[Upchurch/MGoBlog]

[Ed. note (Adam): A huge thank you to Greg Garno of The Michigan Daily for the audio. The following transcript is from the portion of the press conference in which video cameras weren’t allowed. The first part of the presser can be found here: http://www.mgoblue.com/collegesportslive/?media=476826]

Just a little finer-point follow up on the questions about recruiting. Other ADs have spoken to recruits to assure them one way or another. Will you have any direct contact with people that are being recruited in football?

"I haven't thought about that. I would tell you this, that the role that I'm playing as Athletic Director, as interim Athletic Director is supporting these coaches. The coaches own the point of view of their programs. This is how I led the businesses I have in my history, and so I'm there to help them. Of course I'm evaluating them. I'm trying to build resources and structures to help them be more effective, to help train them, to help develop them, to help motivate them so if there's anything I can help them do in the broadest sense I'm going to be there for them."

You mentioned your criteria for evaluating the football program. What are your criteria for evaluating a potential new Athletic Director?

“Well, because that sits with President Schlissel I’m going to let him hold the answer to that, and what I probably owe him is I can say as someone who used the seat of Athletic Director [that] I can give him some input, but it’s probably premature to do that right now. I’ve been 25 days or something on the job.”

In that input though, in your 25 days what do you think is the most important thing that you would say to President Schlissel is a key attribute of this new leader?

“What I’d be answering is how I feel about what I think we need in leadership. I walked in here with this notion and nothing’s changed my mind, and it begins with we stand in service of others. The job of a leader is to help people who want to achieve more, to be there for them, to support them. I’m a big believer in very thoughtful approaches to problems plus a mix of doing them, so it’s not only about getting things done but it’s about being really thoughtful. You heard more than an inference that I believe you’ve got to align yourself around the most competitive set in the world. We compete in our product with other kinds of institutions around the world- around the country, sorry, and to have the highest sense of acuity of what does it takes to compete, to make our fans so delighted, to make our alums so proud, to make the student-athletes believe that this is the best place in the world and on and on is really important. To have that acuity and help rationalize that is the part of leadership.”

[More after THE JUMP]

When were you contacted about being interim [AD]? Who called you? How quickly did you respond to that request?

“Yeah, President Schlissel was the only one I talked to. He called me a few days before the news of Dave’s resignation and he’s a very thoughtful guy. He was thinking about what if something happens in Athletics, do you have any ideas who might be a potential interim Athletic Director? We talked about a couple people that I thought might be really good and then he said, ‘Would you be interested?’ And I said, ‘I’ve got to talk to Kathy about that.’ And the next day he said that Dave had resigned, so that’s how it happened.”

You understand that you’re stepping into a situation where potential there could be a change in the football program after you evaluate it. How comfortable are you in that role, making a change if that’s what’s needed?

“I think the position I’m in today, and I’m really comfortable with this, the process of evaluating the coach at the end of the season is a really certain mark on the stage that I know how to do, and I’m really comfortable with the fact that this guy has done an extraordinary job in very difficult times. The calling-into-question part, in a leadership sense you wait for the moment when you’re really going to do it. It’s almost like a solemn ceremony, because it’s a deep respect for him and a deep respect for the process that you go through to make a decision like that.”

You mentioned football is one of your main goals, evaluating the football program. What kind of time have you been able to spend with the other sports programs and getting to know them?

“That’s been the challenge. I attended my first basketball game. I’ve been able to talk to Coach Beilein, Coach Berenson and many of the other coaches. We’ve had a number of fall coaches meetings where we’ve sat in the room like this and had a discussion about the changes and they’re all, of course, in various stages of flight with their programs. Their biggest question is, ‘Is there anything we should worry about, Jim, in the way that we’re going to change?’ and I really wanted to assure them that the previous administrations that have run this place have really sound underpinnings to it. Areas that I hope to impact are going to take some time. For example, I’ve hinted that the fan experience is a big deal to me. I know how to do that from my previous job, so there’s some method and technique and I’m going to use things like that and come back to you with some ideas about what that might look like.”

Just wanted to clarify, when you talk about wanting to take care of those three tasks before you worry about finding a new Athletic Director, will you definitely be the one in the seat evaluating the program and making a change if need be?

“The President has delegated to me the question of the performance of the football program at the end of the season.”

When you took over there was a lot of unrest, a lot of people unhappy with the athletic department, obviously. How much of a repair job does the athletic department need at this point?

“It really starts with the people that work here, because the group that’s working in athletics- first of all, I’ve got to point out the obvious, how extraordinary they are. My main message to them was, ‘You’re really good people [and] you’ve been doing great work’ to stabilize the feeling that things were in any kind of dire shape. They’re not. Secondly, when we pronounce these four or five things I did this in a letter to them last week, and they felt really about these are the right things for us to work on.”

You had just said a couple question previously, I believe your words were ‘extraordinary job’-

“Under adversity.”

Under adversity. What is extraordinary about the Michigan football program needing to win this game perhaps to become bowl eligible?

“You just said it. It’s the idea that you get to the point where there’s a flashpoint and you have to prove yourself, and things haven’t gone your way and yet he’s practiced this week to try and make this bowl game with incredible focus. I said also that he knows, there’s zero question in his mind that we’re not where we need to be.”

So what defines an acceptable season for Michigan football in your mind?

“I’m going to leave it that I’m really proud of where he’s in right now, and the evaluation of his go-forward status is going to come and I’ll be making that decision.”

It’s almost a follow up to what he was saying, but we hear from Michigan fans all the time- the stadium, because of the weather maybe it’ll be full today, maybe it won’t. The criteria, that delicate balance because you’ve said Brady’s done a lot of great things here but your assessment of the football product on the field; where do think this program is at right now and do you see improvement or has it kind of leveled off?

“I’m going to give you a really clear answer on that when we get to the end of the season, because it’s a body of work and we have two more games. One of them is a red letter game with a really important rival, and when that’s all done it won’t be vague or unclear about where we stand. I also want to emphasize we’re not where we need to be. He knows that, so the bigger issue is now only do I know it but does our coaching staff know it and they know it. Sometimes in business I found myself in reviews of situations and you thought, ‘People don’t understand where we are.’ They understand where we are. That’s a good start in terms of doing the evaluation that I have to do.”

You said before you’ve only been on the job 25 days, yet in this 25 days period would you like to have ‘interim’ off? Would you like this job? Have you expressed any interest to President Schlissel that perhaps you would like to do this?

“I’ve told him that I need to focus [on] right now, and the rest of that will come later.”

“Thank you very much. I’ve enjoyed meeting with you, and I want to say in parting that I really respect the role the media plays in this business versus the last one I was in, which was running a global corporation for a long time, and I got to know the people that cover the industry. By design I want to spend less time in my own right in these kind of settings until I have things to tell you about that you can count on, and so we’re not going to leave you in the lurch where you don’t know what’s going on or are guessing how I think about things, but I really have a belief that the authentic position is to come with real news and real decisions and real perspective, so I’d ask you to be patient with that as I’m new and trust that you’ll be happy when I do.”