Accomplishing Brandons goal-best athletic program in the country
When Dave Brandon took over, he let it be known that his job was to make our athletic program the best, and he knows that while success in all sports is important, football and basketball have to lead the way. We've discussed the coaching situation in football more than enough, but regardless of who is leading, we have the resources in place to be very successful moving forward. The Big House renovation was key and will hopefully be seen as the start of a new, successful era in football.
Basketball has been neglected for many years, but there appears to be hope for the future. Brandon stated the renovated Crisler Arena will be among the best in the Big 10. With no practice facility and an outdated arena, it has been impossible to recruit against the best teams, especially a dominant in-state team like MSU. I don't know the time frame when these things will be completed, but I believe Beilein can coach when he gets the right players, and the assist this will bring with recruiting will be huge.
The past few years have been difficult, and for basketball its been longer than a few years, but I still believe the future is bright. Michigan needs to regain its place as THE school in this state and hopefully the conference. I think Brandon knows how to get us there, it just won't happen overnight.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
I agree that football, basketball and hockey need to lead the way. However, if you look at the schools that win the Directors Cup, they are amazing at the olympic type sports. I think improvement in those sports will also help the athletic department to get to the top.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^
isn't that going to be used for some of the 'other' sports?
December 1st, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^
I think lacrosse is getting priority over there. However, lacrosse is not an olympic sport. Those would be track & field, gymnastics, swimming, etc. Not sure how they would utilize Oosterbaan.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^
does anyone set there goals to, "I want to be average!" "I want to be the best middle of the pack school in the country!" ?
December 1st, 2010 at 11:14 AM ^
Of course not. But you won't likely see the AD of, say, Northwestern coming out and publicly saying "we want to have the best athletic program in the country" knowing full well he doesn't have the resources to make it happen. Michigan does.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^
The pracitce facility is currently being constructed and I think will be completed sometime in late 2011.
The Crisler Arena renovations were just recently approved by the Regents and will begin after the season. Not sure on the timeframe for their completion.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^
The Basketball Player Development Center is scheduled to open in either October or November of 2011.
The first phase of the Crisler overhaul is supposed to be completed in the winter of 2012. I don't believe the additional renovations have been approved or scheduled yet.
December 1st, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
I am so excited for this. It will really help in recruiting.
December 1st, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
I think we need to put a disproportionate amount of time and energy into improving the women's golf program.
December 1st, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
You're going to have to explain. Do you have a thing for little khaki shorts? Or Asian women? Or something else altogether?
December 1st, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^
The renovation of Michigan Stadium was nearly complete and the proposal to renovate Crisler was well underway before Dave Brandon took over from Bill Martin. Martin also spearheaded (and arranged funding for) the renovation of the Wilpon Baseball/Softball Complex and the construction of the new UM Soccer Complex and the Al Glick Fieldhouse indoor practice facility for football. I am sure Dave Brandon will be a great AD, but Bill Martin deserves the bulk of the credit for substantially upgrading UM's athletic facilities over the past five years.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^
He wasn't assigning credit, are you Martin's brother?
Brandon; none of this was your doing. Stop all this nonsense immediately.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
He wasn't assigning credit ...
I am.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
the wimpy FWIW. If it is worth enough to take a stand, it is worthy of a better title.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^
have improved, they still need to be better.
December 1st, 2010 at 11:09 AM ^
Cant WAIT to see the freakin scoreboards.
December 1st, 2010 at 3:21 PM ^
genuinely historic? From my trips there, it seems like a total dump (seriously, not taking a shot at anyone). Is Crisler worth saving or is it a cost consideration to revamp rather than build new?