Schlissel appreciation thread.
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.
December 21st, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^
Firing Brandon would have happened regardless but he gets massive credit for hiring Hackett. He's willing to spend to win like Brandon without being an asshole and so far we have no noodles or any embarassing gaffes. The statement about football players not graduating was kind of bad when it wasn't accurate but he apologized instead of being a Brandon asshole about it.
December 21st, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
The kinesiology thing is mostly because it directly relates to athletes' main focus in life. I doubt we steer anybody anywhere when Jordan Morgan and Brennan Beyer are in engineering.
December 21st, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
Schlissel doesn't want us to be Brown and he isn't Gordon Gee thus far if he really signed off on a 6-8 million offer.
December 21st, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^
December 21st, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
The salary thing is unclear, so people saying Schlissel is allowing Hackett to spend the big bucks on Harbaugh is still only speculation. Schlissel hired Hackett with a phone call while getting his input on other candidates. Really! This board was all about needing a permanent AD to hire the next coach, but we did not get that. Schlissel should have gotten a new AD as his first priority. So far, Hackett has not made any changes to the game experience(actual or announced for future). Basketball experience is poor in IMO. So far, neither of these new guys have accomplished anything other than getting ride of Brandon/Hoke. That was the easy part. If Hackett delivers Harbaugh then Schlissel deserves credit for helping make that happen. We have no information on whether Hackett can run an AD. The search for a new AD should continue and not just give it to the guy that fired one guy and hired another.
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December 22nd, 2014 at 7:23 AM ^
we'll need him to go after Mike Babcock for the hockey program.
December 21st, 2014 at 2:29 PM ^
That being said, I commend the way he handled DB's resignation. He obviously is not in the know how when it comes to sports, but he handled it really well. I'm sure he wants Harbaugh here just as much as we do. If we get Harbaugh, it essentially allows Schlissel to step away, knowing the program is in great hands, and focus more on the academics, which is exactly what he wants to do. He won't have to worry about students or alums congregating in front of his house demanding the firing of our AD and football coach.
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December 22nd, 2014 at 7:32 AM ^
but were the athletic department to fall into a deficit and an annual drag on the university, then the guy who stood by and ignored the problem would be accountable for that drag.
And while the magnitude of the drag surely could be overcome by increasing excellence of the rest of the university, IMO ~$10-20 million budgetary swings are worthy of the president's attention.
December 21st, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^
Everyone keeps saying "Schlissel knows nothing about athlets," which is alittle ridiculous for us randoms to be saying. Sure, he's new to UM athletixs, but he still lnows much more about the athletic-academic organizational structure and balance than any of us. Let's not act like he's a total athletic rube.
December 21st, 2014 at 3:28 PM ^
My understanding is that UofM's athletic department operates financially independently from the university. He fires Brandon and hires Hackett. That's all he really has to do right? Maybe tell Hackett to help find a permanent AD and perhaps make sure that he is operating in the black. What more do we want?
Fandom is traveling too far up the food chain. Going from armchair quarterbacks to armchair coaches is one thing, but moving up to armchair ADs and armchair Presidents is a bit over the top. Why can't we just be fans, hope Hackett hires Harbaugh, forget about him WHEN it happens and just root some victories on Saturdays? It's less stressfull that way.
December 22nd, 2014 at 7:37 AM ^
depends on the ability to be financially independent. I'm fairly sure that the athletic department couldn't default on its debts independent of the University should it come to that.