Voters on Tuesday will have a chance to select two candidates for the University of Michigan Board of Regents, serving an eight-year term. While these are partisan positions on the ballot, we do not see them as partisan posts. Because Michigan no longer offers straight-ticket voting you have to go find the candidates and vote for them specifically.

MGoBlog interviewed the four leading candidates: Democratic challengers Jordan Acker and Paul Brown, and Republican incumbents Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew Richner. While the staff of MGoBlog reserve the right to privately (e.g. on Twitter) share whom we'll vote for, this podcast is not an endorsement of any of these candidates, though in full honestly all four candidates would do a fine job serving the university for the next eight years. Even if you are not a voter in the State of Michigan you might find the podcast interesting since it touches on many important issues currently affecting the university (and doesn't really get into any hot-button political issues outside of that).

The candidates were asked the same set of questions. Their interviews have been edited some to remove flubs or to allow the candidates to gather their thoughts. The topics:

• Why did you become/are you seeking to become a regent?
• Tuition control/The Go Blue Guarantee/Full cost of living
• Student housing (if it wasn't covered above)
• The "Dear Colleague" letter, the recent trial, and shaping Michigan's internal sexual assault policy
• Transparency and institutional integrity in the wake of Larry Nassar
• Ethics and the best way to handle investments
• Change one thing about the University of Michigan (but you can't have money for it)

They are presented in the order they were recorded, as follows:

Paul Brown

starts at 2:08

Jordan Acker

starts at 20:52

Andrea Fischer Newman

starts at 54:37

Andrew Richner

starts at 1:13:32

-------------------------------------

Personal Disclosure: Though he was a bit younger than me, I (Seth) know Jordan Acker personally from our youth. To avoid any appearance of favoritism I was not present for Acker's interview and I had nothing to do with its editing (that was David). Also Brian once in the early days of the blog excoriated a Michigan football article that Acker wrote as an undergrad. That is discussed on the podcast.

The Park in the Library Lot is a Stupid Idea, Everybody Says So Disclosure: Brian has a spiel at the start for Ann Arbor residents to Vote No on Ann Arbor Proposal A.

-------------------------------------

MUSIC

• "The Yellow and Blue"—University of Michigan Marching Band
• "The Victors on Ukulele"

THE USUAL LINKS

• Helpful iTunes subscribe link
• General podcast feed link
• Direct download link
• What's with the theme music?

Complying with the Norfleet Atomic Dog Act of 2560. What's better than Dennis Norfleet? Dennis Norfleet holding bread!

Regents meeting stuff. Not a whole lot happened other than a couple of students bombing Brandon hard; they did so more professionally than Brandon handled the Shane Morris incident.

Schissel reiterated his disappointment with the way the Shane Morris incident was handled; Andrea Newman publicly supported Brandon (the earliest we can terminate her status as regent is 2018, unfortunately); Mark Bernstein was the guy who sounded like he was talking the most sense:

“The Shane Morris incident, the poor performance of the football team, that’s like a spark in a very, very dry forest. And there’s not a lot of water around right now," Bernstein said. "I think the actions of the athletic department, I believe (some) generally agree, have drained whatever reservoir of goodwill there is with Michigan football in particular. So it makes navigating this issue far more difficult.

“Therefore, it makes this moment much more complex. Is that the fault of the athletic director? Partially. But at the same time, we all care deeply about this university. We care about the student-athletes who are working hard every day at the game they love. We care about our students, our fans, our alums. We want to get this right. And that’s why it’s essential that the board support the president’s deliberative, methodical approach to this to figure out the best course of action.”

He offered a no comment when asked whether he supports Brandon, which is as close as you'll get to a "hell no" in this situation.

Yes, it is incredibly frustrating that the wheels are turning so slowly here—this is a situation in which Michigan is likely to be searching for the most important employee in the department in six weeks, with an ideal candidate probably available. If Michigan can't take its shot at Harbaugh because Brandon's not quite on the cart you'll hear the million-strong facepalm across the state. 

The impression the meeting left was still bad for the AD. Baumgardner:

There's no hiding it any longer. Thursday's meeting was standing-room only. Every major media outlet in the state was represented, most brought more than one person. And most left with one clear thought in their mind.

Brandon's future at Michigan appears to be in real jeopardy.

Thursday's meeting was a public, formal airing of grievances about the environment that's been created around Michigan's athletic department, and it left no stone unturned.

This wasn't just about the handling of the Shane Morris injury, or the athletic department's public relations debacle that soon followed. It wasn't just about the variety of stunts -- from skywriters to fireworks to ticket prices -- pulled by this department. It wasn't just about the lack of communication internally and externally. And it wasn't just about the fact that the sense of community -- and culture -- surrounding Michigan athletics appears to be on life support.

It was about all of it.

Niyo:

For the record, any buyout of Brandon's guaranteed contract likely will cost $3 million or so, not including the refreshments or confetti. But any concerns about backlash from major donors might have been assuaged by last weekend's alumni gatherings surrounding the Penn State game.

Brandon was noticeably absent as Stephen Ross, the real-estate magnate whose $200-million donation to the university last fall included $100 million earmarked for a new athletic campus, took part in a question-and-answer session with university president Mark Schlissel, who reiterated his "disappointment" in the way the Morris situation was handled.

I got a report from this meeting in which it felt like Brandon was not going to make it, FWIW.

After the regent's meeting, Brandon released a statement about how he looked forward to "repairing" his relationship with the students and announced a significant cut in ticket prices.

He also said the was looking forward to going for a walk and felt "happy."

Stitt happened. I did not live tweet the Colorado School of Mines game because I don't get CBS Sports. /shakes fist at UVerse.

But it went well, as Bob Stitt kind of hilariously took on a team coached by John L Smith:

Mines played Fort Lewis, John L. Smith's team. Smith's Skyhawks had just ended Colorado State-Pueblo's 42-game regular season winning streak, but they had no answers whatsoever for the Mines attack. The Orediggers gained 662 yards, scored touchdowns on each of the first four possessions, and cruised to a 56-14 win. Fort Lewis probably should have scheduled Homecoming for last week.

The Orediggers are 7-0, and oh my I have to sit down

"I treat fourth-down conversions as a turnover," Stitt told me in 2012. "We were 58 percent on fourth down [in 2012], went for 36 of them. Our opponents went for 18. We’re a lot higher percentage than 58 when it’s fourth-and-5 or less. I’ll even go for it on fourth-and-8 when it’s a situation where we’re on the 50 or their 40.

"That’s a turnover! If you get it, it’s like the defense just got you the ball on their 50-yard line. We’ve got to be able to have confidence as an offense that -– hey, when we get around the 50, Coach is gonna go for it – and the defense has to have it in their head that, hey, they’re gonna go for it, and if they don’t get it, we have to get excited and make sure the opponent doesn’t get points out of it."

Once you get past the Harbaugh/Mullen tier it gets very thin very quickly this year and a lot of the guys you'd take a poke at afterwards seem like they would be hard to get—lot of dudes with good job security at their alma mater. So… yeah. Bob Stitt.

(Yes, that is Kevin Sumlin.)

Chance of any chance. Hoke's return by the numerical projections:

In other words

NOPE

(Although this is pessimistic now that Indiana is apparently starting a Pokemon named Zander Diamont at QB.)

That's not actually good. One of the good things about Brandon cited in an ESPN article:

The football troubles outweighed the building upgrades that Hamilton oversaw while taking Tennessee's athletic department from a $750,000 deficit to a $9 million surplus in his time at its helm. They outweigh the two top-10 finishes in the Directors' Cup, which measures a school's success in all varsity sports.

Michigan also has been in the Directors' Cup top 10 twice under Brandon and made a trip to the men's Final Four

Michigan finished in the top five every year from 1999 to 2009.

All you need to know about the last couple of years in hockey. I mean:

Everyone finishes the lift, heads to the ice through a locker room, one with a complete makeover from the last season. Gone is the sign that said, “Win the next game.” It’s been replaced with key words such as “Unity” and “Respect.”

I'm not a big chemistry guy when looking for explanations as to why things go wrong, but I make an exception in this case.

That would be nice. Hockey megaprospect Auston Matthews is "50/50" between college and the OHL:

'97 C Auston Matthews of NTDP tells me he's 50/50 on college vs. WHL. Says he's talking to BC, BU, Denver, Michigan.

— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) October 16, 2014

Don Granato, the U18s' head coach, says he's "leaning" to college, FWIW.

Mathews, like Zach Werenski, Jack Eichel, and Noah Hanifin, would have to accelerate an entire year of school to arrive on campus next fall. Like BU super-recruit Eichel, Matthews is playing with the U18s despite his young age.

Interesting dynamic here: the NCAA's new autonomy push should give the Big Ten schools an edge against smaller conferences and the OHL. A couple weeks ago the league announced a raft of benefits including full cost of attendance scholarships and a "lifetime educational commitment" that stands in stark contrast to the OHL's current policy, in which playing pro hockey on any level for more than a year makes your scholarship package evaporate.

Meanwhile a school like BU is big time in hockey but in conferences that are not going to follow suit; the OHL will also have to step up its game to maintain its level of attractiveness.

HELLO ANN ARBOR. Ennui levels reaching critical.

Etc.: Brian Phillips on Landon Donovan is an auto-link. Bye week means it's Ufer time. Michigan has a very pretty story on Willis Ward. The plight of the long snapper.

Jeff Long and Warde Manuel: already contacted?

ESPN is reporting that the regents will discuss Dave Brandon at their previously scheduled meeting tomorrow, as revealed to them by regent Denise Ilitch herself. This may very well be the beginning of the end (or the beginning of the end of the end) for Brandon, as Ilitch had this to say about the Shane Morris situation:

"The systems failed and there are a lot of issues we have to review," Ilitch told WWJ CBS TV in Detroit.

The money quote, however, came at the end:

Sources told ESPN's Brett McMurphy that someone on Michigan's behalf has contacted three possible candidates to replace Brandon to gauge their interest in the job.

Arkansas AD Jeff Long, UConn AD Warde Manuel, and Boston College AD Brad Bates are the obvious candidates to be those three people, with Texas Tech deputy AD Joe Parker as a possible dark horse.