Bruce Madej to retire

Good for him, too bad for the University.  Always a class act.

Now Bruce Madej. I blame Dave Brandon.

He was a good professor too.

And a fellow U of D Jesuit High alum. Well-earned retirement.

sad, but understood. always heard great things about him. I hope he enjoys his retirement.

What kind of stuffed shirt Brandon is gonna install.

I saw Madej cut in line at the Packard Dairy Queen once. Not really. I just wanted to be the first one to say something bad about him.

Bruce is a class act, and persevered these last 5 or so years despite being on the outside looking in. he was the old guard who wad effectively demoted and given some remedial job after 30 years of being the point man. Despite that, he kept smiling and telling fantastic stories from his glorious past. Go Blue Bruce. You will be missed.

A double Hoke point. A class guy who represented the university quite well.

When I was a student I was doing some shooting for the athletic department with football and hockey. I saw all the glam and glory side and went into see Bruce about a career in sports info. He asked me if I planned on working 60+ hour weeks and never being able to tailgate or enjoy a UM game because I was covering it. Needless to say I left his office and stayed with my major. Sometimes when I am tailgating or sitting in the stands with my kids now I think of Bruce and how he saved my football Saturdays. Thanks Bruce!

Great guy.  I played hockey with one of his kids a number of years.  He would come help out on ice or coach with my dad when he had the time.  My dad and I ran into him last summer at Yost when I was home visiting... first thing he asked my dad was if he had retired yet, so I figured it was only a matter of time before he called it quits.

Bruce Madej was to the Michigan Athletic Media Relations Department as Jon Falk has been to the equipment room.  Bruce's knowledge about the history of Michigan athletics in general, and Michigan Football in particular, is unparalleled.  If you've ever seen any of the numerous documentaries of Michigan Football aired over the years, many of them have included Bruce for good reason: He knows what the hell he's talking about.

As for me, and as long as I’ve been around the program, Bruce was fair with the media and our access to the program.   He’s been the face of the program for years.  Over the past few years when he backed off from the lead role, replaced by Dave Ablauf, and has later appeared at certain functions, such as when Brady Hoke was introduced as Michigan’s 19^th coach in program history, his presence in the Junge Family Champions Center was just as palpable as it was in the numerous former players in attendance supporting Hoke.

I have no direct knowledge that DB had anything--or everything--to do with Bruce stepping away.  To me, I always felt it was the change of coaches that provided the timing and opportunity for him to step away.  Linking DB with Bruce's departure is speculation at best.  I will say, however, that Dave Ablauf has rather large shoes to fill and, frankly, he’s done an admirable job of it so far.

Whether talking about a university president, an AD, a head coach, or other support staff, no single individual can be everything to everybody.  Just as Jon Falk turned the equipment room into what it has been over the past several decades, so, too, did Bruce with the Media Relations Department.  Michigan doesn’t only talk about being the ‘Leaders and the Best’ on the football field; it is the mantra carried all throughout the athletic department, campus, et al.  Bruce’s office was the direct mouthpiece of the department for the news media – a task not for the faint of heart.  I’m sure there have been many butting-of-the-heads over the years in figuring out what unified message to disseminate to the media.   But in the end, Bruce and his staff did it.

The next time I see Bruce, I will extend my appreciation for his work and wish him a great retirement.

Tough to see him leave, but at some point everyone retires.  Wish him the best.

In the late 70s early 80s, baseball was good and we hosted some regionals.  The legendary Mooris Moorawnick was the scorekeeper.  As he did not have a driver's license, I was one of the people who gave him rides to the games.  Two 7 inning doubleheaders Saturday, two more Sunday in Big Ten play.  He was paid $5 per game.

They needed extra help for the tournaments, so Bruce gave me the lowest job in the history of UM sports information:  Moorawnick's assistant.  I got a parking pass and press pass into the game.  My duties included circulating handouts to the out of town media, gettting the coaches quotes after the game and typeing(yes, typing) them up to hand out.

Bruce's complete lack of BS is unusual in anyone, and unprecedented in a PR guy.  

Great storyteller, hope he writes a book.

HIs tenure started when Bo gave a weekly luncheon talk on Monday, and that was it.  

The dinosaur media would have to write a story each day with one or two quotes from that lunch.

All the way to the instant tech multi- media of today.  Yet never was he behind the times, never bemoaning the good old days.

I do not think his position will be filled; Ablauf has handled football the last few years.

As a person, and a presence, he is quite irreplaceable.