Schlissel: Choosing Hackett led to success

Submitted by UMProud on

"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

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Leonhall

September 29th, 2015 at 6:52 AM ^

It's a long season and I'm more reserved than some on here, however, what a difference 1 year makes...we're coming up on some embarrassing anniversaries...here's to schlissel and Hackett!



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charblue.

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. 

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East German Judge

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!

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Needs

September 29th, 2015 at 9:15 AM ^

She had many faults, but it's at least partially to her credit that UM weathered the economic collapse of 2007-9 better than almost any other institution, public or private. When the UC system had required furlough days for faculty and staff, when Harvard and Yale had to open short term lines of credit to meet payroll, And when universities across the nation suffered deep cutbacks and cancelled innumerable faculty searches, UM went on relatively without a hitch, expanding programs and hiring new faculty when almost no other institution was.

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McSomething

September 29th, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

While there are things she clearly gets a share of blame for, we would be remiss to not give proper mention to the good she was able to accomplish as well. Her greatest failing is Dave Brandon and how she seemingly strong armed him into the AD position. A position he was ill fit for. And many of his errors can be laid partially at her feet too because of this. Beyond that though, she did some monumental good for the University.

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Rabbit21

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.  

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jmblue

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.)

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jackw8542

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.

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amaizenblue402

September 29th, 2015 at 7:31 AM ^

Let's make no mistake. We finally got the coach this great university, football team, and fanbase were in desperate need of. It wouldn't have been possible without Schlissel hiring the right man, Jim Hackett to bring coach Harbaugh in. Regardless of how this first year plays out, we can all agree that Michigan Football is in good hands. The Leaders and Best.



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slappy09

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.

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saveferris

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.

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gwkrlghl

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!"

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