Schlissel: Choosing Hackett led to success
"Since University President Mark Schlissel’s arrival on campus, drastic changes have been made. Student season football ticket prices fell from $295 to $175. The team is 3-1, and is ranked at No. 22 in the AP Top 25 poll. Coach Jim Harbaugh has lived up to the hype so far, and Schlissel attributes much of the Athletic Department’s success to Interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett."
"It wouldn’t be hyperbole to say these changes have reshaped the Athletic Department over the past 12 months. But the biggest difference might be Hackett’s overall philosophy, which he elaborated upon during an April fireside chat with students. He told the students he doesn’t want Michigan athletic events to feel “corporate.”
“I don’t want to sound sarcastic,” Hackett said. “What I don’t want is more entertainment that’s not football. I think that works in the pros, but we’re in college. I believe college shouldn’t be like the pros. It shouldn’t cost like the pros.”
Source: The Michigan Daily, 9/29/2015, Jake Lourim
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/news/campus-context-series-athletics
September 29th, 2015 at 6:52 AM ^
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September 29th, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
and Harbaugh!
September 29th, 2015 at 6:57 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 7:04 AM ^
hackett gets it.
the most amazing thing is how much his predecessor didn't...
September 29th, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
remove the word Interim from the front of his name? He's the AD until he doesn't want to be.
September 29th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
He doesn't want to be longterm. I thought there was serious chatter that Warde Manuel was prepping to take over
September 29th, 2015 at 11:34 AM ^
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September 29th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^
But I think he probably won't make a choice about this possibility until the current football season is done. He probably has some things he wants to accomplish if and when he decides things are in a good place, and he can step down or announce a future departure date. Really, this is a personal choice about retirement options and planning. We'll see what happens. It depends in part, I guess, how Harbaugh feels about it. I think he asked that Hackett stay onboard for awhile.
September 29th, 2015 at 7:07 AM ^
It is sad that such a great University and fan base as ours had to go thru not only an era of bad coaching but also bad athletic administration that ruined the morale and game day experience for us all. Finally we have excellence in both spheres and things seem so much better.
Who has it better than us....NOBODY! Go Blue!
September 29th, 2015 at 8:09 AM ^
I don't believe it was just the athletic administration. Mary Sue Coleman was a Brandon supporter and the mismanagement of hiring decisions lie at her feet. She is the "CEO" of the University and deserves the blame. And I won't even bring up her drinking issues.
September 29th, 2015 at 8:39 AM ^
Drinking problem, what drinking problem?
September 29th, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
and it's amazing all the stories coming out *now* about how they believe MSC mismanaged the U overall. There's a JUB book in the waiting from the stories I've heard..
September 29th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
Great point, you don't make it through a crisis like that the way Michigan did without some capable leadership. Obviously thats a reflection on the overall University leadership, but someone had to steer the ship.
Also Brandon had been a good regent and had experience running a large organization with a national brand name, it was a bit outside the box to hire him, but I think we might be retconning the optics of the hire using information we've learned over the past four years of his flailing around.
September 29th, 2015 at 8:45 AM ^
People close to the situation insist that she was not drinking during the Nebraska game. We need to let that rumor die.
September 29th, 2015 at 9:44 AM ^
or deaf. Feedback my ass. She was tanked.
September 29th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
but I've watched the video and just don't understand how that can be attributed to 'feedback'. Mary Sue speaks in public all the team yet her speech was barely understandable that day
September 29th, 2015 at 10:30 AM ^
I present 2 videos of her speaking at the Big House, and amazingly in one she sounds well spoken and has no issues with "feedback" and in the other, well you be the judge (pun intended)....
September 29th, 2015 at 11:26 AM ^
I have no explanation as to what happened. But everyone who might be in a position to know is adamant that she was not drinking. I think she should be given the benefit of the doubt. (And to extrapolate from this that she has "drinking issues" is pretty ridiculous.)
September 29th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
Whatever gets a few laughs and a couple upvotes.
September 29th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
Your girl and I were just laughing about that last night in bed, between rounds. By the way, if you see my boxers, please let me know via reply.
September 29th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^
Upvote.
September 29th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
then she must have gotten a major blast of second-hand pot smoke or something. Her behavior was that of someone highly impaired. Now that can happen without her drinking. It can even have been a medical issue. But SOMETHING was going on during that speech.
September 29th, 2015 at 12:41 PM ^
I would say muscle relaxers, probably soma. Maybe with a vicodin and a glass of wine.
I was given soma for a back issue years ago and I sounded like I was wasted all the time.
September 29th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^
So when do you get off of the soma???
/JK - I could not resist MH.
September 29th, 2015 at 6:53 PM ^
Don't you guys have ...er...medical marijuana up there?
September 29th, 2015 at 10:10 AM ^
You just did. if you don't want to bring them up, don't say anything about "drinking issues."
September 29th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^
It's like any sentence starting off, "With all due respect" actually just excusing the fact that you're about to disrespect the person, or "Not to be mean, but..." always being followed by something that is, in fact, mean.
"Not to name any names, but Joe is such a douchenozzle."
September 29th, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^
that I have it on a pretty good authority that she encouraged disinterest in Harbaugh back in 2011?
September 29th, 2015 at 10:45 AM ^
I had heard the exact same "rumor" many years ago that she did not like him because he got (or how/why) divorced from his first wife and because of a drunk driving incident when he was coaching SD.
September 29th, 2015 at 11:30 AM ^
What year are we talking about? 08 or 11?
September 29th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
JH had some real estate investment go south during the crisis of '08 and she was leveraging that as the reason for not making him a priority candidate in 2011.
I believe that she didn't like how alpha male he is...
September 29th, 2015 at 1:09 PM ^
Lolz! So if she didn't like alpha males, what does that say about DB?
September 29th, 2015 at 5:19 PM ^
her skirt. What girl doesn't like that?
September 29th, 2015 at 12:15 PM ^
Double Post...
September 29th, 2015 at 6:47 PM ^
and yet she thought Dave Brandon was a great hire
September 29th, 2015 at 12:25 PM ^
Really sad that so many loyal and long-term athletic department employees lost their jobs as a result of Brandon's need to surround himself with sycophants from the "top 5%". Reminds me a lot of Dan Snyder, the owner of the Redskins, who promised the staff that he would take care of them prior to the approval of his purchase of the team and proceeded to fire virtually all of the old staff as soon as the purchase went through.
September 29th, 2015 at 7:17 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 7:24 AM ^
Hackett for President!
September 29th, 2015 at 7:26 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 9:11 AM ^
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September 29th, 2015 at 6:48 PM ^
Great leaders surround themselves with great leaders. Schlissel hit it out of the park in that regard
September 29th, 2015 at 7:31 AM ^
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September 29th, 2015 at 8:32 AM ^
September 29th, 2015 at 9:01 AM ^
Also need to give props to the Regents for bringing in Schlissel. He has hit the mark for the University on all levels, not just athletics, since he's started. I was nervous when he was first introduced because he had no experience with sports nor did he understand the the significance and importance; but he quickly learned. Couldn't be happier with that choice and the cascading effect of what that mean for us.
September 29th, 2015 at 7:37 AM ^
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September 29th, 2015 at 7:57 AM ^
If he was offered a statue, I suspect he would turn it down, which is a big reason why he's the right guy for this job.
That said, if he's able to restore the old OSU/MSU home schedule cadence and do it by snagging two straight Michigan home games against MSU and send Sparty Nation into apoplexy, he gets a statue anyway.
September 29th, 2015 at 9:29 AM ^
This x1000.
September 29th, 2015 at 6:56 PM ^
If the man can fire Hoke, lock down Harbaugh, lock down Nike, lower student ticket prices, renew the Notre Dame rivalry AND manage two consecutive home games vs MSU all in about a year I'm not sure we'd let him retire. We'd storm 1000 S. State St and barricade him in his office
"YOU CAN"T RETIRE JIM. YOU'LL KEEP AD'ING AND YOU'LL LIKE IT!"