What Dave Brandon Changes Do You Want to Get Rid of After He Is Gone?
October 16th, 2014 at 10:24 PM ^
Don't pipe in music over the band, answer emails like an adult and not a cranky 13-year-old, switch to Nike after the Adidas contact runs out, and keep prices reasonable for students. Beyond that, I'd be surprised if we see most other changes.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:28 PM ^
A few people sort of stole my thunder here, but on a broad level, I would like to see the department come to Earth a bit and be just a little more accessible in the sense of being a bit more affordable and a bit more interconnected with the university. I get the whole need to remain in the black and to carry on with the things that make our athletic department such an expansive endeavor, but there must be a way to do it without becoming what it has become.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:39 PM ^
Yes, it got way out of balance. To paraphrase Schliss, being a profit center is not the mission statement of the athletic department.
Yes it has to make money to cover lots of expenses, but it got to be about more about that than anything else, in a "mine is bigger than your's" way.
If you can't make the money you need without destroying the sense of community at Michigan and pitting one faction against another, then dial back your expenses and phase some stuff in over time.
October 17th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
I remember when you could just walk into Michigan stadium if you felt like it. Then DB came in and shut it off from public access.
That kinda seems like the overarching metaphor to what DB has done to "Fort Schembechler" since taking over.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:29 PM ^
The band can be heard. Other schools are able to figure it out it can't be that difficult.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:40 PM ^
And vodka in water bottles too. What were they thinking??
October 16th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
October 16th, 2014 at 10:41 PM ^
What exactly is Chobani anyway?
October 16th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
Part of Dave Brandon's vision in partnership with IMG College.
Chobani will increase its presence and products to students and fans by leveraging IMG College's access to school decision makers and its partner schools' intellectual property on campus, in local retail locations, food service, at athletic facilities and more. In addition, students will enjoy Chobani during on-campus health clinics, community events, and athletic training events.
October 16th, 2014 at 11:03 PM ^
". . . by leveraging IMG College's access to school decision makers and its partner schools' intellectual property on campus"
WTF does that mean? Is that before or after the Retail Activation?
October 16th, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^
I have an MBA and I have no fucking clue. I think it means "we're gonna sell yogurt."
You can tell it was written by some dipshit who thinks his (or her) use of fancy words makes it important. I mean....
Chobani will increase its presence and products to students and fans
I do writing Englishes now?
October 17th, 2014 at 8:46 AM ^
The best line you've ever written, hands down.
And you're absolutely right in your point -- the sentence you specifically highlighted translates to "we're going to sell more yogurt by being available in more places that students EAT yogurt, and we're also going to give them more opportunities to do so."
But, you don't need an MBA (or even and "Englishes" degree) to write that.
I guess you've got to earn your keep somehow....
October 17th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
swear to whatever that Brandon looks like a corporate Austin Powers in that pix
October 16th, 2014 at 10:31 PM ^
A lot of what I care about is covered, but I'd definitely like to see the department staff pared down to what it was pre-DB's unrelenting marketing blitzkrieg. Hire back some of the folks DB forced out to recover institutional memory. Remake it an Athletic Department of experienced professionals in athletics administration instead of rows of cubicles filled with twenty-something freshly-minted MBAs trying to find ways to fix things that already worked.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
If it is true that Falk was pushed out, I would love to see him come back.
October 16th, 2014 at 11:16 PM ^
Without giving away too much, I had a long conversation with someone in a position to know these things last weekend, and your suspicion is unfortunately correct. That being said, I've also heard he's enjoying his retirement, even if it didn't come exactly when he wanted it to.
October 16th, 2014 at 11:24 PM ^
October 17th, 2014 at 8:18 AM ^
Not for nothing but, where do you get this from? I'd genuinely like to find out more about this JB thing... it sounds too crazy to believe.
October 17th, 2014 at 9:01 AM ^
I'd like to hear some more background on this as well. If someone is going to make a statement like that, they should give more background on why we should believe it.
October 17th, 2014 at 9:47 AM ^
I don't believe that about Beilein. Everything I've heard suggests Brandon was always in his corner. He could have fired him during the 2010 offseason (after the 15-17 season) but instead publicly came to his defense ("If I were to fire John Beilein, I'd have to find another coach just like him" - paraphrased).
October 17th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^
October 16th, 2014 at 11:28 PM ^
Maybe he can come back in some capacity that suits him. The man is an institution.
He is a little rough around the edges, but assuming he did not do something blatently wrong, it makes no sense to push him out.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:34 PM ^
A hand-written letter to every season ticket holder that dropped their tickets in the last three years and offer them seats as close to where they were with a three-year pro-rated PSD. 0% the first season back, 25% for the second and 50% the third. Then going up 5% per year until up to 75% and then frozen for life.
Get rid of the some games worth more than others crap. Cut all PSD's down 25% until team wins a B1G Champtionship and don't raise them again until they win a National Championship
Put the "retired numbers at the base of the sky boxes for eberypne to see in big Bold Maize lettering and put the players in normal numbers again.
Take out all advertising in the concourses and drop the prices of every concession by $1. $2 in the case of the pizza.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:35 PM ^
The MMB has never been seated in the endzone. Like, ever.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^
if not, my bad. Anyway, putting the band in the endzone would make them easier to hear throughout the stadium wouldn't it?
October 16th, 2014 at 11:19 PM ^
October 16th, 2014 at 10:39 PM ^
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October 16th, 2014 at 10:47 PM ^
I like the idea about the retired numbers.
The legends intent is nice, but I just don't think it works that well. You get QB's with #98, and you get players that are just starting to get recognized for "their" number losing that number. It would have been a crime if Denard was anything other than #16 while he was here.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:49 PM ^
October 17th, 2014 at 12:01 AM ^
Seat thing should be across sports.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
ostensibly a fresh way to honor the greats, but in reality another money grab. Not to mention, D. Gardner's play, as much as I love the kid, hasn't been anywhere near the level of Tom Harmon.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^
October 16th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^
That's cold.
October 16th, 2014 at 11:12 PM ^
October 17th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
October 16th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ^
he should give the 98 jersey back.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
Stop with the tacky, childish displays of trolling by writing Go Blue over rival's stadiums. It's just childish and a waste of money.
Lower football ticket prices.
Stay out of film sessions.
Make sure the band can be heard loud and clear throughout the stadium. Not blasting Beyoncé.
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October 17th, 2014 at 1:03 AM ^
Michigan is about tradition fergoshsakes, and if the MMB wasn't Mic'd up in 1927, there is no reason to mic it up now.
Roll back coaching and staff salaries. It should be an honor and privilege to coach at Michigan, not a scratch off lottery win.
October 17th, 2014 at 5:22 AM ^
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October 17th, 2014 at 10:34 PM ^
OK- serious question- why the complaints about mic'd up marching bands? Does it affect how it sounds? If you have woodwinds I guarantee they will not project into the stands like the rest of the band. The big house is - big. What is the issue here? can someone elaborate?
October 17th, 2014 at 10:56 PM ^
The issue (at least if you're not some kind of music purist) isn't so much the miking of the band as it is where the speakers are. If you put the sound through speakers that are all around the stadium, then people farther away from the band will hear the sound from the speakers first, then the sound directly from the band.
Someone, I don't know who, said the solution was to have the band sound go through speakers that are near them, so you don't have the issue of widely different points of origin.
October 17th, 2014 at 11:05 PM ^
That makes sense- sort of a delay layered sound- this would be irritating. Like being in a bad music hall.
I have always heard that the acoustics weren't that good at the big house. That the shallow slope of the seating causes the crowd noise to go up rather than on the field. This would work in reverse also i guess with the band noise going more up than into the stands.
October 17th, 2014 at 11:23 PM ^
With the shallow, wide bowl, the structure does not help reflect sound down to the field, and also people are further away from the field as you go up compared to a steep bowl, where the sound is more contained, and people high up aren't as far away from the field.
The luxury boxes from the remodel made it louder, as they provide more surface to reflect sound back.
October 17th, 2014 at 8:41 AM ^
Everyone here tell me, that if they were Michigan's AD they wouldn't be hanging around football like a kid in a candy store ....
Personally, I am a manage by walking around type, and since one of the main reasons we hired Dave Brandon was to figure out what's going wrong in football and fix it, it makes sense to me that he has spent time personally finding out what is going on in football. Even if it didn't need fixing, if that is your management style, and football is the # sport, you would spend more of your time understanding that than say women's rowing.
As for film sessions - the coaches have been under fire for a year now - and before that occasionally pitched some stinkers. I would want the perspective of what went wrong from the film sessions. So, I am OK with that, as long as he's not directing coaching decisions: "well, customer research shows low confidence in Devin, and there is a strong consumer propensity to want Shane in at QB, so lets play Shane for all of the Minnesota game and see if that drives more average revenue per customer".
Then again - if he watched the DVR'ed television broadcast first, and saw what we saw (a horrible, un-Michigan football performance) - maybe he would understand his customer better.
Also, for a guy who is all so worried about competing with my family room sofa, he sure has jacked the game day expense up high enough to drive a lot of fans to the competition.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:49 PM ^
Should have the quiet confidence to hire a football coach that is bigger than him and the face of our athletic program.
October 16th, 2014 at 10:54 PM ^
I want nothing left of the corporate yes man culture he's created
October 16th, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^
i want people to stop breaking things when they aren't broken.
October 16th, 2014 at 11:14 PM ^