J. U. Bacon Doubles Down on Brandon's Poor Prospects

Submitted by mgoBrad on

Sorry if this has already been posted but I didn't see it. Those of you who listened to WTKA this morning will have already heard this, and I'm sure everyone's already seen Bacon's tweets from earlier in the week regarding Brandon's future being uncertain. This morning, though, he doubled down. Asked point blank by Sam Webb if he thought Brandon survives beyond the end of football season, here's what he said:

No. How's that for an answer?

Sam asked him to explain:

It's going to be Schlissel's vote and nobody elses... he [Schlissel] will have to rely... he's on pretty firm footing with the Law school, Medical school, etc. but he is new to Big Ten, big time football, and so he'll be heavily relying on the regents for his decision making process on this. That leaves you with a group that seems to be about 6-2 against the AD.

 

Listen to the whole thing here, it's part 08 from today: http://www.wtka.com/page.php?page_id=87

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I want to believe....

MGoBoard
John U. Bacon
Dave Brandon
Fire Brandon

AMazinBlue

October 3rd, 2014 at 5:57 PM ^

One of the next three games will be the breaking point.  Either a bad loss at Rutgers (Any loss there will be bad), or a poor showing at home against PSU (crowd-wise or team-wise) and Brandon is doomed.

We all know what will happen against MSU, given the season so far.

The Regents and the Pres need about 4-6 weeks to find the next AD.  A new AD is the first toward getting a top tier quality coach.  This is about so much more than last Saturday and the days that followed.  It's about the direction of the program and the way the Athletic Dept operates. 

Between the ND series, the skyrocketing prices of pretty much everything, The end of Victors Club, the attitude of the dept and embarassment of all the missteps in the last 4 years, it's time for change.

Joined: 10/12/2008

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LSAClassOf2000

October 3rd, 2014 at 6:14 PM ^

I think this was talked about a little bit in a thread the other day, about how Schlissel might possibly consult with the Regents on such a move because this is the part of Big Ten culture, if you will, to which he might not be able to immediately relate. I imagine that if he does this then Brandon's fate has a significant chance of being sealed if they are largely unhappy, and I get the impression they might be. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

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Baloo

October 3rd, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^

LSA, maybe you can help me figure out why I (LordGrantham) was banned yesterday.  As far as I know, I didn't violate the commenting policy.  Being a petty argumentative a-hole hasn't been enough before, so that can't be it.  Did BiSB have a rough day at the office again?

Joined: 10/03/2014

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Sopwith

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^

apart from the whole "noble savage" business.  But Kipling himself was pretty fucking racist in that genteel, patriarchal, tea-sipping British colonial way.  He coined the term "White Man's Burden" as the title of a famous poem and meant it un-ironically.  He was an unabashed Imperialist who thought the darkies of the world would benefit from white-person (and particularly British) domination.

What can you do.  Separate the art from the artist or you're not going to enjoy much art.

Joined: 06/29/2010

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SalvatoreQuattro

October 3rd, 2014 at 9:35 PM ^

The Jungle Book--as to be expected-reflects the prejudices of time in which it was written. By our standards it is racist. 

Kipling was also a big supporter of WWI. The cost of that was his son Jack. They never found Jack's body. Kipling would end up writing a poem about Jack. 

 

Joined: 11/30/2010

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mtzlblk

October 4th, 2014 at 11:39 AM ^

was racist in the sense that he was overtly imperialist and considered British/white culture superior to the culture of colonized territories and therefore justfied in occupying and ruling them. Mowgli is generally seen as representative of a Brit/human ruling over savages/animals.

The Disney movie 'Jungle Book' is the more overtly racist work, having the character King Louie who is an ape with stereotypical (and derogatory) African American traits of the time that sings a song ('Just Like You') about wanting to learn to walk and talk just like humans. 

Joined: 01/20/2009

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LSAClassOf2000

October 3rd, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^

I am not sure offhand as I personally didn't do the deed this time, but I'll see if I can find out anything. I went back through the comments up to the point they end in his case, but if comments were deleted subsequent to his being banned, then it's hard to tell just from that. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

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mGrowOld

October 4th, 2014 at 8:01 AM ^

I agree.  While obviously a contrarian to virtually everything on every topic I though Lord Grantham made good points and presented a nice counter-balance to whatever the popular opinion was at the time.  I liked sparring with him.

I must say it's going to be wierd jousting with a cuddly bear though instead of Downtown Abby characters.  That persona (Lord Grantham) fit you to a T.

Joined: 10/04/2010

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jmarsh22

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:54 PM ^

Hopefully the regents and president think of the consequences of keeping Brandon and letting him hire the next head coach. Is saving those millions worth giving up on the football program?

How many years has it been since the football team has really been relevant? (2011 notswithstanding) Add another 4 years to that after Brandon's next stooge fails, and you will have essentially handed Brandon a shovel to toss the final piles of dirt on Michigan's football program. 

I don't think very many intelligent people believe Brandon has a clue how to turn around the football program, or even if he did, that his ego wouldn't get in the way. I'm hoping that will be his undoing. If not, I'll have to find something else to do on Saturday afternoons.

Joined: 09/07/2010

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MeanJoe07

October 3rd, 2014 at 6:23 PM ^

Is anyone else insulted by how DB uses the "no one saw the hit" excuse? I've been on the sideline. it's not that hard to see across the field. Plus the crowds reaction and video replay would make them aware as well.

Joined: 09/15/2013

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Swazi

October 3rd, 2014 at 6:58 PM ^

6-2 against Brandon by the Regents lines up with everyone's favorite radio personality on here Hensen.

 

I trust Bacon, though.  Since the whole thing started he said Brandon's future is bleak.  All he said against our hopes was his sources said they weren't CURRENTLY looking for a replacement.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan is worknig the back channels for Manuel or the BC guy.

Joined: 08/13/2010

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steve sharik

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:07 PM ^

...is that Dave considers himself a marketing guru, but a lot of what he does goes against marketing best practice.

At the end of the day, successful marketing is about listening to the Voice Of the Consumer (VOC) and the Behavior of the Consumer (BOC).  Dave seems to not only not analyze this information, but has no interest in doing so.

And I've said this before but it bears repeating: the first step of building a brand is to understand what you want the brand to mean in the hearts and minds of the consumer.  With Michigan, that has already been established: Excellence with honor and integrity.  At that point every touch point between the brand and consumers should communicate those values.  So, I have no problem with Beyonce because I think she communicates excellence, but you can't do that while communicating contradictory images and associations elsewhere (uniformz, giant noodles, The Arby's Big Chill at the Big House, etc.).

Whoever is the AD going forward, when he/she has to hire a football coach (whenever that may be), he/she should start by forming a focus group of consumers; i.e. fans from across the spectrum, from blue blood alumni donors to "Walmart Wolverines."  After learning the qualitative opinions of the fanbase, send out a consumer survey to determine the attributes that the fanbase wants in a product on and off the field, as well as the type of coach and philosophy of the program.  One way to do this would be to include some sort of conjoint analysis, such as asking the fanbase "If all the 135 Michigan teams played each other and had a playoff to determine the best team in Michigan history, who would win and why?" A different way to ask might be, "If you could only watch one of the 135 teams in Michigan history every week for the rest of your life, which team would it be and why?"

Joined: 08/08/2009

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SysMark

October 3rd, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^

The marketing guru label is in fact very misleading.  The brands he would like tocredit himself with building, Dominos and Michigan, were obviously very well established when he arrived.  He actually behaves more like a financial analyst, seeking out ways to maximize revenue from the brand as oppose to actually building and enhancing it.

Joined: 11/15/2008

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trueblueintexas

October 4th, 2014 at 1:08 AM ^

To Steve Sharik, thank you for posting what I have been thinking about this past week. Sadly, there is a class of marketers who think marketing is simply pulling a lever to make something happen (I.e. Promotions, price reductions and gimmicks are the only way to make people buy your stuff). In reality, the best marketers have an intimate understanding of their markets and deliver those things which are of integral value. Brandon certainly seems to fall into the prior class of marketers. Regarding your utilization of a conjoint, since a conjoint is really used to understand the value of difference between multiple things a better question would be to understand which aspects of the game experience are most important to a broad base of fans/customers.

Joined: 11/10/2008

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BlueHills

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:22 PM ^

I had to chuckle over Bacon's reply to Webb's statement that Brandon plans to let folks get to know him as a way of endearing himself to the Michigan community.

 

Joined: 10/31/2010

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MWolverine7

October 3rd, 2014 at 7:36 PM ^

John's tone was telling. If something happens mid-season, I'm guessing it will
Play out during the bye week.

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