Brandon proposed that the Game not be held every year

Submitted by dnak438 on

More revelations from Endzone via Land-Grant Holy Land:

Dave Brandon proposed that the Ohio State/Michigan game be occasionally moved to October, or in some cases, not played at all. He also proposed that Ohio State and Michigan be in different Big Ten divisions.

Yikes. Read the whole thing here: 

http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2015/8/25/9205221/john-u-bacon-endzone-review-michigan-football-dave-brandon-jim-harbaugh

PurpleStuff

August 25th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^

I remember people defending Brandon when UM and OSU ended up in different divisions on the grounds that there were a lot of parties at the negotiating table and we couldn't just expect to get everything we wanted when entering into negotiations with Northwestern and Purdue.

I remember saying Brandon either sucked at his job or didn't actually want what we wanted (and what made sense for preserving the importance of the rivalry).  Apparently both were true.

Fuck Dave Brandon.

acnumber1

August 25th, 2015 at 12:06 PM ^

Had things gone a little better (no concussion-gate, a win over MSU or OSU, a WD-free mgoblog), we might still have Brandon and Hoke.

In that scenario, does John U. Bacon still write a book with all of these nuggets of Brandoneptitude? 

And if so, what then?

 

Yikes

 

edit: not implying that a WD-free Mgoblog would be better on the whole, just better for DB

AFWolverine

August 25th, 2015 at 12:06 PM ^

In all seriousness, I'm glad the typical Bucknut doesn't read books like this. We've lost enough to them lately, we don't need more egg on our face. I know Brandon is long gone, but the fact that Michigan had the ineptitude to even think of nixing the The Game periodically under his watch, makes my fandom blood boil. Sure, there are bigger things in life than football. But when it comes down to it, The Game is the one sacred thing that should never be touched. Ever.

Former_DC_Buck

August 25th, 2015 at 2:53 PM ^

Laying in the weeds, reading books.  Oh, wait, it's the Spartan's that lay in the weeds.

I did see a post on 11W where one guy did say he hoped someone posted a summary and highlights because he didn't want to have to read the whole book.  I should have put a link to Brian's Lasting Lessons manifesto. 

Lt. Pete Mitchell

August 25th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^

I always thought Brian's hate was at one irrational extreme, but as John U Bacon keeps releasing tid bits I'm now right there with him.  I'm assuming Brian has known more than us all along, and Brandon is clearly a self absorbed idiot.

CorkyCole

August 25th, 2015 at 1:18 PM ^

Yet if you read Brians one word response of "Wow" in regards to his thoughts on the book (I believe from his Unverified Voracity post yesterday), I have to imagine that it only gets better.

For someone like Brian to have that kind of response to something he knew a lot about already, that only shows that this thing was JACKED - way more than we could have ever imagined. Which.... This "The Game" crap is pretty bad, so I think that alone paints a pretty solid picture.

Stuck in Ohio

August 25th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

He is gone. I wasn't happy with him after year 1. It seemed to me that he knew the football program was faltering so instead, he tries to go the route of let's make the day full of the WOW factor hoping the fans would walk away thinking, "my team lost the game, but overall, it was a great day with everything else that happened." Translation, The pizza tasted like shit but it was fun to see all the relatives at grandma's party even though grandma didn't show up."

Glad we have embarked on a new era.

double blue

August 25th, 2015 at 12:07 PM ^

My god!  just cannot imagine how a michigan football letter winner from a Bo team could possibly consider not playing OSU.  I used to imagine him like the scarecrow without a brain, but this doubles down and makes him the scarecrow and the lion with no heart.

I get he did a lot for other sports, but this, this is unconscionable. It makes you wonder even more about Mary Sue and what she was thinking.  Hail Schissel, hail harbaugh.

carlos spicywiener

August 25th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

Winter 2015 Toys R Us Board Meeting

Brandon: Guys, let's shake things up round these parts. We're going to stop making toys. Instead, we'll manufacture Computer microchips and graphics cards. We'll call it Microprocessors R Us. Who's with me?

Board: *silence*

Perkis-Size Me

August 25th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

This guy played for Michigan. For Bo. And he had the nerve to suggest that we not play OSU every year? I still can't possibly understand how Mary Sue went out of her way to vouch for this guy, or how he ever even got the damn job in the first place. 

The sheer amount of stupidity that Michigan had in its ranks over the last few years is baffling. So thankful we've cleaned house.

 

Perkis-Size Me

August 25th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

This guy played for Michigan. For Bo. And he had the nerve to suggest that we not play OSU every year? I still can't possibly understand how Mary Sue went out of her way to vouch for this guy, or how he ever even got the damn job in the first place. 

The sheer amount of stupidity that Michigan had in its ranks over the last few years is baffling. So thankful we've cleaned house.

 

Perkis-Size Me

August 25th, 2015 at 12:08 PM ^

This guy played for Michigan. For Bo. And he had the nerve to suggest that we not play OSU every year? I still can't possibly understand how Mary Sue went out of her way to vouch for this guy, or how he ever even got the damn job in the first place. 

The sheer amount of stupidity that Michigan had in its ranks over the last few years is baffling. So thankful we've cleaned house.

 

charblue.

August 25th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^

In Bacon's opus, Bo's Lasting Lessons, one of the storylines that's emphasized is that a leader a should always have a pulse on what is happening within his program, whether its football or business. And, in a story that Bacon tells through Bo's narrative, is one about our current AD Jim Hackett and his connection with the team as a demo player. 

At the end of this piece, Bo mentions not only Hackett but Brandon too, as an example of a player who became a successful business leader and cites his background and attributes prior to Bo's death in 2006. 

It is interesting that these two guys would become succeeding athletic directors at Michigan if only because Bacon's book series has now traced the history of all that has happened in Ann Arbor since Bo's sudden death on the eve of the greatest game in the greatest college football rivalry. 

If you understood Bo's  passion for this game and you wanted most of all to assure his legacy and trust  that you would run the best college athletic department in the country, how could you ever propose not playing the single game of the season that everyone in the country yearns to see, and for which, the guy whose name bears the football building where the program resides, said his last dying wish was to prepare for a game against Woody Hayes and Ohio State. Not necessarily play it, but prepare for it?

But, in fact, this happened. And I remember the scuttlebut of rumors that first arose when it was suggested in the wake of conference expansion, divisional formatting and scheduling changes that Michigan-Ohio State should be moved off its traditional calendar playdate to earlier in the season. 

In fact, I recall Brandon and Ohio State actually polling the fan bases on this very issue. Of course, the very idea was viewed repugnantly and dismissed, although not immediately. But the implication of this proposal was that it came from outside of Ann Arbor and Columbus, that it was being pressed by the conference for whatever reason. This is the story that Brandon tried to sell when it became clear that this had absolutely no traction and would cause great grief for everyone. 

Like the skywriting thing, Brandon never took responsibility for this. And if it had become public that he raised it, it surely would have expedited his demise sooner than later. On that I have no doubt. 

 

 

 

mGrowOld

August 25th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^

I wold give anything to be in the room if Bo had still been alive to see Brandon tell him all about his great new idea regarding the OSU game he wants to implement.

Shit, Bo lost his mind when they moved the game to 3:30.  

Chunks the Hobo

August 25th, 2015 at 1:23 PM ^

"It is interesting that these two guys would become succeeding athletic directors at Michigan..."

Only Hackett is succeeding. You meant "successive."

(Not trying to be a dick, just can't handle the idea of Brandon and "succeeding" in the same sentence.)

bluebrains98

August 25th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^

More recently, after noticing a demographics gap in their profits, Mr. Brandon proposed refocusing the business of Toys R Us. Specifically, all bicycles with training wheels are to be replaced with motorized Rascals, the plush toy sections are to be swapped out in exchange for robust displays of Depends, and all candy is to be substituted out for laxatives and vitamin supplements.

RFM

August 25th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

I find a portion of this impossible to believe which makes me question the veracity of other "facts" in the book. I never really questioned anything else I've heard until reading this.




Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Optimism Attache

August 25th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^

You're entitled to file this under "unverified voracity," if that's how you feel. But until someone in the know, who was actually there, can provide an alternative account, I have no reason to doubt Bacon's version. He's a pretty darn good researcher who uses multiple layers of verification and fact checking.

Alton

August 25th, 2015 at 12:47 PM ^

Let's remember that this allegation is filtered through somebody that I don't necessarily know that I should trust--this OSU blog.

Perhaps the "not play every year" is what would have happened if his weird mid-season relegation plan had been implemented.  Not a separate proposal.  I can see how that would result.

charblue.

August 25th, 2015 at 1:12 PM ^

Buckeye blog isn't a bad filter and has certain veracity on this score, because Ohio State fans hated the proposal as much as we did, and so the idea of the change and where it originated would have great interest to their fan base. 

So, it stands to reason that this particular issue would play big to Buckeye fans. And even if this blogger buries the lede in Bacon's book review, because if it's me, that proposal is cancerous on whatever level you ttry to sell it or massage the message. 

And, plus, I remember the methodology that Brandon used in floating this idea. It came after the Alabama-Michigan game was announced as the season opener in Denard's junior year, and it came after the Sugar Bowl win, I believe, which helped his masquerade in launching that bombshell. In fact, I don't recall anyone suggesting The Game would be skipped in a particular year. 

But let's not forget as well, that in the wake of this, Brandon signed off on allowing MSU to get two straight home games againsts Michigan. That is one scheduling bugaboo that can never  be written off as bad or questionable pr. He authorized it.