Hackett May be Permanent AD
Rumblings today indicate that Hackett will remain as the permanent AD for possibly up to a couple of years. What could go wrong with a very successful CEO running an athletic department?
Hearing from multiple sources that expect #Michigan's interim AD Jim Hackett to remain on as the #Wolverines AD.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 26, 2014
November 26th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
Now four ADs in a row with no previous AD experience.
- Tom Goss
- Bill Martin
- Dave Brandon
- Jim Hackett
Now take into consideration that Goss began his tenure in 1997 and think of the slide we've been on ever since. Anyone notice a trend?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
I assume that you are not referring to the trend line in our basketball program (which is kind of straight up the past few years) and instead are referring to our football program (straight down for 7 years)?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Goss hired Ellerbe, which pissed me off to no end... talk about unqualified..... this post is spot on.. it all started with Goss.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
Bill Martin got the department from fiscal problems to a fiscal powerhouse running a surplus every year (before the BTN and other money cannons were truly going), got many of the upgrades and renovations going for our facilities, and frankly, hired a good football coach that just didn't work out. We could do a hell of a lot worse than another Bill Martin.
Like Goss and Brandon, actually.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
You mean the trend that prior to Brandon taking over from 97/98 to 08/09 Michigan was top 6 in the directors cup every year but 1, with one of those years a second place finish?
Or the trend that prior to Brandon's effort to milk every dime out of the athletic program Michigan had become one of the largest revenue generating athletic departments in the country?
Michigan has made two stratight poor coaching hires, one by Martin and one by Brandon and Brandon was a complete failure as an AD, but stop trying to create negative trends when there are none.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
If he hires a good coach that gets us back to competing for championships, I really doubt anyone will be complaining about him.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
Jim, you say if he hires a good coach... Shouldn't it be, "if he gives me what I want and hires me." ?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:20 AM ^
The corporate atmosphere that has hung over the stadium, the gameday experience and the ath dept the lat 3 years has hurt donations and season ticket sales. No matter how you look at it, the football program and those 110k seats is the engine that drives the bus of the ath dept. If they don't get the right coach, there won't be butts in the seats and heads will roll. No matter how much Pres. Schiss wants a "balance" b/w athletics and academics, the football program is king and it is the source of the revenue. The MBB program may hold it's own but it's not funding the rest of the athletic dept. Neither is it gonna fund the $$ the ath. dept gives back to the University every year. If Hackett is permanent (don't believe it) then he better score Harbaugh or it will not go well for him or the ath dept.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
I like Hackett, he's cool.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:23 AM ^
I hope his former CEO abilities know how to negotiate us through an athletic apparrell change.
It would be a huge department blunder to be stuck with Adidias. Like Jim Harbaugh, there's only one way to go here Mr. Hackett ... Nike
This will be his biggest decision as AD if the interim tag is removed.
/s
November 26th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
Sex addict, penis bird
November 26th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
What could go wrong with a very successful CEO running an athletic department?
We been over this several times before, but there are different types of CEO, so having a corporate background should not automatically brand (hah!) Hackett with a "Brandon Part Deux" stamp. It's convenient thinking, but I think it's wrong.
First, there are different corporate personalities. Brandon is of the hedge-fund prick model who is going to change things, piss on every fire hydrant, and generally show what a hotshot he is. (Not all, or even most, hedge fund leaders act this way, but Brandon certainly lived up to the cliche.) Hackett is more old-school - an establishment type who managed in a much less brash and more thoughtful manner.
Second, corporations have different foci and different cultures. Domino's is focused on selling a commodity to consumers, is volume-driven, and is price-driven. Steelcase is focused on selling a commodity to other business, is both volume and relationship driven, and depends dearly on its reputation for quality. Domino's also is focused on wrangling its franchisees and providing blanket marketing for those franchisees. The point being that Brandon's style fit Domino's but probably would not fit Steelcase, and Hackett's style fit Steelcase but probably would not fit Domino's.
I don't necessarily want a CEO to run the Athletic Department long-term. I'd rather see someone with success running a major athletic department in charge. But if Hackett is around for a year or so, I don't automatically assume it's a return to the tone-deaf and oafish Brandon years.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
I didn't intend for Hackett = Brandon, but I think the Michigan fan base as a whole wants an accoplished AD to run the department.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
I think we'd all be happy with an accomplished AD moving to a slightly bigger pond.
What I'd most like to do is get to a place where I had to remind myself who Michigan's AD is. Traditional track AD, CEO transitioning, other? Jimmy crack corn, and I don't care - so long as the department is running smoothly and in the black, while upholding good ethical standards, I'm OK. And the best bet for that is someone who has already done the job well elsewhere. So I agree with your core point.
November 26th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
I think Michigan fans wanted not Brandon as the AD and we all got our wish. In addition, fans simply want a quality AD and logically speaking an experienced AD has a higher chance of being succesful than Hackett.
That being said, there is no reason to freak out or draw any conclusions about Hackett as AD from the limited info we have. I also think this is all pointless speculation, Schlissel said U of M would take its time in the AD search, leaving Hackett in control of the coaching search. After he makes this decision he can just sit around and not piss anyone off for a year plus while they hire an accomplished AD.
I like Bruce Feldman, but this just seems like a meaningless tweet that incites more drama and discussin then it should.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:25 AM ^
... as long as he doesn't sign us up with Under Armor next year when Adidas expires...
November 26th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
Sorry if this has been asked already, but it looks like the certainty of Hackett making the Football HC is all but certain. Does Hackett have any prior dealings or relationships with the Harbaugh family that would give us an advantage in landing the "Savior of Michigan Football"?
November 26th, 2014 at 11:26 PM ^
He was a player on the team that had Jack Harbaugh as an Assistant Coach!
November 26th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
There is another factor that Brandon ignored and that is the regular fanbase. They spend a lot of money toward the program too. Hackett talked about student fans being satisfied and students in general. Problem is the other 90k seats aren't students. They are working peoplel and alumni and if they don't like the atmosphere they will stop coming, especially for 7-5, 8-4 teams every year. You're not gonna sell $88,000 suites for 8-4 teams every year. And middling coaches like Hoke won't get to the conference championship or the national championship.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:26 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
Brandon dug his own grave not because he was a CEO but because he was a thin skinned jerk with no tact. It's quite foolish to quickly write off Hackett just because he was a CEO. Maybe it makes more sense to judge a person based on their actions than on innuendo.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
that were asked to "pizza pimp" when he took the job. Reading these comments from the board is "fun" too.
http://mgoblog.com/content/david-brandon-press-conference-semi-transcri…
November 26th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:36 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
I'm skeptical about that because you would have to believe that information would be leaked somehow, and there hasn't been any smoke around that scenario.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
Maybe he's just here for a year or two to right the ship so Manuel or bates or whoever isn't stepping into a total mess.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
November 26th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:32 AM ^
DB had a huge ego and thought he was the smartest guy in the room. His performance at Domino's was poor as evidenced by the turn around in the company after his departure. Hackett turned around a poor performing company and left on good terms from Steel Case. He does not come across as someone with a huge ego and seems to know that he does not know enough. I am OK with him.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:41 AM ^
Not all corporate folks are the same, and not all CEOs are the same. Hackett's experience as an executive is very different from Brandon's, and is, in fact, pretty well suited to the task at hand.
Basically, Hackett was a guy who was professionally good at firing folks and restructuringing an entrenched bureaucracy. He made an American furniture manufacturer profitable over a 20 year span from 1994 to 2014. Res ipsa loquitor.
He doesn't have a rep as a micro manager, and interestingly (despite the 'Michigan Man' rep) is not known as a traditionalist / conservative. He's a guy who wasn't afraid to make radical changes to survive in a changing environment.
I urge y'all to read up on Hackett before dismissing him as Brandon 2.0.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
with winning and it's trendline. It has everything to do with supporting the Ath dept financially. Look that the numbers at UM or anywhere, if the football program isn't successful, then the ath dept loses money or at least isn't self-sustainable. There's no point to having a 110k seat stadium if you're going to hire a MAC level coach and go 8-4 every year. Just graduating all your players will not fill that stadium. Havin a CEO that focuses on the bottom line only won't fill that stadium either.....with today's options the average fans that buy many of the tickets can always stay home and watch the games for free (or a lot less) than going to the games, it's a trend around the country.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
Right now the priority is to find a replacement for Hoke. If Hackett replaces Hoke with Harbaugh or Miles, all is well. Schlissel has made it clear that there is no rush to find a pernament AD. Once the leadership for the football program is settled they can concentrate on finding an AD. So, don't freak out; things are moving along as they should. If you expected a new AD to be hired, and the new AD to hire the new football coach, that was not realistic.
Go Blue!
November 26th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
his interview process is getting a Harbaugh or Miles to Michigan. If he does that, he's already light years ahead of the past 2. I don't think that just becuase he is a former CEO that he should automatically get "Brandoned"
November 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
as much as i despised brandon, the student athletes sincerely loved him (so it seems); clearly brandon wasn't doing everything wrong - he took care of his primary charges (athletes) - but he failed to understand that the athletic department/athletes is/are just one parcel of the michigan community.
if brandon can gain the trust the athletes, i am hopeful that at the very least hackett can gain their trust as well. and from everything ive heard and read about him thus far from his time at Steelcase and his time on the football team, i believe that he will bring to the table that awareness and sensitivity to the concerns of the larger michigan community that brandon lacked.
that being said, im willing to give hackett a chance, despite his lack of an AD background.
November 26th, 2014 at 11:02 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
The biggest issue I would have with this, if true, isn't that Hackett is a "CEO-type" AD. It would be that ever since he was brought in both he and Schlissel have been reiterating that this is a temporary thing to help Michigan find a highly-qualified, experienced permanent AD. Then they go with the "this is going to take time" approach, and now they are laying the groundwork for him to be here long-term? Seems fishy to me; they basically would have lied to everyone from the beginning.
Until he is announced as the long-term AD, I think this is people jumping to conclusions.
November 26th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:39 AM ^
Please just hire a "Plan A" coach...and do the opposite of DB.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
Who is Michigan? Is it Schlissel? I'm guessing it is and that he's the one making decisions. And if so, he's a new face with pretty much nothing to do with the current dumpster fire within the football program. I'm willing to give Schlissel a chance to make some decisions. He seems like a smart guy. But who knows?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:40 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:42 AM ^
So I'm a bit confused because I thought I had read right here on MGoBlog (perhaps in one of Brian's Searchbits posts) that Hackett was very reluctant to even take the interim AD job? And that he was content in his retirement and definitely didn't want the permanent position but was just filling in because he is a huge Michigan supporter and former player with fairly good leadership experience?
Since then, I haven't heard anything along these lines and it seems more and more like his term is getting longer. Just wondering if anyone had a perspective on this - doesn't seem like these two positions really reconcile. Did he simply change his mind and decide he likes being AD?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:42 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
I think this bodes very well for attaining Jim Harbaugh.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
That count?
November 26th, 2014 at 10:49 AM ^
It might take a CEO to be able to decipher and fix the issues that another CEO created that your typical AD wouldn't be able to handle or understand.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
It's just like that time when I contracted herpes to fight my genital warts.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
While he may fit the "Dave Brandon" mold, we should all remember that Dave did some great things for non-revenue sports and turned a healthy profit for the department. His mistakes, while huge, are easy to avoid going forward.
Let's give Hackett a chance to show us what he can do.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
well,, if hackett dosent get one of the harbaughs or miles.. the fans are going to make his life a nightmare in AA