Michigan AD Dave Brandon Had To Go
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sport
So as everyone already knows by now, University of Michigan‘s AD Dave Brandon has resigned. And to be frank, unless you lived under a rock for the past three months you saw this coming. The writing was on the wall soon after quarterback Shane Morris was allowed back onto the field against the University of Minnesota. That issue was the cherry on top of what is an embarrassing season the Wolverines are having, and everyone knew that changes were coming for the Wolverines. Brandon’s stepping down just expedited that, and in his eyes, helped him save face. However Brandon has left a legacy at UM that really can’t be forgotten.
At least in the terms of the football team, Brandon made two huge mistakes both of which cost him his job. The first was raising ticket prices for students. As I wrote in a past article, I thought this was a terrible idea. The biggest of course in terms of the Michigan students was the fact that they simply could not afford tickets anymore. And that’s really disgusting, isn’t it? When you think of college football, isn’t the first thing that comes to mind pride? Pride for your team, pride for your school; you feel pride because these aren’t some big-time athletes that live in mansions in secluded areas that you only get to see on TV; these are classmates, people you live maybe two floors down from. And by charging the higher ticket prices, Brandon turned the culture in the Big House into a circus and a place where only people with established jobs and students who didn’t need financial aid went.
The next and most obvious reason was the hiring of head coach Brady Hoke. Sure things were peachy his first year there, as the team went 11-2. However, it’s been obvious watching this team over the last couple of years that they were not heading in the right direction as the losses began to mount. Then this year the bottom fell out, and now Michigan looks softer than when Appalachian State University beat them.
Although it’s only Halloween, it must be feeling like Christmas for Michigan faithful. And after a season like this, a retooling that is sure to follow is the only thing this fanbase can really look forward to.
Alasdair Thornton is a Big Ten writer for RantSports. Message him on Twitter at @AlasdairThornto, or on Facebook.
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