Finance-PhD

October 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

Ross is a major benefactor of his alma mater, the University of Michigan; with lifetime contributions of $313 million to the university, he is the largest donor in university history.[2][4] According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ross's higher education gifts rank behind only billionaire New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose recent $350 million contribution[4] to Johns Hopkins University increased his lifetime total to $1.1 billion.[5] The University of Michigan renamed its business school, the Ross School of Business, in Ross's honor in 2004, after Ross made a $100 million gift to fund a new business-school building.[6][7] In September 2013, Ross donated $200 million to the University ($100 million to the Business School and $100 million to Michigan athletics), the largest single gift in the history of the university; the University of Michigan announced plans to rename the university's athletics campus in his honor.[4] Ross also gave $5 million to the athletic department's academic center and $1 million to endow a professorship in real estate at the Ross School of Business.[4]

He speaks and they will listen.

Joined: 09/02/2012

MGoPoints: 1167

BornSinner

October 1st, 2014 at 9:23 PM ^

The new business school is the DEFINITION of buildings we DON'T NEED. Ross before this new renovation was ALREADY the nicest academic building on campus. The engineering and science buildings on the other hand... 

All Ross' donations for the Bschool do are make Bschool kids more smug than they already are with their A- curves. 

Joined: 09/20/2014

MGoPoints: 14672

Sports

October 1st, 2014 at 10:09 PM ^

Not in Ross personally, but I have had classes there, and the part they're tearing out really did need to be replaced. It was worse than any LS&A building I've been in. Imagine Dennison, but more extensive...and plenty of engineering and science buildings are great. The USB is awesome and the CS building is legitimately incredible. However, North Campus is also about to receive even more upgrades under the latest renovation plan.

Joined: 04/23/2014

MGoPoints: 5469

Wave83

October 1st, 2014 at 11:39 PM ^

Stop. Building. Buildings.

UM, especially the athletic department, is now (for the foreseeable future) overbuilt.  Brandon doesn't stop, however, primarily because he is an empire builder.  In addition, keeping UM dependant on his rich friends as donors offers a nice side-benefit to Brandon.

Joined: 03/09/2011

MGoPoints: 1517

CompleteLunacy

October 1st, 2014 at 9:02 PM ^

Honestly all I ever hear when I see a quote like that is "Brandon will look for a Michigan coach with Michigan ties to Michigan the most Michigan for Michigan. Michigan."

When will those in power learn that the entire concept of someone who is a "Michigan Man" HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR PREVIOUS TIES TO MICHIGAN.

Joined: 11/13/2010

MGoPoints: 12910

MGoBender

October 1st, 2014 at 9:16 PM ^

 

When will those in power learn that the entire concept of someone who is a "Michigan Man" HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR PREVIOUS TIES TO MICHIGAN.

This.  Bo was THE Michigan Man and he had no connections to UM before taking the job.  John Beilein is a Michigan Man.  Carol Hutchins is a Michigan Women who went to and coached at MSU prior to taking over the M softball program.

It's representing the University with loyalty and integrity.  It's not simply being someone who worked/graduated from UM previously.

 

Joined: 03/26/2010

MGoPoints: 15128

ChicagoGangViolins

October 1st, 2014 at 9:12 PM ^

 
Ross wants to apply only business solutions to a trancendent community whose whole has been for decades and decades greater than the sum of its parts.  He is wrong for us and we should reject his money and influence in the future.  Ross can build his own separate NFL feeder apparatus without colonizing us.
 
Nothing good originates from Miami.  Zilch.  I'ts a malarial swamp infested with the worst sort of sordid creatures.
 

Joined: 09/07/2014

MGoPoints: 840

MGoBender

October 1st, 2014 at 9:18 PM ^

His money is not wrong for us.  He's defending the guy who convinced him to donate $200M.  If you agreed to give $100M to someone's organization, you'd probably want that person to stay with the organization as well.

Joined: 03/26/2010

MGoPoints: 15128

umumum

October 1st, 2014 at 9:28 PM ^

Ross is certainly going to have a larger say about the direction of the Athletic Department--and the University itself--than I am.  And he should.  I am not naive or delusional--though if I were delusional, I might not know it.  The fact is Ross and his $200 million do far more for both institutions than I do.  But there is a line somewhere out there where his money shouldn't trump the right thing to do.  That's all most of us expect.

Joined: 01/06/2011

MGoPoints: 7876

SFBlue

October 1st, 2014 at 9:34 PM ^

Here's the meta-take: one of Ross' lawyers makes a phone call to the WSJ, a notorious pro-business rag, probably at the request of Brandon's lawyers, and this is the result.  This article (1) reassures the audience that Brandon is going nowhere soon, (2) mischaracterizes and minimizes the case against Brandon, and (3) overstates the case for Brandon's positive revenue impact on the University, by implicity crediting him with the fruition of the Big Ten Network, and omitting the problem the AD now finds itself in where for the first time in over 30 years it can't sell season tickets to the Big House.

 

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 15699

Willie Heston

October 1st, 2014 at 9:58 PM ^

Precedent for ignoring the money man:

Down here in Austin, the new AD (Patterson) didnt give a flip who billionaire Red McCombs (whose name is on the Business School--sound familiar?) wanted to hire as a replacement for Mack Brown.  Instead Patterson asserted his authority and hired who he felt was the best candidate.

Word is that the search was conducted for most part outside of the influence of the big boosters --and this helped create an environment in which a large culture change was possible in the football program. McCombs even said some fairly derogatory things about Strong immediately after he was hired--and was solidly and quite publicly rebuked for it. 

So, there is a predecent out there.  Ross is not the owner of the Wolverines.  Real change CAN happen.

 

Joined: 08/29/2008

MGoPoints: 939

SFBlue

October 1st, 2014 at 10:05 PM ^

Yes! 

What is troubling to me is not the prospect that Ross' money will be pitted against the Regents' principles--both sides have too much at stake for it to ever get to that point.  But this article confirms that Brandon will fight, and not bow out gracefully, at least at this point.

Joined: 11/02/2009

MGoPoints: 15699

1817

October 1st, 2014 at 10:13 PM ^

Hoke's going and DB choosing  a new guy may not be catastrophic.  After all, Martin hired both RR but then Beilein.  Brandon should go for turning Saturdays from an enjoyable ritual to an exhibition of corporate greed.

Joined: 09/30/2014

MGoPoints: 564

jblaze

October 1st, 2014 at 10:16 PM ^

A dolphins team that isn't garbage, he can take his money and waste it on useless coaches.

The fact that our football team sucks is only mildly related to hoke. Almost all of us loved hoke after the sugar bowl season. Even at the start of this year. The majority thought 9 wins at least.

Well, the fact that we are awful is on hoke and db. Hopefully, hoke can turn this around.

Joined: 08/29/2008

MGoPoints: 19301

Tater

October 2nd, 2014 at 3:06 AM ^

David Brandon is definitely in trouble.  The more bad media coverage Michigan gets, the worse it is for Brandon.  Ross has some influence, but not enough to help Brandon keep his job.  

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

123blue

October 2nd, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^

To me, the money quote reveals the poor quality of the job done by Dave at his previous marquee job:

Domino's stock price, essentially flat for the part of Brandon's tenure that the company was publicly traded, has risen sixfold since.

Joined: 10/02/2014

MGoPoints: 3380