Bill Martin Headed For Pasture
Press release:
Statement from Mary Sue Coleman on Bill Martin’s Retirement
This morning, Bill Martin sent me a letter announcing his intention to retire on September 4, 2010. For nearly a decade, Bill has shown truly outstanding leadership as Athletic Director at the University of Michigan. He has not only done a superb job of attracting top coaches for the full range of Michigan sports, but he has also assembled an excellent management team to oversee all aspects of athletics operations. At the same time, he has firmly established Athletics as a financially strong and self-supporting department while guiding the renovation and expansion of most of our major sports facilities.
Bill is a great partner, and it has been a joy to work with him. Although he has been interested in retiring for some time now, I am pleased that I was able to convince him to stay with us long enough to ensure that the renovation of our football stadium would be successful and on time. That end is now in clear sight. He has agreed to remain as Athletic Director until his successor is on board, at which point he will serve as a special advisor to me until retiring from the University in September.
I will personally oversee the search for the next Athletic Director with the help of a small advisory group. We expect this process will take a number of months. With this advance notice, we have the opportunity to make a thoughtful and deliberate choice and to manage a smooth transition.
There will probably be some fete at the UConn game to celebrate the construction of the luxury boxes. Coleman's choice for the next AD will be interesting, and undoubtedly shrouded in mystery for months. News on that when I get it; tips always appreciated.
...did some great things for Michigan, considering where the Athletic department was at under the reign of Tom Goss. His legacy is of course going to be entirely based on the success or failure of the luxury boxes, but Rich Rodriguez can push him into Michigan lore with the eventual national title I think he's going to win. How Mary Sue Coleman is ever going to find someone to continue the financial success and rapid promotion of Martin is going to be, I think, tougher than the coaching search that she rescued from the toilet.
"To hell with Notre Dame"
~ Bo Schembechler
All In For Michigan!
"God bless your cotton-pickin' maize 'n blue heart"
~ Bob Ufer
everything BM did (esp to long-time and loyal customers), but on the whole, he has been a good AD.
If the next AD can re-connect and re-energize the fan base and PSD-paying customers, give them value (no 1-AA FB games please), and make them feel appreciated, that would go a long way to making Michigan Athletics (esp FB) a more enjoyable experience for everyone.
Being a Michigan fan: It's a labor of love, but it shouldn't feel like a job.
Even going out on the right note with the basketball program. Spent the money wisely. Seems the dept is well positioned for future success.
the same way he would like a sharp stick in the eye. He's enjoying his retirement, raises funds for Mott, travels around the country and the world, so aside from the occasional Rick Leach phone call he's sitting in a pretty nice place. Why on earth would anyone his age trade all that for the stomach-churning job of keeping the beast fed and happy?
DeCarolis sounds like a winner to me.
Bill Martin has set an irreversible course for the AD's office by hiring innovators and proving how important finances are to the office.
That focus on innovation, which I predict will result in great success for both the football and basketball programs, should continue with the next AD, along with improving the financial position of the department. I cannot emphasize enough how important proper finances are to an office. Every new innovation (infrastructure, coaches etc...) costs money and you need someone who has a proven track record of managing finances.
I would like to see someone who can rally the base more. We already have a national fanbase but I would like to see our own version of "subway" alums. More involvement means more exposure on tv, merchandise sales and better players from the exposure. While sound finances and innovation are great, improvement can be made at the publicity level.
We are living in a new age where we need a CEO type who can also rally and expand the base. I would like to see a trailblazer who comes in and sets a new standard while letting the old guard pass.
Bill Martin has left Michigan at a great place. Coaches, facilities, finances, all better than what he started with.
I'm not concerned about anti-Rich Rod forces steering the AD search. They already fought that war and lost when he was hired. Everyone can see the improvement on the field this year. We'll close out strong and there won't be any reason for anyone to be worried about him getting run off.
Current Oregon State Athletic Dir. Worked at Michigan. His daughter was a big soccer player here in Oregon, but she went back to Michigan. He presided over an expansion of the OSU (Not that OSU!) stadium and hired both the current football and basketball (Obama's brother-in-law) coaches. He has openly said that the only job he would leave Oregon for would be the Michigan job.
Don't know what shot he has, but he seems to be have the right business sense and balance regarding letting coaches coach.
Mary Sue has not been the best President Michigan has ever had.
Since she announced that she is 'personally overseeing' hiring the next AD, we are in deep deep trouble.
Howdy
Are you the guy who proposed to her and got shot down? That explains it
That's right, Dude. 100% certain.
I'm not going to argue whether or not MSC has been "the best President Michigan has ever had," but what makes you think that we're in trouble with her overseeing the search? I would hope that our president would be highly involved in this decision, actually. What is it about Mary Sue that makes you feel this way?
is also a pro-RR person and she is heading the search. Coleman is no dummy - she will know who is aligned against whom.
I expect that ties to Coleman - ie someone she can trust - may be the most important thing. The last thing she wants is a civil war, especially with our team on the upswing.
This search could prove a fascinating as the HC search, given the dynamics swirling around the program at this time.
We can't run. We can't pass. We can't stop the run. We can't stop the pass. We can't kick. Other than that, we're just not a very good football team right now. - Bruce Coslet
Spoke to three different insiders in the department today about this. One is a coach. One is an administrator. Another is what you would probably call support staff. Also spoke to a former staff member who was there in the 90s and is still involved peripherally. The general sentiment seems to be that Martin did much of what needed to be done after the mess that was Tom Goss, ie. balance the budget and build the infrastructure. What they all mentioned that is hard to see from the outside is a department that is somewhat dysfunctional in its inside culture. They were all hoping for someone who gets the business side, but also gets how to be a good manager. It's an incredibly complex job, and it's a really important hire for the university. I completely agree with some of the people here who express the desire for quality over loyalty. Personally, I'd also like to see someone who is innovative. Michigan athletics should be leading the way, not following. For all the good work Martin did, much of it should have been done 20 years ago.
my hope is that this means BM already knows the free press accusation fest is going to end with a finding of no wrongdoing so he'll be able to hand over the reins to a newcomer with no problems. otherwise, it'd be hard to fill a job when candidates know they might be walking into a shitstorm.
Martin - along with nearly everyone else in the AD - knew the accusations were baseless within days of them being made.
http://genuinelysarcastic.blogspot.com (UPDATED: 3/8)
You cannot be a leader without change. Bill Martin had the foresight to make some amazing changes here. When time provides us with the necessary perspective, Bill Martin will be seen as a strong force in M history.
I thank him for what he's done here and wish him all the best in retirement.
"Wow, so you go to Michigan, so you can spell, good for you." - white_pony_rocks
my spartan friends at work have already taunted me about counting the days until rr packs his bags since this retirement is obviously the next phase of the battle between pro-rr forces and anti-rr forces
I have doubts they can count that high. It's going to be over 4 digits.
Cover coughs and sneezes.
I guess that's one of the perks about working outside of Michigan: nobody hires Spartans!
"And he we are in Columbus in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 alumni and 74,000 truck drivers." --Bob Ufer
Your Spartan friends are stupid.
A competition with 10 guys and call it AD Tool Academy. The winner gets the job. Mary Sue can be the judge & Woodley can be be the muscle that throws them out a 10 story window when contestants get eliminated. "Sorry Michael Rosenburg but your just a Tool."
#1) Bill Martin has been EXCELLENT here. Rodriguez, Beilein, Maloney, etc. It's sad to see him go. Seemed like he had some steam left.
#2) His replacement won't be Lloyd Carr, relax. In this day and age, the position of athletic director is twice as likely to go to the CEO of a fortune 500 company with a mild interest in sports than it is to an ex head coach with no business expertise.
#3) I really, really hope this have nothing to do with that shady bank story...
I told people to go F*ck themselves, therefore I have been banned
Bill Martin is in his late 60's. It should be no surprise he's retiring. All the conspiracy theories are enougt to make me wretch. Martin has served 10 years in a job he took on an interim basis out of loyalty to help out in tough time. Let's not forget the rotten situation Martin stepped into. Tom Goss had mismanaged the financial affairs of the department and the whole Ed Martin fiasco was unfolding. He righted the financial ship, got through the basketball swamp and then tackled problems relating to aging and/or inadequate plant and infrastructure.
It's the right time for a man who has accomplished what he has to step aside.
I'm high all right...but not on false drugs. I'm high on the real thing -- powerful gasoline, a clean windshield, and a shoeshine.
Yeah, I was hoping maybe he'd forgo retirement and head to the U.S. Olympic Committee and fix that unholy mess. They really need a Bill Martin there. But he really is at an age where he's probably looking forward to truly retiring and just doing his own thing.
I wish he BM would have stayed on a few more years. He has done a great job here the past ten years and he really runs a financially sounds ship. He is a formidable businessman, which is what we need. UofM is one of only a few Universities in the country who is running a profit this year... which is remarkable considering how many varsity sports we have.
Bruce Madej, unfortunately, is not the guy for the job. I agree with previous posters that he is in the position he needs to be in currently. I don't think he has the skills necessary to be the AD. That being said, I think LC is even more under qualified. It takes a whole lot more than knowledge of football to lead a multi-million dollar entity. In order to be successful, you need to adapt and change. LC painfully showed his lack of these essential skills on the football field.
If you think about it, BM will go down in Michigan history as a great man. He has put our great school in great shape financially, has done an incredible job with handling the Big House renovations, and has shown a willingness to change, adapt, and lead. He has negotiated great contracts and has been able to finance on of the most beautiful athletic campuses in the nation.
Unfortunately I am at work so I cannot continue to write as much as I would like. In the end, BM has done a great job in leading this great University. He has put all of our varsity sports in a position to consistently be the leaders and best. He has also laid the foundation for future improvements that will assist in drawing in top talent from around the world. I can only hope he stays on as an 'adviser' for many years to come.
Thank you Bill Martin, and Go Blue.
HAIL.
Does anyone else think that the timing of this might indicate that the NCAA investigation isn't going as smoothly as hoped?
Hopefully this isn't the case.
That he's not leaving until next September would suggest that the NCAA investigation had nothing to do with this. Retirements in shame are normally immediate and intended to allow the university to move on post-haste.
This seems designed to (a) ensure that the stadium project is completed on time and under budget, (b) ensure solid fiscal planning for the next large-scale projects (baskeball practice facility, Crisler?), and (c) allow for a high-profile celebration of his tenure during the UConn home opener (his last day on the job).
if it was going really poorly, he wouldn't be announcing his retirement 11 months ahead of time. the investigation will be done long before he's gone.
there's never a good time to retire from that high profile job, but it is good he is giving the admin almost a year to find a replacement
I'm pretty sure it has been known for awhile that he would step down sometime close to when the stadium was done. But I hope that isn't the reason.
Ya, of course we all knew that this was going to happen one day, and it was most likely going to be sooner than later. All I am saying is that the timing is somewhat concerning.
Than again, maybe I am just being an irrational pessimist. Please let that be the case.
Bill Martin has been talking about retiring for at least the last two years. Mary Sue talked him into staying on until the stadium renovation was complete.
Source? His own words in his letter of resignation to her:
http://www.mgoblue.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/mich/genrel/auto_pdf/ma...
Michigan's previous athletic directors:
Bill Martin
Tom Goss
Jack Weidenbach
Bo Schembechler
Don Canham
Fritz Crisler
Fielding H. Yost
Philip Bartelme
Charles A. Baird
Of these 9 athletic directors:
-2 were football team managers (Bartelme and Baird)
-3 were football team coaches (Yost, Crisler and Schembechler)
-1 was a football team player (Goss)
-1 was a track & field athlete and coach (Canham)
-1 had a Michigan MBA and was an Ann Arbor businessman (Martin)
-Anyone know anything about Weidenbach?
Based on the past (which is not necessarily predictive of the future, I know, but still) I would expect us to hire someone with pretty strong Maize and Blue ties, with either major program coaching experience or business acumen (or both). Red's probably too old, so of the coaches that would (I would think) leave Lloyd - any other smaller sport coaches that would fit? Bowman?
Hail to the Victors.
Jack Weidenbach (1990-1994) was basically a career administrator (28 years) with the University, and started with the athletic deparment in 1988. Weidenbach built Schembechler Hall and did minor renovations of Cliff Keen Arena and the Marie Hartwig ticket office building. He also scheduled Notre Dame through 2011, which pissed the hell out of Bo.
You also forgot Joe Roberson, who served from 1994 until Tom Goss in 1998. Roberson was the first AD to sign a college to an apparel contract (the 1994 7-million-dollar Nike deal), and of course he "fired" Gary Moeller. Roberson was a minor league baseball player whose career was ended by injury, and he became a career administrator and fundraiser for U-M (he had previously served as Chancellor of U-M Flint).
not sure when...
Point still holds that it'll be someone with strong Michigan ties, though, methinks.
Hail to the Victors.
You forgot Joe Roberson who, I believe, was the head of UM-Flint and then director of a big rundraising drive before becoming AD. Maybe that is the direction to go; someone from that side of the univeristy as opposed to the coaching side.
Warde Manuel might be a good fit. He played for Bo before injuries forced him to quit football. He then lettered in track twice. He got his bachelor's, master's and MBA from Michigan.
He's young (40) and has been a successful AD at Buffalo, building that athletic department from virtually nothing to one that has seen its football team go to a bowl game for the first time in ages.
He also worked in the athletic department at Michigan. If we want to see a guy here for a long time, he might be the pick.
His name was mentioned at Rivals, and this was the response: "Might as well pack RR's bags while you're at it." Apparently Manuel is tight with Stapleton.
http://genuinelysarcastic.blogspot.com (UPDATED: 3/8)
So who is the AD at West Virginia?
Another question is what are they going to name after him? Sailboat has renovated pretty much every athletic facility in his tenure, thoughts?
I have a Fandom Endurance III merit badge
Are there any plans to put names on the new structures within the Big House? Maybe the "Bill Martin Concourse" for one side and the "Lloyd Carr Concourse" for the other? I also think the hoops practice facility would be a good one to name after him. It would be nice if one of the buildings that he helped build were to bear his name.
I believe the concourse naming rights were able to be purchased, and I thought about the new basketball facility, but it will probably be named after the largest donor...
Perhaps Alumni Field or the new soccer complex, if it has not been earmarked already.
I have a Fandom Endurance III merit badge
Thanks.
This is just Step One from the Shadow Government in Ypsilanti.
Martin didnt retire. He was forced to release a retirement announced with a bayonnent pointing at his jugular. Hell, he might still be dead. They dont spare lives over there.
Rodriguez better just start packing his fucking bags right now.
Lloyd has waited too long to put his minions in place. He's not waiting any longer. This step was drastic, but one that had to be made in order for faster regime change.
It's all finally playing out, Just like he's planned since 1995.
The Winter Olympics at www.justcoverblog.com
God Bless Your Cotton Pickin' Maize & Blue Hearts
When I was but a callow youth there were a few Bill Martin edicts that I didn't care for (i.e., student ticket validation, attempts to tone down vulgarity at Yost, etc.).
But by and large, save perhaps for the sailing fiasco during the coaching search (and who will ever know what was really going on during that time?), this man was nothing short of absolutely superb in this job.
When Martin first started, he made trips around the state to have breakfasts with groups of alumni. Including in my home town, Alpena (that's four hours North of A2 on Lake Huron in BFE for those who don't know). We're a town of roughly 25,000. And Bill Martin cared to come.
The week following the 2001 terrorist attacks, I was a junior and my little bro was a freshman. That week people were panicked about what the next target might be, large gatherings of people, etc. My dad left Martin a phone message thus: "Hey, I've got two kids who are going to be in the Big House for the next game. What are you doing to make sure they're safe?" And Martin called him back personally the same afternoon, during the day when he was surely in touch with security firms, police departments, and other concerned citizens, not to mention the Illinois athletic department regarding how to rearrange the scheduled game.
Bill Martin gave us a huge and lasting bounty of new, top-notch athletic facilities, and brought athletics back from a constant game of financial Russian roulette to the point that athletics is now swimming in cash, and he's done it all while earning (charming?) the respect of even his enemies.
His successor will have HUGE shoes to fill.
I was involved with the ticket validation decision (on the student side of things) - the choice came down to either (a) capping the number of students who could buy student tickets each year, or (b) instituting the validation process. In the late 90s scalping by students on ebay, etc. was getting out of hand, and Martin wanted to get tickets out of those hands and into alumni hands. All things considered, it was a much better decision for students and a much better decision for alumni - it only hurt students trying to scalp to Buckeyes, Spartans, etc., which I'm fine with.
Hail to the Victors.
I know many people who bought the tickets with the sole purpose of selling them on Ebay. You could buy student tickets for a couple hundred bucks (I have no recollection of what student tickets cost when I was in school but it was a damn good deal) and sell them on Ebay as a package for around a grand depending on the schedule.
And please, little baby Jesus, don't let it be Lloyd Carr.
With Mary Sue Coleman heading this up, I bet current AD from Iowa, Gary Barta, is on the shortlist. Or whoever was there before him, since he's been there only 4 years.
I believe Matt Millen is available!
In such a cynical, sarcastic society, oftentimes looking for the negative on anybody or anything, if you're fortunate enough to spend five minutes or 20 minutes around Tim Tebow, your life is better for it.
-Thom Brennaman
complete wild-assed guessing begins in...3...2...1...