Schlissel appreciation thread.

Submitted by bjk on

In the dark days between the afternoon of Saturday September 27th and the press release of 1 am Tuesday September 30th, confidence in the football program's direction was at its nadir.

The only man in a position to intervene was a man approaching his third month on the job as University President, with no background in managing schools with large athletics departments. We held our breath.

Even with the possibility that we whiff on the Harbaugh, our confidence that we are on the right track with interim AD Hackett (with the "interim" growing less obligatory) in charge grows with each day.

It all started with a "quick study" by a man who could not have wanted this challenge any less.

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UMfan21

December 21st, 2014 at 12:38 PM ^

Eh. He did what anyone with half a brain would do. Yeah, I'm sure it was tough to fire Brandon, but come on, the entire fanbase wanted it and it was deserved.

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charblue.

December 22nd, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^

president in handling dealings of this nature during our lifetime. Not to say that past presidents haven't handled other crisis issues on campus, but within the AD the president's intervention has never been more necessary or appropriately handled.

I wrote this days ago, that if Harbaugh is hired, Mark Schissel should get a majority of the credit because he put the search in the hands of the right man for the job in Jim Hackett.

In so doing, he made the smartest move possible, delegating complete authority to Jim in contronting current problems in the AD office that led to Brandon's resignation and Hoke's dismissal. The process has been limited in executive scope, lessening authority issues and leak problems. And Hackett has proven himself as advertised, a man who gets things done after taking all sides of an issue into account before guiding a plan of attack with an advertised timetable and deadline.

We know this has been well done even without knowing the final outcome yet, because we know what has led up to today from two previous coaching searches and their outcomes.

Again, I think the president ought to get huge credit, no matter what.

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bo_lives

December 21st, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^

I'd guess most U-M fans were hardly aware of his wrongdoings. The crusade against Brandon, while righteous, was spearheaded by mgoblog, which still represents a minority of those who call themselves Michigan fans.

That being said, the tidal wave of bad press was surely getting to be overwhelming and the student outcries were strong. So there was really no other option.

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bjk

December 21st, 2014 at 12:56 PM ^

He weighed in right away on the Morris fiasco, thus steadying the ship by implying that adults were ultimately in charge. And he had Hackett ready to go the minute Brandon was released. So far, despite the similarity of Hackett's background to Brandon's, he has been the opposite of everything we have come to dread about folks in charge RE crucial processes such as an HC hire. Hackett was also Schlissel's call.

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Mr Miggle

December 21st, 2014 at 1:08 PM ^

He acted quickly on Brandon even when it meant paying his full buyout. It was also in time so as not to interfere with the coaching search. While appointing an interim AD, he also gave him the authority to spend big, very big for Michigan.

This far exceeded the expectations a lot of people had for Schlissel. In fact, a number of posters were convinced he'd keep Hoke, more thought he wouldn't get fired until after Jan. 1 when his buyout went down.

 

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bluebyyou

December 21st, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^

Say what you want about Schlissel, the guy is smart and has a technical background, meaning he understands numbers.

Figure out what 10 or 20 thousand tickets for 7 games generate in revenue, add seat licenses and the numbers tell the tale. 

I believe Schlissel looked at bottom lines and the decision was an easy one to make.

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Victors for Harbaugh

December 21st, 2014 at 1:54 PM ^

Agreed. The guy hasn't done anything but give a speech about firing Brandon. Otherwise he has been entirely hands off. I find it hilarious that people here keep insisting that he is doing anything in relation to the athletic department.

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Victors for Harbaugh

December 21st, 2014 at 2:15 PM ^

Let's be real here...... All you have to do is deep fry the wings and toss them in a mixture of Franks Red Hot and margarine. This is all it takes. A half retarded chimpanzee could make them, so you don't exactly have to be in Buffalo.

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MichiganTeacher

December 21st, 2014 at 4:45 PM ^

Not to mention, Duff's is better anyway.

Anchor Bar is fine, though.

The real "local legend" place to avoid in Buffalo is Chef's. Supposedly it's an amazing Italian restaurant with the best sauce west of Italia herself. Truth is it sucks. Total head scratcher.

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goblue16

December 21st, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^

Schlissel has done a good job so far but i think Hackett deserves more credit. I dont think schlissel is very informed on the whole sports world but hiring Hackett as the intern AD has made the Harbaugh hire possible. If he lands Harbaugh i cant see any reason why Hackett wouldnt be the next AD

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Muttley

December 22nd, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^

The football program generates an annual revenue and profit stream of $85 million and $60 million, respectively.  That profit stream is needed to pay the debt service of the stadium renovation and the massive commitments to the non-revenue sports.

Look at what would happen to Michigan Football were it to fall from a Top 5 Revenue/Profit program to a Top 10ish program.  That's a lot larger drop than the proposed Harbaugh salary.

http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/dollars/post/_/id/2556/texas-tops-in-f…

Yes, the tradition and long term expectations of Michigan Football act as a "shock absorber" protecting that stream.  But if a Spartan fan came up to you today and said "Haha, we have the better football program", what would be your honest internal reaction?

For the first time, my optimism about blossoming top-ranked recruiting classes would be replaced with something like "He's right.  Let's change the topic to academics or Beilein vs Izzo."  I suspect most others are at this point also.  How long can that big money profit stream hold up when those on the payer side of the cashflow view the team with low expectations?

If Schlissel wants to avoid competing with ~$8 million/yr salary offers to protect the ~$60 million/yr football profit stream, then he has to lessen the need for the ~$60 million profit stream that flows right back out of the athletic department due to pre-existing commitments.

In the long run, I hope Schlissel remains committed to excellence in football.  In the short run, he doesn't have much choice.

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LSAClassOf2000

December 21st, 2014 at 1:37 PM ^

I sort of feel bad that the first real in-depth experience that Schlissel had with high-powered athletics was our situation this fall, but so far I do think he's waded through his responsibilities in it rather well. The decision to bring Hackett on board in particular has so far been a great move, and so far we are seeing an earnest attempt to have excellence on the field (by going full in on Harbaugh) and off the field as well. 

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Muttley

December 22nd, 2014 at 7:17 AM ^

With the hiring of Mattison the following week, I chose to put my maize-colored glasses back on, but it didn't work out.

What (hopefully) will be different this time is that Hackett will be hiring a proven winner at the elite college level (or NFL) instead of a less costly up-and-comer.

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mackbru

December 21st, 2014 at 1:19 PM ^

His apology seemed unnecessary. M has allowed in athletes with substandard grades. Some of these students have no doubt struggled. The recent graduation rate is great. But M, like so many other schools, has frequently steered students down the ol' General Studies/Kinesiology path. Neither is necessarily bad. But they tend to be the paths of least resistence, academically speaking. I assume a brilliant educator like Schlissel, having reviewed everything, had reason to come to his initial conclusion. He simply thinks M could do better on this front. Which is true. His apology, I'd imagine, was mostly a diplomatic one.

 

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cGOBLUEm

December 21st, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^

Obviously he has done some good things (like getting rid of DB), but we'll have to see how the next couple of months play out. So far, I am impressed, but I won't be satisfied until we get Harbaugh.

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Badkitty

December 21st, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^

Why is this premature? Remember all of you who were running around claiming the sky was falling after the comment about "balance"? And then took that to mean we would cheap out on the next coaches contract? So JH is going to be one of the highest paid coaches, period. Yes Hackett is offering the cash but Schlissel is his boss and he probably has the ultimate say on the range of money that'll be acceptable.



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mackbru

December 21st, 2014 at 1:32 PM ^

Yup. And it's not as if Schlissel can control Harbaugh's thoughts and actions. Schlissel acted surely. He put a (hopefully, evidently) competent AD in place. And the AD has ample money to offer Harbaugh. The rest is out of Schlissel's hands. Also, if we're to glean anything from comments made by botth Schissel and Hackett, it's that M has limited its candidate-pool to coaches who haven't taken "short-cuts." That's a bold statement -- especially if they hold true to it. We'll see.

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Danwillhor

December 21st, 2014 at 1:24 PM ^

but it's SO FAR. Also, believe me when I say is not a case of "not wanting the challenge/job any less". He wants to clean the FB program and is on his mission. If his hire wants him to stay on, he'll do it happily. If he wants out he won't leave until he can get someone that the FB HC (mainly) and other coaches want/agree with. That could take a while. At this point I don't even think "interim" should be in the title. It may not be very soon after a certain hire, should he make certain hire.

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