Stephen M Ross Backs Dave Brandon

Submitted by GoBlueInJersey on

Well, for those of us wondering how Stephen Ross feels about Dave Brandon and the AD, I think we have our answer, though it's not what most of us hoped for:

"He's probably the most qualified athletic director in the country. I think he's terrific," said billionaire real estate developer Stephen Ross, a UM alumnus who has given the university $310 million in recent years. "I wouldn't have given my gift to the athletic department if I didn't believe in Dave."

 

Another interesting takeaway from this article that seems to contradict what other recent reports have suggested:

A source within the university, who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, said concerns about Brandon and UM athletics are a talking point, but little else at this point. 

"There's no movement to push Brandon out," the source said, who noted that any change would go through the university president, to whom the athletic director reports, and would be a long-term process rather than a sudden dismissal. 

Here's the full article

 

 

 

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Mr Miggle

September 27th, 2014 at 11:58 AM ^

and is beholden to the AD for some positive publicity? We're moving into absurdist territory. Not only did Brandon provide very little of that publicity, but there is likely no fundraising institution in the country that wouldn't bend over backwards to do so.

Joined: 10/07/2010

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Ace

September 27th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^

Blocked. Sorry it stayed up that long. People who are confused by this and the following several comments—there's a deleted post in this thread that very much merited the reaction.

Joined: 06/30/2008

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alum96

September 27th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^

Well check back in 2019 after Brandon is allowed to "retire" in 2018 after hiring Cam Cameron to replace Hoke.  It's become increasingly clear from all the smoke behind the surface very few real HCs want to work for Brandon in football.

I wonder if attitudes will change when we get our "Bobby Williams" moment in EL on Oct 25th. 

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KillaCam

September 27th, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^

If the students and alumni make it absolutely clear that DB has to go, it's going to outweigh Ross and other big money and we'll come up with a suitable semi-corporate replacement. 

This is where things get uncomfortable though, because we really need the grassroots stuff, fire DB petitions, fire DB t-shirts, and yes, even Lulz worthy fire DB sky writing if necessary.  Whatever it takes. 

I know the MODS seem hellbent on stamping out any grassroots protest against DB, but it's really our only option if we want him gone, especially given the counterbalance of the big money donors.  I sincerely hope they rethink this stance.  

 

 

 

 

Joined: 09/20/2014

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Michigan Arrogance

September 27th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^

I agree. This is a rich guy saying he trusts another rich guy with the 300+ mill he effectively gave him. I really don't think Ross has any clue what the state of the program and 75-80% of the fan base is. He lives in a totally different world.

REGENTS: FIRE BRANDON

Fly it and write it


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MileHighWolverine

September 27th, 2014 at 11:38 AM ^

Agreed....$300mm doesn't buy unquestioned control of the AD. Enough empty seats, enough former players complaining and enough bad publicity will outweigh any amounts Ross can give.

And, at some point, someone in Ross' court will point out just how badly Brandon is screwing up the AD and Ross will want to distance himself from a sinking ship.

There is also the chance that DB sees the writing on the wall resigns to "pursue other options" so he can preserve any hope of running for greater office - which he won't be able to do if he is blamed for destroying the AD.

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KillaCam

September 27th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^

That everyone seems cool with multiple threads complaining about Brandon, but threads that are actually started to do something about it seem to be blocked.  E.g. the kickstarter thread from last week.  

I get that "let's do something" threads can be controversial, but we're all grown ups here, we can handle it.  Let people propose things and debate them, and those of us that want to actually make our voice heard outside of an mgo-thread may do so. 

I know you could argue that we should just take this kind of stuff somewhere else, but the fact is that Brian has created an excellent site that is extremely popular with M fans.  There really is no better place.

Also, pretty sure that a FIRE DAVE shirt would sell out of the MGoStore in like 48 hours. 

 

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Erik_in_Dayton

September 27th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

We have to organize something as fans. You can be in the "keep Brandon/I'm indifferent camp" or the "fire Brandon; let's do something" camp. But the "fire Brandon; doing something is poor form" camp is BS...There are undoubtedly better and worse ways of tackling this problem, but doing nothing is not the answer.

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MWolverine7

September 27th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^

Well that sucks! I wanted to see what Hoke could do with Brandon out of the picture for the rest of the year..looks like that's not happening

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alum96

September 27th, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^

The football team is on Hoke.  It is not suddenly to make a 180 degree turn due to the AD being let go.   The problem with retaining Brandon at this point is the next head coach hire - the reputation on Brandon is now pretty clear and its not something a bunch of MGo bloggers know in a secret room.  It's going to be nationwide and your pool of candidates who want to work for this man will be a lot smaller than a pool of canddiates who would want to run the football team.  So you self limit with Brandon.

With all that said, if this team comes back with a loss at Rutgers and gets toasted in EL you might see empty seats at UTL3, you will see 15K+ missing fans at Indiana and by Maryland it might be 20K+.  I am not exaggerating .  Minnesota is a tough sell in late September when the weather is glorious - who the hell is going to show up in mid November to watch Maryland for what could be a 4 win team at that point.

If Brandon comes back from that sort of scenario than kudos to him - he is some sort of immortal.

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J.Madrox

September 27th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^

As someone else said Brandon is probably wonderful with the big money donors and I'm sure Ross was just saying positive things without to much thought but what in the world would make Brandon "the most qualified athletic director in the country"?

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UM Fan in Nashville

September 27th, 2014 at 10:54 AM ^

Let's just see how the next few home game's attendance goes, then ask Ross about it again.  

Honestly, I think this is a statement of support just for a big name statement of support, nothing more.  I don't think there really is anything substantial behind his words.  It's a way to have a big name try to simmer down the national media so the school doesn't keep getting hammered day in and day out.  The sad thing is, Hoke has all the power to stop this.  Just Win and look good doing it!

 

We'll see...  

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mgoBrad

September 27th, 2014 at 11:06 AM ^

I was going to post this as well. As much as I don't like what it says, you've got to appreciate a reporter getting some people on the record and finding some sources within the Univserity admin to see what's actually going on. After a week full of speculation, this aspect was refreshing at least.

I was also suprised to see the details about DB's contract, another thing that hadn't come to light before now. Obviously things can change over the course of a year, but at least Ross is realistic about the fact that Hoke is coaching for his job. 

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