Athletic Director Time: 1000-Foot View Comment Count

Brian

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thanks to Patrick's drone title is close to literally true [Patrick Barron]

One of the frequent criticisms of the Brandon obit was that it was all napalm. I admit that. That post wasn't supposed to do anything except document the era we'd just gone through.

When I did that I got a lot of requests of varying politeness levels for an alternate vision of the athletic department. This series of posts seeks to lay one out.

First some base principles:

  • Michigan isn't leaving the conference and has to work within the confines of the new Big Ten. If this was "conference commissioner time" I would immediately exile Maryland and Rutgers; it's not.
  • Michigan is also working within the realities of the current NCAA. Massive changes to amateurism are beyond the scope here.
  • Ditto Title IX.

We can look at some base assumptions: that profit is a main indicator of health, that the primary "customers" of an athletic department are the athletes, that you should follow Industry Best Practices so that you can point to them when someone questions a decision you made. We're just trying to work within the system we've got, as goofy as it is.

First: what are we trying to do here?

Goals

Michigan's athletic department is many things to many people: marketing for the university, jobs for people directly affiliated and not (hi), a connection to college, a path to an education, an entertainment activity. I've tried to boil things down to the core things, and those seem to be:

  1. graduate athletes
  2. win games
  3. sustain the enterprise

Aside from a blip during the RR/Carr transition Michigan seems to be doing fine with #1 across all sports. Hypothetical athletic director wouldn't have to change a thing there. #2 amounts to "hire good coaches," which is very important and not very interesting to talk about. You and I both agree that it's a better idea to hire Jim Harbaugh than someone else. The end.

Sustaining

Sustaining the enterprise is where athletic directors vary the most and have the most influence. You can play Texas A&M if you're Texas… or not. You can have the most expensive student ticket prices in the conference… or not. You can build a palace for a non-revenue sport… or not.

Sustaining the enterprise is a mixture of generating revenue and maintaining and expanding your fanbase. Don't charge enough and you can't retain your coaches or build the latest fantabulous doohickey to keep up with the Joneses. Charge too much, as Michigan did with their student tickets, and you start eating your seed corn as people drop out of the ticket-buying section of the fanbase—and possibly altogether, long term.

Maintaining or expanding a fanbase isn't just about numbers, either: it's about depth of connection. When the Pistons hit their Joe Dumars Is Definitely Crazy Now period, the Palace emptied out like someone letting the air out of the balloon. Michigan has a much deeper connection with most of its fans and weathered a decade of play that was not much fun at all until the bottom dropped out last year. (Ace is doing some work on Bacon's book and has access to the numbers. They are staggering. WRITE FASTER BACON.)

If hypothetical alternate universe athletic director is going to sustain the enterprise he has to be thinking about creating that connection. Sports fans can be a weird lot: part customer, part captive, part fanatic. The whole point of sports is to be of a tribe. I can say "1997 Penn State" and you will have an emotional response. We can see someone in an Andy Katzenmoyer jersey and have that same response. Balancing the new with the old is difficult but mandatory, and if you don't you can end up with a rebellion on your hands. SBNation has an excellent article on the tumultuous recent history of AS Roma, a Serie A team recently purchased by some Americans who found themselves in for a major culture shock when the Roma "ultras" walked out of the stadium en masse:

The Americani may build Roma their new stadium, they may manage to push reform of the Italian league, curb fan violence, expand their marketing reach, and lure millions of tourists to watch Roma each Sunday. But if they have any chance of really succeeding at breaking the peculiar quagmire that is Italian soccer, they will need to heed the lesson from the Curva Sud. When the ultras walked out of the Stadio Olimpico, the Curva Sud did not just demonstrate that they would not support a team that does not win. Rather, they showed Roma’s American owners that they cannot be taken for granted. They are not merely a “fan base.” They are not a “target audience” or “core ticket buyers.” They are not untapped consumer demand lying in wait for better marketing, an international brand, or a more packaged game day experience.

By walking out, the Curva Sud showed that they are not customers. For better or worse, they are Roma. And without them, the Americani have nothing.

Roma's ultras are hooligans taken to the nth degree. They're also a reason that Roma means anything to anyone when Serie A attendance is in tatters. It is far clearer in Euro soccer that the fans have some form of ownership. While Roma is particularly extreme, Michigan's students demonstrated that if sufficiently pissed off they can effect change.

This is the point at which people get pissed off enough. Television's primacy has provided an alternative and degraded the in-game experience. It has also homogenized things. The history of college football nonconference scheduling over the past 20 years tells the story well enough: there was a great thing that built up a lot of goodwill, that goodwill was completely mined out by a series of spreadsheet robots, and now someone has to build that goodwill back.

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via EDSBS

Hypothetical athletic director's main goal is to figure out what went wrong between the department and the fanbase and set about making the experience of being a Michigan fan one that is peerless. Actual athletic director seemed to not think about this one iota, and thus he is in Scottsdale watching Wrath of Khan over and over again.

Comments

Letsgoblue2004

April 15th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^

is not beyond the scope of what a Michigan AD can do. Michigan carries a massive stick and perhaps the most prestige and cache in college sports. I think a Michigan AD saying publicly "we shouldn't prevent revenue athletes from receiving external endorsement income and, yeah, they probably deserve market wages somewhere down the line" would be a monumental catalyst for progressive change. 

Wolverine Devotee

April 15th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^

I do think the "palaces for non-revenue sports" will pay off. 

The things already built and the plans for future ones are so incredible that Michigan will be very hard to say no to and recruit against. Which leads to winning and teams that win consistently build a fanbase. 

Right now Lacrosse playing in a 1% full Big House and not winning won't draw many people. They just broke 1K for the first time all season in a Big House game last weekend.

But once the Lax facilities are built, recruiting will pick up which will result in wins and more fan interest. 

However, some of the things are a little over the top. I'm not sure what else they can give the Soccer programs. They just opened a brand new stadium and practice complex 5 years ago. 

Future facilities-

 

Hannibal.

April 15th, 2015 at 1:19 PM ^

They might make those non-revenue sports better, but they will probably always be non-revenue sports. They are always going to need the sugar daddies of football, basketball, and hockey to pay the bills. 

This brings up the debate about whether the athletic department should be about all sports or just the sports that draw lots of fans.  My mind says the former, but my heart says the latter.  When were looking for our last coach, I didn't care how much it cost.  I would have gladly sacrificed half of our non-revenue sports to get Harbaugh.  I don't give a shit about them one bit.  Since Harbaugh came cheaper than expected, we thankfully got to avoid that debate, but I know where I stand now. 

Richard75

April 15th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^

Agreed. Aside from the obvious concerns about legacy costs and turning south campus into an Olympic park, who do these facilities benefit? Only the 20 or so people who use them, and I guess the parents who attend the games. It's just too much.




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Blue Durham

April 15th, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^

And that opulence could have a pretty high price beyond its price tag.

Brian alludes to the various functions of the athletic department. An important one is to make a connection with the student body and provide a full, rich student experience. Later, as alums, they will look back at all of the good times they had and be willing donors.

But the cost of being a student isn't cheap, and if the university is providing a very select few student-athletes (in non-revenue sports) with lavish facilities, there is going to be some bitterness.

Regardless of how right or wrong they are, they are going to perceive that they are subsidizing these facilities, and that will not sit well with them for a long time.

Blue Durham

April 15th, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^

And I'll one more thing to what I said above.

I just can't help but think that a university that can afford the above facilities, that can put flat screen TVs in stalls (Minnesota), etc., does not need my donation.

There are negative repercussions to doing stuff like this.

Reader71

April 15th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

As a rabid AS Roma fan, let me say that the Ultras are part of the reason the club cannot advance to the Italian elite and are a huge nuisance that should be banned from the stadium at all costs.

They stab people every time an English team goes to Rome during the Champions League. They just forced the totally ineffectual Italian FA to order the close the Curva Sud because of hateful posters. They staged a protest because their team was bought by foreigners, even though the guy in charge has Italian ancestry. Roma Ultras are a blight on the organization. They are Ohio State fans, but nastier.

Wolverine 73

April 15th, 2015 at 2:02 PM ^

I happened to be in Rome in June 2001 when A.S. Roma won the Italian league championship.  I have never seen a wilder celebration--a huge, imrpomptu parade of people chanting and cheering, marching down the Via del Corso with banners and flags.  The parade just went on and on.  It exceeded anything in the way of celebration I have ever seen in the US.  All night long, people could be heard outside cheering and setting off fireworks.  It was amazing, and certainly consistent with the passion described in the linked article.  I don't know if there was any violence, but I didn't see any.  No couches burned, either.

Reader71

April 16th, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^

Right. But thus is akin to the Student Section (if it was a band of murderous thugs who think they owned something they didn't) leaving during the middle of a game because the AD is from Ohio. Despite the fact that the previous AD, a Michigan alum, couldn't pay the bills and the new guy is investing like crazy.

DarkWolverine

April 15th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

Student Ticket Season Tickets-Key Indicator
Many posts have covered why people think student season tickets dropped from about 21,000 to about 14,000 last year. Most say it was cost others say the product on the field(and perhaps weak schedule). So, now Brandon lowered prices on his way out the door, the schedule is great and Harbaugh! The AD has not yet said what the student season ticket number is, but inquiring minds want to know. It will be very disappointing if the number is below 20,000. Hackett has said there is now an Interest List and that is a good start. Depending on the season ticket renewals, this may become a waiting list, which would be even better.




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ThadMattasagoblin

April 15th, 2015 at 1:41 PM ^

Donations don't embarass the program like having thousands of empty seats do. I would still give what I do because I love Michigan more than I could ever hate one guy. I don't understand how people could love destroying our program. It wasn't Brandon because they didn't come back after he was dispatched for the Maryland or Indiana game. Now they all want to come back again after taking a break from the fanbase.

mGrowOld

April 15th, 2015 at 2:14 PM ^

Not true - we don't "all want to come back" or at least this one fan doesnt.  During my first year of not attending Michigan football games in person in 30+ years I found other things to do on Saturday afternoons that I liked quite a bit thank you very much and probably wont give up anytime soon.  Oh I'll go back for a game or two each year and I'll catch all others on TV but the days of getting up and driving three hours one way there and back again to watch Eastern Michigan are long gone.  And you can thank your heros Dave Brandon & Brady Hoke for ending that habit for me.

I know in your mind there is nothing Michigan can do either on or off the field that would cause you to arrive at the same decision I did and God bless you for that.  No product on the field too shitty to watch and no price too high for you to pay to be denied the opportunity to listen to piped in music blasted over the loudspeakers.  But I reached a breaking point last year and it would seem, based on the raw numbers, that I wasnt alone.   And guess what?  Once you fill those 12 hours on Saturday with something else you find life moves on pretty well and I can still enjoy each and every game on TV from the comforts of my basement.

 

stephenrjking

April 15th, 2015 at 4:19 PM ^

Hey, I gave you some heat for being a bit quick on the trigger when you posted that you were cancelling, and of course you got much more from other sources. But props are in order from me, as this follow-through demonstrates that you weren't just being dramatic. You are, after all, just exercising discretion in your recreational choices. So this is a mild mea culpa, even if I might not make such a choice myself.

dragonchild

April 15th, 2015 at 1:31 PM ^

It's the fairweather fans that force change.  If anything, the diehards owe them a debt of gratitude.  There are times for loyalty, but sports just isn't one of them.  What programs often need is patience, but that assumes the program has a plan that will take time to implement.  When it became clear that DB didn't have plans, just a bunch of shitty ideas to exploit the fans like they're a stolen ATM card, it was time for him to go.

DomIngerson

April 16th, 2015 at 8:36 PM ^

I agree with pretty much all of this however the term "fair weather fans" doesn't describe many of us MGoBloggers. I'm as diehard as it gets and I finally came to my breaking point during (and after) the Minnesota game last year.

I love Michigan football so much that I had to voice my displeasure as loud as possible in order to fix what was ailing it. I suffered through the entirety of MOON and every other game and then spent countless hours on MGoBlog to an unhealthy extent. From November through "Harbaugh Day" I was a complete mess. At work. At home. Everywhere.

"Fair weather" I am not.

WMUgoblue

April 15th, 2015 at 4:22 PM ^

You're totally right, every Michigan fan lives in the metro area and has to waste their weekends traveling to see the mediocre product that was put on the field the last few years. /s



I ended up getting rid of my tickets 2 years ago because while it was nice to make the Baltimore to Ann Arbor trip twice a fall it became impossible to get fair value for the tickets that I wasn't going to use.



Until you have faced these financial and logistical issues I suggest you not generalize people that got rid of tickets as, "bandwagoners." You come off rather naive.

umumum

April 16th, 2015 at 7:53 PM ^

I have been going since I attended.  I go for many reasons--the game on the field being just one of them.  I will continue to go so long as I enjoy it.  Once I don't I will stop.  I did not join a cult.  I really don't believe we need to drop trou to metaphorically prove our Michigan bona fides.  How about we be "Big Tent" and stop eating our own.

Canadian

April 17th, 2015 at 11:13 AM ^

20 dollars total? Fuck I wish. I pay $10 in border tolls before I even take out the American money (which is costing me more now than it had anytime in my adult life). Being there for the day means I need at least one meal which costs me $20 with a beer, I'm a season ticket holder so that's another $65 a ticket (not including the PSD). I usually pick up a case of beer which I won't count as it's not a necessity. Add on $35-$40 in gas and my day (at the cheapest) costs me $120 American (with the hefty exchange rate it's more like $150) and then the $10 at the border.

A bit more than the fucking $20 you throw down.

jballen4eva

April 16th, 2015 at 6:49 AM ^

I disagree.  

For starters, to be a bandwagon hopper, you would have to start rooting for some other team just because it is successful.  I know several people who have given up their season tickets, stopped attending or even watching games, etc., nearly all of whom have noted the crappy quality of team play.  None of them now root for the Buckeyes, or the Spartans, or any other college football team.  But that's what being a bandwagon hopper is, right?

Besides, the team's poor play was very likely tied in with all the other "legitimate" reasons you may not have a problem with, like a destructive, control-freak AD whose ego alienated pretty much everyone and prevented him from hiring a competent coach.    

 

WindyCityBlue

April 15th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^

...is that we are admitting fewer and fewer in-state students who would presumably be bigger Michigan fans and more apt to buy student season tickets compared to their out-of-state counterparts.  I know this wasn't a major impact to the drop last year, but I think this is going to be a more systematic phenomena going forward. 

mgoBrad

April 15th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^

Good overview, but I do have a minor niggle:

#2 [win games] amounts to "hire good coaches," which is very important and not very interesting to talk about. You and I both agree that it's a better idea to hire Jim Harbaugh than someone else. The end.

I think this is at least a moderate oversimplification. Sure, coaching takes up the majority of that category. But there are many other factors involved, such as:

  • Facilites (I think the Amaker era would've looked quite different if he actually had some decent facilites to work with - the obvious tie-in here is with recruiting)
  • Cultural fit (Rich Rod, self-explanatory)
  • Cultivating an environment where home field is an actual advantage (this probably overlaps with point #3 about sustainability)
  • Scheduling (a major part of any AD's job, IMO, and one that Brandon was terrible at)

There's probably even more I haven't thought of. Would love to see you tease this out more, Brian.

cutter

April 15th, 2015 at 10:32 PM ^

I couldn't disagree more with your comment about Brandon and scheduling, which I assume means the non-conference portion of the football schedule.

People fixate on opening last season with Appalachian State, which turned out to be a tempest in a teapot because it was such a lopsided game, i.e., the perfect season opener against a tomato can opponent.

With Notre Dame dropping out of the annual series with Michigan, a whole series of events were put into motion that included scheduling home-and-homes with bluechip programs Texas and Oklahoma (2024 through 2027), another home-and-home with UCLA (2022/3), and two home-and-homes with Virginia Tech and Washington (2020/1).  Add in the 2015 game (which may be played at night) against Brigham Young.  Brandon also ended Michigan's involvement with MAC teams, which means we're going to get a little more variety in the non-Power Five opponents--Hawaii, Central Florida, AIr Force, Cincinnati, Southen Methodist and UNLV are all on the list.  Also add in three games with SEC teams--the home-and-home with Arkansas and the neutral site game to open the 2017 season with Florida.

03 Blue 07

April 16th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

I agree completely. Why? Because, within the realities of high-major Division I athletics, if there were no fans for football and basketball, there wouldn't be an athletic department to even support (at least not one comprised of athletes who were provided athletic scholarships). 

ThadMattasagoblin

April 15th, 2015 at 1:22 PM ^

Might as well build palaces for nonrevenue sports. SR donated 100 million dollars and we aren't going to use it for anything else plus those designs look sweet. We lack facilities in certain sports. Ferry Field is now unusable for competition, Cliff Keen is too small, the golf clubhouse is old and small, the indoor track building is old and crappy, and lacrosse plays in a mammoth stadium.