Met with Brandon today

Submitted by those.who.stay. on

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting David Brandon, albeit in a group setting. I went on an excursion trip put on by Domino's Pizza and UM's Career Center today and we met with a lot of people David has had a lot of influence over the last 11 years.

Here are just some observations I made about him and the place he runs, for those of you interested in our new AD.

- Man, he runs a really tight ship. Everyone we met with was very very enthusiastic, passionate, smart, well-spoken, and focused. Everyone had a very evident sense of ownership in the Domino's brand and understood their role.
- He sat down at talked with our group for about 45 minutes. He is, for lack of a better phrase, the man. I was able to ask him how he was able to build such a strong, focused team and how he was able to create a sense of ownership for everyone in the building. His response was that he "funds growth with talent" and that managing and cultivating the most talented environment is his main objective.
- He talked about leadership and "winners". He said that his favorite times to be in a leadership role is when the "shit is flying" and things are not going well. That is when you find out the qualities of the people around you. He made a specific reference to Rich Rodriguez in this role. I got the sense he is very, very confident in Rich.
- Some joker told him that he should "redshirt Devin" and his lighthearted, sarcastic response was, "Oh yeah, that's a new one. I haven't gotten any advice about the football team lately".

Overall it was a really good experience, and I have a lot of faith in him now that I've seen exactly how motivated his team and company is. He has surrounded himself with some excellent talent at Domino's and I'm excited for his tenure at Michigan.

Go Blue!

TraderG7

February 19th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^

Am glad to hear that you percieved Brandon as very^2 confident in Rodriguez, because Brandon's view on him really will be the huge issue in the future.

those.who.stay.

February 19th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^

If there is any truth the the assertions that there are underlying "factions" in the athletics department and related boosters, Brandon may be just the man to unify the department in a way that Bill Martin was (possibly) unable. Martin is a brilliant business man and real estate developer, but I'm not aware of his "rallying the troops" characteristics (positively or negatively). I have no doubt as to Brandon's ability to get the program running smoothly, FWIW.

TraderG7

February 19th, 2010 at 4:28 PM ^

As a side comment, I quite frankly, would expect a old-school faction of sorts, one always wanting to return to our former style of play, considering the great success it had vs the polar opposite style currently. It will be a battle, but the faction will shrink over time if Rod succeeds, but it will ALWAYS be there in some form. It is what is part of the essence of the Michigan man, and we need to accept it.

DesHow21

February 19th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^

If I was an employee taking care of people that are going to speak with my CEO in 15 mins, I would appear motivated too...that doesn't mean anything.

Also your question sounds like a bunch of MBA bull-crap and his answer the perfect backhand slice to your forehand top-spin. You actually evaluated how "strong his team was" and somehow identified "their sense of ownership". That seems straight of the B-School catalog to me....

I am not saying he isn't "the man" (he obviously is, he is the CEO of a nationwide chain for god's sake), but I am just amazed at how you arrived at the conclusion based on this experience.

those.who.stay.

February 19th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

so I was able to see a lot more than maybe you're thinking.

Take my observations at face value, but my confidence in him has been bolstered.

You might think words like "ownership" and "strong team" is MBA bull-crap, but I also think they're tangible things that you can evaluate.

Like I said, take it for what it is worth. I was just trying to lend my experience to the MGoBoard.

DesHow21

February 19th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^

If you had done your research on the Dominos balance sheet and complimented him on the debt to equity ratio..I would have been impressed. Take this as advice from somebody who interviews people regularly, don't offer platitudes and compliments you cannot backup with research.They will most likely not leave a great impression.

Anyway just to be clear, not faulting you at all. Thanks for updating us on the event and good luck with the job search.

sULLY

February 19th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^

Great post. I have heard good things about Brandon, but always good to get a first hand account. He is going to be at an executive speaker event at U-M Dearborn tonight discussing the future of the state's economy. I won't be able to make it, but I would love to hear him speak. His leadership and business saavy bode well for Michigan athletics.

fatbastard

February 19th, 2010 at 3:20 PM ^

LOVE the avatar. Hadn't been on the MGoBoards much since Dorsey committed. I'm sure there's been an entire post about it, and that I'm way late in noticing it, but Man, that's totally awesome, and well deserved. Hope she was as good as she looks!

M-Wolverine

February 19th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^

There's an energy and excitement when things are hitting the fan, and you really see who gets things done. Problems aren't really "fun", but they make you feel alive and can really get you in the groove if you are wired to step up.

rtyler

February 20th, 2010 at 6:31 AM ^

"You might not believe it but under fire Animal Mother is one of the finest human beings in the world. All he needs is someone to throw hand grenades at him for the rest of his life."

CrankThatDonovan

February 19th, 2010 at 3:11 PM ^

I was there, too. Brandon is extremely impressive in-person. I walked away feeling pretty confident in the future of Michigan athletics. He has a way with people, a great presence, and I'm excited that he will be representing our for the next several years.

P.S. I was not the joker that told him to redshirt Gardner. His response to that request was great, though

G-Man

February 19th, 2010 at 5:38 PM ^

If it ever came out that an AD or a coach of a team was posting here, this site would explode. All traffic would be taken up by people going through every post to find everything they ever said. Madness would ensue and we'd all have to wait for days (days!) to bitch about 2011 recruits.

Not good.

doughboy

February 20th, 2010 at 11:16 AM ^

Thanks for the post on DB. It's refreshing to get the perspective of a fan and blogger - that way, in my opinion, the observations are much less filtered and without agenda.