanks.  Its good to be here.  I totally burned a crap ton of mgopoints trying to play the otherside, and look at this as an outsider.  At the end of the day, if firing Dave Brandon puts the focus back on football then that is as good a reason as any for me.  Also, I do agree that there really is no place for any response to these emails other than a generic "thank you for your input, go blue!" 

Joined: 03/26/2011

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alum96

October 29th, 2014 at 5:25 AM ^

I know a lot of people dont take Henson seriously but he is usually directionally correct even if he embellishes.  (nailed the Hoke hire, nailed the letter sent by former players eve if he embellished what was in it)  He said Brandon was asked to resign and refused.  And I have no doubt if asked he would do what is best for Dave and not the University.  For a multi millionaire with plenty of stock options still out there I wonder if this extra $3-4M is going to be worth it for the raking over coals. 

But he is a very wealthy man and is holding back things at the University.  All this smoke from numerous articles show his support is gone yet he hangs on just to get the bucks.  Sad state of affairs.

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MileHighWolverine

October 29th, 2014 at 8:22 AM ^

If he stays for pride, he is even more tone deaf than I ever imagined.The longer he stays and things come out about him like how big an asshole he is, the worse it gets for him reputationally. Got to believe reputation means something to him because at this rate, by the time he is let go, he won't be able to show his face in Ann Arbor and he has spent most of his adult in and around the area. The longer this goes, the higher the chance he becomes an outcast. 

Talk about a demoralizing blow.

Joined: 09/02/2008

MGoPoints: 7748

Mr. Yost

October 29th, 2014 at 5:44 AM ^

Yesterday when Brian dropped his bombshell I said that I give it a week. Would not be surprised if this is done Friday.

Brandon is done at Michigan, no question. It's just a matter of when. Can he survive the football season and limit the media storm?

Ideally, you'd play the OSU game, fire Brandon. Have your search and hire someone within 2-3 weeks. Have that person come in and fire Hoke sometime around Dec. 27th. Hire a new coach the first week of Jan. immediately after bowl season and after the NFL regular season. Ideally, Monday, Jan 5th.

This could expedite the AD timeline as there is no real reason not to fire Brandon now. Hoke, yes...because you need to stall on hiring a new coach and you can't go over 2 months without a head coach. That's ridiculous on so many levels. And AD can certainly go now. The new AD would just get stuck saying "we'll evaluate all coaching performances, including that of Coach Hoke, until after the season." Which basically means "I need more time."

However, that excuse doesn't work in the beginning of Decemeber, in which he's just a lame duck coach. You'd HAVE to fire him after the OSU game. And you don't want to go over a month without a coach either.

THIS is why you try like hell to keep Brandon until after the OSU game, it holds your timeline. But like everything else, Brandon is doing his best to fuck up our plans.

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michgoblue

October 29th, 2014 at 7:28 AM ^

But I will answer. Hoke is broken as a coach. His team's have drastically regressed in almost every phase of the game. Our games have turned into 3 hours of announcers talking about how something is wrong with Michigan football. Our W-L record is pathetic and trending down. And, he has lost the ability to Recruit at this point. He FANBASE has completely stopped caring. I haven't missed a single televised minute of Michigan football since 1994 and this weekend I will not be watching the game (basically because I don't want to root against our team but I cannot root for anything that increases the chance that hoke survives). He is basically a lame duck.

At this point, a risk that has a good chance of success is worth it as what we have now just isn't working. Who would I look at? The OC from Ohio State, Herman, looks like a good candidate. Ditto Austin (Lions).

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MileHighWolverine

October 29th, 2014 at 8:19 AM ^

I echo your statements....virtually any candidate would be better than Hoke because at least they would be a Hopeful candidate. We know Hoke is a bad coach, let's at least take a chance on a new guy to be "not a bad coach" and see if we can salvage a recruiting class or two.

I would assume the agents of any ambitious coach (which is all of them) would be ringing up the University right now letting them know their client is available. I'll bet there are more names available than we would think and I have to believe most of them could do a better job than Hoke.

At least I hope anyway....

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Ghost of Fritz…

October 29th, 2014 at 8:17 AM ^

I like your timeline. 

But are there contract or other practical issues that might interfere?

Do the possible AD candidates (Manuel, Bates, etc.) have contracts that would have to be bought out by Michigan?  Or do AD contracts generally permit an AD to resign at will in order to take another job?

Also, is it just as unseemly for an AD candidate to leave his current AD job to take the Michigan job before his team has played in its bowl game as it would be for a head coach to do the same?

Also, for the AD replacement time line, does federal or state law, or University of Michigan policy, have some rule that requires that jobs be publicly posted for some period before a hire is made? 

I know this sort of requirement exists for certain public jobs generally, I just don't know if it is federal or state law, or if it would apply to the AD position.  If so, it might require that the job not be filled until the public job posting period has passed.  That would mean Brandon would have to be fired sooner to get the public posting up and start the clock running. 

I don't ask these questions rhetorically.  I really have no idea what the answers are.  I am just wondering if there are practial problems that might make it difficult to fire Brandon in early December an have his replacement named within 10 days. 

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lbpeley

October 29th, 2014 at 8:31 AM ^

I'm not getting the "after OSU game" timeline. I'd say ideally they both get canned after our loss this Saturday. Name Nuss interim coach, do whatever it is one would do to fill the AD void, and start looking for a new candidate Sunday. Obviously it wouldn't be a public search but start putting feelers out there. Why wait?
 

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Bill in Birmingham

October 29th, 2014 at 9:45 AM ^

Another poster said it earlier, but I sincerely hope that these threats are clearly in the context of athletic department money only. It makes me sick that a large number of the citizens in the state in which I live only gives a damn about the athletic (specifically football) performance of its two major universities. I hope and believe that the supporters of the University of Michigan (even rabid football fans like those of us who frequent this site) will never put the quality of the football team over the quality of the academic inistitution, including how we "vote" with our financial resources. And to be clear, if these threats are clearly made in the context of the athletic department only, I support them and only wish I had the resources to be part of that movement.

Joined: 08/30/2008

MGoPoints: 7179

goblue20111

October 29th, 2014 at 12:40 PM ^

Not much a couple hundred is all I can afford as a grad student, I hope I can give more. What's your point? If you're gonna hold the university hostage to your athletic demands what does how much I give have anything to do with how shitty it is to do that and how athletics has come to dictate far too much in colleges overall?


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Ghost of Fritz…

October 29th, 2014 at 7:50 AM ^

[edit: this was meant to be a post in response to the 'aiglick' post above, which wondered if the high expectations of the fan base is part of the problem]. 

"If our dream coach Harbaugh were to go 9-3 the first four years are people happy?"

The fan base would not be 'happy.'  But neither would repeated 9-3 lead to universal calls for a firing.  The fan base would generaly feel the same as during the latter Carr years--that 9-3 is not terrible, but that more is certainly possible. 

I don't think that this makes the fan base the problem or even a major part of the problem. 

There are a short list of blue blood football schools that have very long winning traditions.  They have the history, facilities, money, national reputation, etc., that gives an real advantge in recruiting. 

It really is not unreasonable for the fan bases of schools like Michigan to set a high standard--that in about 2/3rd of the seasons the football team will be in the hunt for a conference championship in the 2d half of November, plus be competive in the rivalry games. 

This standard would be unreasonable for most schools, but is not unreasonable for schools like Michigan, OSU, USC, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, etc.  Any coach hired by these schools knows the standard and expectation.  And if they are not even close by year 4, they know that a dismissal is likely. 

There are, in fact, several coaches out there that will want to come to Michigan that can meet this standard, or at least reach this standard by year 4.  The only difficulty is predicting which of the the current HC names that have been discussed can do it. 

Is it Mullen?  Graham?  Jones?  Etc.? 

Jim Harbaugh, and Les Miles (just based on the fact that he has produced strong results at Ok. State and LSU over a long period), seem to the the safest bets to meet the standard by year 4 and beyond.  But there are plenty of coaches/staffs that could do it besides Harbaugh or Miles.  

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evenyoubrutus

October 29th, 2014 at 8:54 AM ^

I can't believe this got overlooked:

"One such name rumored to possibly be of interest if change occurs is that of current Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne."

This is our chance to bring Rich Rod back!

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Perkis-Size Me

October 29th, 2014 at 9:04 AM ^

I'm really hoping this donation cutoff is limited to the athletic side of things, which I'd get. But if they're going to make the academics suffer to go along with it, that's just downright pathetic.


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MoJo Rising

October 29th, 2014 at 9:20 AM ^

Come on man! The school isn't going to suffer just because a few donors won't give money until this is resolved. Were you trying to sleep off your hangovers in Econ 303, University Planning and Budgets when they discussed how University budget themselves? The only ones that are going to be aggitated are the Pres, his staff and regents to know they won't be stroking checks worthy millions of dollars as immediately as they thought they would. It will all work out in the end. 

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