Another Notch in the Brandon Branding Bedpost
The Sanford Robertson Offensive Coordinator
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/052914aaa.html
Someone gives the University $3MM and you're complaining about naming a coaching position after them? Stop whining and appreciate someone's generosity. Geez.
My comment wasn't in response to yours, TaiStreets. I no longer see the one I intended to respond to.
No.
He could have given that money to a much more worthy cause than having his name on the offensive coordinator's position. This guy and the Harrises are narcissists.
when announcers will have to call a game similar to this:
"What a pass to the James W. Museldorf Michigan wide receiver from Larry F. Woodsworth Michigan quarterback which will take the ball all the way up to the Blaerth B. Collins 40 yard line!"
Sincerely, the ticket packages brought to you by 950 AM WWJ Radio!
money to operate and the program wouldn't be what it is today without the donations of those in the past, but to me this makes us as humans look like glorified dogs looking for a fire hydrant to mark ourselves on...
Yet no one here complains about Weil Hall or the Dow building or the Munger graduate residences. Do people only complain because it's attached to the evil, greedy football program run by that pizza-wielding menace to all that's good and pure about college athletics?
I think the issue is that we are talking about football coaches here. In the grand scheme of things - particularly related to education - these guys aren't really all that important. To name positions in the athletic department (AD, head coach, coordinator) after donors kind of elevates their jobs to something that they really aren't.
At least when people contribute money to build an academic building or create a scholarship they are doing something that creates public good and should be recognized as such. Donating money to an athletic department, while good for us Michigan fans, probably isn't an obvious public service.
the football program that is the problem, it is that there is an inherent awkardness in naming a job position versus a building. I have no problem with donors wanting to be recognized for their gifts, but the endowed job titles just end up sounding pretty dopey.
with similar titles. Not just at Michigan.
incorrect.
Weill Hall is a great building (my wife used to work there) - but Sandy Weill is an execrable human being and I'm embarassed by my university being associated with him. They should have turned down his filthy lucre.
As for the Munger graduate residence hall - it may be the stupidest idea the university has ever come up with. It's overpriced, will end up largely empty, it reduced parking in an area that desperately needs more, and it unnecessarily removed properties from the tax rolls.
I believe that graduate residence hall was Charlie Munger's idea. He had a bright idea for the campus, and since he paid for it they let him do it. I don't know enough about it to know if it's a good idea or not.
I personally don't care that much, but I do think its a bit silly. Why not name a training center or practice field after the donor? A coaching position seems like a dumb thing to name.
Brandon knows he has pissed off middle-aged and young fans, so he is moving all in on making the blue hairs feel as important as possible. It's like that old quote from a former president: "Some call you the elites. I call you my base."
David Brandon could save a litter of puppies from a burning building and this board will go "How dare BRANDon deny those puppies their warmth? There is tradition that we have to uphold! Put those puppies back in!"
Maybe Brandon should spend less time saving puppies and more time getting MSU and OSU at home in alternating years!! Looks like we know where his priorities are.
I know that, I was joking. Just bringing up another thing people like to blame Dave Brandon for.
Oh fuck that.
Go look at the comments (MLive/Freep/Daily) on any Brandon article. Listen to discussions about him at parties where the guests are not old elites. He is deeply disliked in many circles because of his ACTIONS. It has little to do with the pathos of the MGoBoard.
This board would not object to David Brandon saving a litter of puppies from a burning building. This board probably would object to Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics David Brandon saving a litter of puppies from a burning building. And this board would most definitely object to Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics David Brandon saving a litter of puppies from a burning building and then tweeting out thanks to J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach Brady Hoke for being his inspiration #LeadersandBest
I think the board would object more if the Donald R. Shepherd Director of Athletics David Brandon saved the Satchmo Q. Handerson Litter of Puppies from a burning building.
I mean, who donates money and wants naming rights to a litter of puppies in a burning building? That's just sick.
In other words, turn off critical thought and just deck your room out with maize and blue sheets comforters like you, right?
The 2002 game was at OSU.
Really? The gates of hell? Sheesh.
The idea of naming coaching and athletic department positions after donors IS odd, no matter what you say about the generosity and support of the donors. Is it 'generous' that they decided to give their money to the athletic department? Of course it is. Is the athletic department just about the LAST place on campus that needs the support? Of course it is. Is the purpose of the donation to promote scholarship and support the academic pursuits of a scholar and through that scholar a host of associated research staff who would otherwise struggle to find funding? Come on, this is a coaching position in a revenue-generating machine, a position that would exist anyhow.
This is a vanity donation, just like Mr. Ross' enormous donation, certainly not necessary, certainly with no major intention other than stroking the ego of individuals with too much money on their hands. What happened to a plaque on the wall? Why anyone with that kind of money would look at the University of Michigan and think to him/herself, "I'll donate a few million to the athletic department", when there are so many people and programs in a constant desperate fight for outside funding just to keep their programs alive and roofs over the heads of their grad students, is way beyond me. But hey, it's their money, not mine.
...run away from here.
I'd rather have us name coaches than have ads in the stadium.
First we hated Lloyd Carr. Then we hated Rich Rod. Now we hate Hoke/Brandon. Can we just support the football team?
I can't wait until next time we play Minnesota in the newly dedicated PNC Stadium for the Little Brown Jug presented by (and probably filled with) Coca Cola!!
It's gonna happen.
I'd rather that he gifted the $50 billion so that students from families of modest means wouldn't be saddled with tuition debt when they graduate.
In the eyes of many on this board, you are so unappreciative. If people want to gift money to an autonomous program within the university that sneezes money, they are wonderful and beyond critique.
Exactly. People give money away, millions of their own dollars, but people critique them saying that money should have gone to something else. Give me a break. There are a bunch of rich people none of us know who won't donate a dime of their own money, but we're going to bash the ones who do because they don't donate it to the right thing. Holy smokes.
I don't care if Mr. Robertson gives $3 million of his own money to endow some position like a professorship. That amount is not really a game-changer these days. And I'm not being "ungrateful", I'm just responding to the post about Gates donating his fortune to athletics.
When you think about an amount like $50 billion dollars, that can cause an enormous impact on the world. That's way bigger than U of M's total endowment by many multiples. If Gates or Warren Buffet one day woke up and said, "Screw this, forget about charities and medical research, I'm going to fund my alma mater's athletic departments instead!", well that is their money and there's nothing you or I can do anything about it. If they were to give those amounts, both Harvard and the Cornhuskers probably would be athletic powerhouses for decades on end, winning national championships to ad nauseum. But in the end, it's just sports. It may change the lives of a small number of scholarship athletes and the now-super-wealthy coaches, but for the rest of the students it doesn't do much. Probably the student tickets are now extremely cheap and the stadium has great wi-fi. But if they were to donate it to a scholarship fund... think about it: Most students getting a world-class education at U of M without having to worry about carrying a mortgage-sized debt and getting a great start on life. That would have a huge impact.
Oregon. I am up here on business right now, and its a beautiful state. Phil Knight gives billions to this school and they have great facilities... everyone bitches about how this is unfair..but believe me, Michigan needs donors on that level and $3 mil is not chump change.
People need to stop criticizing Brandon etc. and start encouraging him and supporting him for keeping up with the arms race that college football has become.
Oh, not that Sanford?