(Dave) Brandon's Blog (on mgoblue.com): Michigan's Mighty Mite On The Track
So Dave Brandon apparently has a blog on mgoblue.com. This happened to catch my interest, as a former XC and track runner (although nowhere near this kid's level).
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/brandon/spec-rel/052214aab.html
We've got a freshman STAR named Erin Finn who has earned the following accolades so far this season:
- Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year
- Big Ten Freshman of the Year (indoor track)
- Big Ten Athlete of the Championships (outdoor track)
- Big Ten Freshman of the Year (outdoor track)
- Big Ten Athlete of the Year (outdoor track)
That has to be unprecedented. She did so by winning:
- Big Ten cross country championship in 20:48.30 for the 6k
- Indoor 5k in 15:52.11 (almost 30 seconds ahead of 2nd place)
- Outdoor 5k in 15:48.90
- Outdoor 10k in 32:41.65 during which she set UM and Big Ten records and lapped the entire field (for those uninitiated, that means she finished her 25th and final lap before anyone else even finished their 24th laps)
She also has a 3.9 GPA so far, and is now prepping for NCAAs.
Color me impressed. This girl is FAST. GO BLUE and represent well at the NCAAs next month!
That's impressive. Also, the 3.9 GPA is in biochemistry. Nice.
Those times are absurd. 18 year old girls just don't post those. The 10k was particularly impressive. I'd be really interested to see her splits for that race.
Everyone should feel proud for supporting these fine athletes.
Very impressive times.
I know alot of people here criticize Brandon for everything he does but I think he does a great job promoting the non-revenue sports. He has really led the initiative to upgrade all of the facilities for non-revenue sports and has led the lacrosse initiative. He is constantly promoting these sports through his communications such as the blog.
Many here act as if all he cares abotu is making $$ everywhere...if that was really the case, he wouldn't put the emphasis on these non-revenue sports. That was the knock on Canham back when he was AD..that all Canham cared about was football and $$ and he didnt care about other sports especially women's teams. In these areas, I think Brandon has done a great job.
This is a blog post. This type of PR is de rigueur for ADs now. Take Canham and put him in todays UofM - you would get these posts and even tweets and other social media.
I'm honestly asking here... has Brandon increased his support and focus on the non-revenue sports? Michigan has competitive advantages in many of these sports that attracts these high performing - high achieving studs. Michigan is a good deal for athletes who want to run and learn. I know I've seen posts on this in the past wrt facility investments in non revenue sports. Is Brandon taking us in a different direction? He certainly is nuts and bolts about the money.
Brandon is really putting a strong emphasis on all of the student athletes which is definitely something that was not done at certain times.
1) He has led the planning of the upgrade of virtually all the nonrevenue facilities after Michigan fell behing in those areas. Here is an article from a couple years back when initially announced ( http://www.annarbor.com/sports/michigan-to-spend-250-million-to-upgrade-facilities-for-non-revenue-sports/ ). I know from being familiar with softball that this year they introduced the new softball center with offices and new state of the art locker room and training facilities. This was a project just announced in 2013 and already completed. There have been numerous similar projects for other sports both completed and in progress.
2) As for Canham, he did alot of positive things with football but he was an absolute disgrace when it came to the women teams. Ask Coach Hutchins from the softball team what she thinks about working for Canham. I know times were different but this article ( http://tmd.pub.umich.edu/sports/michigan%E2%80%99s-unsung-hero-title-ix?page=0,1 ) shows how little he thought of some of the teams. Some of the things in this include Canham being adamant that women should not get the same block M on their letter jackets as mens teams. This section also shows how he treated some other sports:
“When I got to Michigan, Title IX was in place, but it wasn’t enforced,” she remembered. “Our Athletic Director, Don Canham, was one of the leading opponents of Title IX in the nation and he made no secret of it.
“A lot of major athletic directors thought the enactment of this law would lead to the ruination of college athletics.”
Canham’s reluctance to open up athletics to women was evident. The women’s tennis team was allowed just three practices a week, typically at night during dinnertime. At any point, if a men’s team needed the track and tennis building, the women were bumped.
3) He has improved the facilities and support for all student athletes. The reality of this has been to increase spending on other sports he has squeezed more revenue out of the football program (and to a lesser degree other revenue sports). Since many fans only care about the football team (or other revenue sports) they have become annoyed by this. As a previous poster stated, these nonrevenue sports are where your PSD dollars are going.
I'm wondering what is really the measure of the AD here normalizing for the current expectations of a D1 AD. Title IX and gender issues are in a completely different place than the 70's. It's apples to oranges somewhat as you mention. Title IX dictates a leveling of the playing field. That has happened since the early 70's incrementally within the leadership of the athletic department.
Brandon certainly deserves credit for not obstructing non-revenue sports, and for needed and timely renovations as well as executing the office to the tenor the times. The backdrop is a huge increase in revenue sports that dwarfs the non revenue renovation and focus, polarity of opportunity for lower income athletes and tremendous leadership and culture change revolving around gender issues.
I don't deny what you are saying in fact I'm informed by it. I'm not seeing Brandon as the white knight either. He's a good AD in many respects without doubt. Regardless of who is to credit for the non revenue success - the accomplishments of these athletes is to be celebrated and is a tribute to their effort and the university.
Look what happens when Irish wear Blue instead of gold. Erin go bragh!