Brandon proposed that the Game not be held every year
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:
August 25th, 2015 at 1:40 PM ^
All of that is right. I think David Brandon at some point might have said that Michigan doesn't have to play Ohio State every year. If his weird Swiss-system football season idea, or whatever it was, didn't have us in the same cluster as OSU, it would have resulted in us not playing them sometimes.
And yes, we are stuck with this awful MSU/OSU pairing for the rest of history or until the conference expands or contracts, and that's entirely Mr. Brandon's fault. I do have a hard time understanding people who, given everything they know about Mr. Brandon, don't believe this.
August 25th, 2015 at 3:44 PM ^
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 bombshellNo, it was during the 2010 season, because that was the last year the Big Ten had 11 teams. In 2011 the league was split into the two divisions with Nebraska's entry.
August 25th, 2015 at 4:13 PM ^
I think that you are absolutely correct. Everyone is reacting some something said by Matt Brown, not by JUB or Dave Brandan. I am not convinced that the situation was as Matt Brown alleges. I think that he is assuming that the plan Brandon sketched out wouldn't have room for mguaranteed crossovers. If JUB actually says that, I will believe it. Until I have the book, though, all I have is Brown's claim, the absurdity of the contention and Brian's telling silence on an issue I think he'd go ballistic over to go on, and on balance I don't believe Brown's claim.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
I mean, this is the guy who wrote snarky e-mails to alumni the morning before the season opener. Who hired planes to write "GO BLUE" over Michigan State's campus. Who left Brady Hoke out to dry after the Shane Morris incident. Who wanted to move the Game to October.
What makes you think that he is someone who makes good decisions about anything that has to do with Michigan Football?
August 25th, 2015 at 2:26 PM ^
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August 26th, 2015 at 5:55 AM ^
Well maybe that's what it says in the book too, an indirect potential consequence of a proposal. But then you use 2nd (at least)-hand information to doubt the entirety of Bacon's book.
August 25th, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^
JUB is the one Michigan source I will believe without question until he gives me a reason not to.
August 25th, 2015 at 4:14 PM ^
JUB didn't write that claim; Matt Brown did.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:22 PM ^
I'm not sure I believe that. Not out to defend Brandon, but I don't see him offering to not play UM-OSU every year. That is a PR disaster and even Brandon would realize that.
This strikes me as Bacon continuing to pile on Brandon. It's also one of the reasons I likely won't read his latest book. It is so wildly skewed against Brandon that it is no longer a balanced account of what really happened. I get that Bacon hates Brandon, but it's reached the point where it is negatively affecting Bacon's validity.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
it's "wildly skewed" yes, that would mean it's not "balanced" (by definition)...
but that has nothing to do with whether or not it's actually true.
Brandon pulled off some insane moves that made the bulk of his appointment highly unbalanced in a way that I wouldn't have believed had I not experienced it.
You actually have no logical reason or evidence that this is some tipping point that would scuttle Bacon's validity. It's just a hunch...which is fine.
But there's no logic there.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^
If I recall, Bacon gave Brandon multiple opportunities to comment, review, or refute what is in this book. He declined. I have no reason to believe that DBLL's isn't as well-researched and accurate as any of Bacon's other books. When journalists and non-fiction writers make stuff up or show bias, they get called on it pretty quick and I'm not aware of Bacon ever having any of those issues.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
Following your logic you should probably steer clear of any sort of historical look at the Nazi's, Pol-Pot, Isis, ect cause they prolly wont be"balanced" in your mind and dont say nice things about them.
Nice try Dave.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:57 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^
A new low! This stuff is like something out of Dilbert. The noodle, Cokes for tickets, sky writing--every new revelation about the guy is worse than the last one. Good riddance, Dave.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:28 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
This was the moment he lost me . . . when the Big Ten wanted to move The Game from the last weekend so that it would not overshadow a potential Michigan - Ohio State matchup in the B1G Championship game.
The Big Ten smelled money: Put Michigan and Ohio State in different divisions and sell the networks on a potential Michigan - Ohio State Big Ten Championship game.
There was just that little nuisance of them playing the week before. So we'll just move that little game right out of the way.
I was shocked to see our own AD willing to be the mouthpiece for that move . . . "Things are different now, people will just have to get used to it."
I would have expected the Michigan AD to scream bloody murder from the rafters "Over my dead body!"
Instead he was in on it. He was willing to sell us out for the chance for some extra loot.
I still think he was angling to be the Big Ten Commissioner some day and was willing to go along to get along. As always, he was looking after his own interests, not ours.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^
Don't sell Brandon's misplaced aspirations short. NCAA President and CEO.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^
What an idiot!
August 25th, 2015 at 12:30 PM ^
I suspect that most of us are going to read Bacon's book, so we'll get the full details soon enough, but does anyone know the story of the 40 something dishwasher they refer to?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 12:36 PM ^
He still got worked by the conference with back to back games in East Lansing.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:38 PM ^
...a presidential candidate annoucing that he/she is not always very fond of babies and veterans. It's almost incredible.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:43 PM ^
Dave Brandon wanted to pitch a 16 team Big Ten, but broken down in a way that would nuke the idea of an actual schedule. From the book: " ..Dave says, "I've got this great idea! Expand the Big Ten into 16 teams, eight a side, and break those down into groups of four, A, B, C and D, that just play each other. After the third game, you reshuffle the deck, and the top teams play each other, and the second teams play each other, and so on."
I think this is one of those "I remember my first beer..." moments, because holy crap, what a terrible idea. I can almost see the extreme of this, where we lost to ourselves in the confusion.
Like others, I didn't think it was possible for me to loathe the man more, but yeah, I believe I do now.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:44 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
Dave Brandon was running this program into the ground and was trying to figure out a way to cut our losses.
1) In his infinite wisdom (as a CEO) and with the use of graphs and charts he drew the conclusion that if we play them half as much, we'll only lose half as often.
2) make "The Game" seem less important to a pretty smart fanbase and they'll care less when we continue to suck.
This guy was a genius!!!
He's in our rear view mirror now......so here to the future, better and brighter.
Go Blue
August 25th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
an AD, hired by the University of Michigan, would be this much of an idiot. Not even a troll on ESPN would have dreamed up this insane idea.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^
I propose that Dave Brandon be sentenced to calling games with Matt Millen so that, each weekend, those two can be clowned as the worst GM in the history of pro sports and the worst AD in the history of the NCAA. It'd be even better if they had to call games from an open booth in front of the student section so that people could throw marshmellows and rotten fruit at them.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
This has been the most disappointing century in the history of centuries. After getting rid of Millen, he was replaced by a higher priced version. Maybe leave B1G offensive lineman out of AD/GM positions (Wait: What position did Hackett play?).
August 25th, 2015 at 12:54 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
It's irrelevant, is what it is. He's gone. We fired him. So...what's the point? Maybe not whiny...spoiled? Is that a better word? We got what we wanted. Move on. Or pile on because, you know, it matters? I guess?
August 25th, 2015 at 12:58 PM ^
A guy who played at Michigan, but has become so totally out of touch with reality that he would even suggest not playing The Game. We have to look at the silver lining of the past 4-5 years; who knows what long-term insanity he would have inflicted on the program and the school. Wonder whether he arrived at Michigan that way, or if it got worse over time; one has to imagine that the 11-2 season made him feel invincible, and with no one but toadys around, really allowed the inner idiot to fully surface.
August 25th, 2015 at 4:17 PM ^
Again, this is according to Matt Brown, not JUB. I don't believe it.
August 25th, 2015 at 12:59 PM ^
Literally the first time I've been happy he got fired.
August 25th, 2015 at 1:08 PM ^
Michigan football is damn near meaningless without the Ohio game. It's as if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway said "it's too expensive to host the Indy 500, let's hold it every other year and fill in the gap with more NASCAR races and we'll bring in the 24 Hours of LeMons and a couple dirt track races."
This isn't just losing track of tradition, it's losing track of the whole purpose of the program.
August 25th, 2015 at 3:33 PM ^
August 25th, 2015 at 1:11 PM ^
It's kind of amazing how we could go from Dave Brandon, a corrupt asshole who never got Michigan athletics despite playing for Bo, to literally his exact opposite in Jim Hackett.
Love you, Hackett, please don't ever leave.
August 25th, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
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August 25th, 2015 at 1:20 PM ^
I just refuse to believe that until I read the book myself. Possible this is the ultimate troll job? Or possible an Ohio State guy failed at reading comprehension? (I keed! I keed!)
That said, I hereby propose we play Ohio State every other year, playing only in odd numbered years.
August 25th, 2015 at 4:20 PM ^
Ultimate troll is a good term for it, I think. Like you, I think this is an extraordinary claim without extraordinary proof.
August 25th, 2015 at 1:28 PM ^
story as well from the beginning. We now know who said what, why things were done and who is to blame for what went wrong thanks to Bacon's book series.
I mean if you figure that someone leaked a conversation between the president and the AD over the choice of the next coach and the info sabotaged Les Miles hiring, why would you discount the idea that a former Michigan football player who was around for the 10-year-war series would suggest moving the biggest game on the calendar or skipping it altogether in favor of conference expansion.
It's almost like denying Michigan a date in the Rose Bowl when the team went undefeated after tying Ohio State. And the vote by league ADs included multiple Michigan grads and former athletes who voted to send the Buckeyes instead.