That's true. Not paying coaches enough isn't the problem anyway.
...how about not wanting Dave Brandon choosing and negotiating with our next coach? Is that a bandwagon anyone else can get on. Although the new President might be ready to go U of Chicago on our football program for all we know...put Duderstadt in charge of athletics or something like that.
I just don't see anyone seriously doing anything that would impair the long run or short run profitability of Michigan football. There's probably a more recent measure, but according to
this Forbes article from last year, in '11-'12 Michigan football brought in $85MM (2nd highest out there) against football-related expenses of $23MM. That's ~$62MM dollars of profit (!?), and the next time someone in America
intentionally tries to reduce the profitability of something that big, it will be the first.
When schools de-emphasized athletics in the past, as the Ivies did, and UChicago, I would seriously doubt they were anywhere near that amount, either in nominal terms, or relative to the rest of their budgets. Nor did they have so many other people so invested in them, like the BTN, the NCAA & Bowls, and boosters.
I've wondered this too. Does Schlissel's recent arrival (and minimal experience with major college athletics) afford Brandon an extra year or two? Or do the Regents make that decision? What kind of precedent is there here for firing an AD?
I wish the asshole would just resign. Brady has a little more time to turn things around (I'm not optimistic at all, btw), but Brandon should go yesterday.
I think Brandon would have another year regardless, but Schlissel doesn't seem ready to make a move, nor does he seem to want to (see quote & next comment).
Yes a chicago bschool grad got distinguished alumni award and is lists as turning dominos around
Schlissel has more academic things to start with plus CFO of university
Regents can probably force it but I don't see them doing that to a former regent
I think Brandon has another year
I agree. he seems smart enough to realize wading into athletics as a first order of business is not a wise move for him, or maybe any university president. All you could possibly do is generate negative press from sports fans/press & at the same time lose the respect of the faculty for seeming to focus on athletics over academics.
to my knowledge, the only public comments we have from Schlissel about football were him sidestepping the fireworks issue, saying he was happy to leave it up to the regents because he was too new.
There is
this quote though:
"The day after the vote, incoming President Mark Schlissel told a reporter that, being new, he had no opinion on the matter. He made it a point to tell the faithful he appreciates just how important athletics are to the university culture, but he added, 'We're an academic institution, so I want to work on the appropriate balance between athletics and academics ... The athletic director does have delegated responsibilities, but he works for me.'"
reading between the lines, that means he doesn't care about athletics unless it starts to affect University business (i.e. take up the Regents' time) and that's a clear message to Brandon to knock off the Disneyfication of the football program & athletics, or whatever else he may do that would rock the boat.
