Bill Martin Headed For Pasture

One thing is for sure, we won't be poaching WVa's AD anytime soon....

Here's to hoping that Mary Sue and her politburo makes sure she gets somebody who is well schooled in business practices... as a self-sustaining AthDept, we can't afford a "Rah Rah we'll pay anything for a coach" type of guy. We need a person who understands the financial aspects almost more than the athletic ones. We've been lucky with Martin, who for all his sailboaty-ness, did have a good balance of financial acumen with basic athletic competance.

I worry that they will put an academic into the position of AD, and make a minimum GPA of like 3.5 for the football team or something.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that Jim Stapleton will NOT be on the short list...

http://www.michigan.rivals.com/showmsg.asp?fid=338&mid=127196485&sid=883...

"Martin said to me once that he wanted out when the facilities were shored up. Somebody obviously didn't like seeing that in print, so he backtracked later. But it was obviously the case.

This is good timing for Bill, bad timing for Michigan. Buckle up."

I am especially concerned about those last two sentences. I sure hope this doesn't mean Lloyd or Brandon. I really liked Lloyd as our football coach and as a person, but a) he isn't a RR supporter (which is a pre-requisite for the job, IMO) and b) he's too up there in years. If he didn't have the energy to be the football coach, I don't see how he'll have the energy to be AD.

This has the writing to be Lloyd Carr....anyone else agree?

Mike Hart for AD!

Or Riersema, if he loses his bid for Congress.

I'm guessing there'll be some "good riddance" sentiment from some on this site, but from my perspective, we'll be losing a great Michigan Man and giant with this one. Bill Martin has to go down with Fielding Yost and Don Canham as one of the most influential ADs we've had.

Many won't remember, but before Bill Martin the AD was Tom Goss, who ran us deep into the red and oversaw the Brian Ellerbe era. Bill Martin moved us into strongly the black, turned Crisler into a much more student and fan-friendly environment, rebuilt (step-by-step from Amaker to Beilein) the basketball program from the ashes, renovated Yost, renovated Fisher, renovated the Big House, and oversaw the Rodriguez hire. He was accessible to students, wielded a big stick in the intercollegiate athletic world (and the Olympic world), and interacted with alumni in a very proactive way.

This will be a hard act to follow from a business perspective, which means I'd love to see a great Michigan Man get this job. If I had a vote, my initial vote would be for Lloyd Carr.

I have no idea who could be the next Athletic Director since I'm not even sure what it takes to be a good one, although from what I know and have read it sounds like Bill has done a terrific job. He did what he knew was right, not what was popular.

That said, would Bruce Madej make a good AD? Just throwing it out there...

"MARTIN CRUMBLES BENEATH PRESSURE OF FREEP INVESTIGATION"

/freep self-agrandizing headline

But seriously, I have nothing but respect for Lloyd, but he doesn't strike me as the type that would be interested, nor do I think he should get it.

'I will personally oversee the search for the next Athletic Director with the help of a small advisory group."

Anyone else worried about this?

Dan Radakovich - Georgia Tech's current AD

- Midwestern Roots
- He has been able effectively balance GT's tougher academic standards and athletic performance.
- Prior stints at LSU and USC (South Carolina)

http://ramblinwreck.cstv.com/genrel/radakovich_dan00.html

complete wild-assed guessing begins in...3...2...1...

I believe Matt Millen is available!

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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?

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.