wile_e8

October 15th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^

Actually if you RTFA, WWJ CBS TV had it first and ESPN is "scooping" it from there. And "it" is a statement from Denise Ilitch, a regent. From the article:

"The systems failed and there are a lot of issues we have to review," Ilitch told WWJ CBS TV in Detroit.

So this isn't just some random rumor made up on a message board, regents are saying things to media outlets.

Brodie

October 15th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^

ESPN picked up a wire report from CBS Detroit

an ESPN reporter called a local source for further comment

their source, who could be anyone from Gregg Henson to a senior University official, said that feelers had been put out but they wouldn't go on the record

ESPN combines the two things into an article

123blue

October 15th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^

I think her comment is in reference to the Morris concussion which (I believe) is far down the list of alumni gripes with the AD.  I'm not sure why that continues to get top billing, especially when Michigan football was just purchased by Chobani for two cokes and a Beyonce CD.

123blue

October 15th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^

I'm no fan of Brandon, but it'd be tough to make a serious argument that he endangered the health of a student and attempted to cover it up.  It'd be easy, however, to argue that the staff on the field goofed up and that Brandon's ensuing PR course was terrible.  Plenty of people give a shit about uniformz, music, seating, ticket prices, etc...Brandon was well-hated before the Morris hit.

UM2k1

October 15th, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^

Ok, how about someone under his direct supervision actively endangered the health and well being of a student athlete and he and his subordinate attempted to cover it up.  It does not matter whether he did the actual deed, he is responsible for the department.  

 

This is the same reason VA secretary Shinseki was forced to resign. He didn't actually perform the acts (and non-acts) that the department did, but was held responsible for them none-the-less.

HermosaBlue

October 15th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^

He didn't actively endanger Morris's health.  He just actively covered it up and did everything he could to keep the word "concussion" out of any official press releases.

Par for the course in Brandon's athletics department: screw up, then lie and always deny deny deny.

All the other Brandon-related crap falls somewhere between mild annoyance and fairly irritating on my scale, but the way that he's handled the Morris concussion (and the related PR debacles) are positively infuriating to me.

Brodie

October 15th, 2014 at 2:49 PM ^

I'll just be blunt: The reality of the situation is that while a large number of people do care about the things you mention, they would not be anywhere near the critical mass issue they're at right now if the football team was meeting expectations. Nobody else calls for their AD's head over the volume of piped in music or the number of alternate uniforms (something that is now standard nationwide with all suppliers). From the perspective of the BoR, Brandon is doing his job and doing it well by making shitloads of money. I'm sure they'd be pretty easily convinced to let him fire Hoke and let a new coach alleviate some of the complaints being lobbed at Schembechler Hall.

If you want them to go through the trouble of firing Brandon and paying his massive buyout, there has to be something more palpable than "HE DISRESPECTED THE BAND" backing it up, because that's not going to convince anyone to shell out major dollars. The Morris thing and the ADs inept handling of the aftermath are the Waterloo for Brandon, like it or not.

123blue

October 15th, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^

Well, you speak from your reality and I'll speak from mine.  In my reality, I've communicated with one regent (a family friend) who is furious about all of the things that anger most on this blog (and students/alumni in general).  I also ran into another regent who feels the same way.  Neither seemed eager to keep Dave and this was before Morris took the hit.

James Burrill Angell

October 15th, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^

Put in old SAT format

Concussion is to Drunken rant at Excalibur Restaurant as Brandon is to Moeller.

Those that have been wanting to get rid of Brandon can use this incident as the thing they point to as the proverbial last straw when they dump him much the way the University pointed to Moeller having a drunken rant at a restaurant as the excuse to get rid of him because he wasn't performing on the field.

 

MGoChippewa

October 15th, 2014 at 12:12 PM ^

I think this is an instance where connecting the dots makes it hard for me to believe that this is all a farce.  The comments from Denise Illitch, combined with other reports, and the influence of it being a bye week for football, lend some credence to whatever reporting ESPN has done on this story.

ijohnb

October 15th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^

are reporting that "somebody" contacted candidates on Michigan's behalf.  Come on ESPN. 

Not really much to see here.  Everybody can go back to googling "Dallas Ebola Update" and deciding whether it is time to stock canned goods yet.

AMazinBlue

October 15th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^

We can only hope they do what is best for the program and the Ath. Dept for the long term and not just the next 5 weeks.  Brandon has to go and then Hoke after OSU.  The light in the tunnel may not be an on-coming train.