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Date Title Body
1 year 18 weeks ago Dee is terrific, but

I'd love to have Dee but he has seemed so conflicted for so long.  I long for crazed, committed, passionate players who love Michigan.  I know, Dee's just a kid, etc.  But I really think kids who are single minded are better for programs.  No questioning themselves or what needs to be done when doing the hard work, practicing long hours, or in the huddle.  No proof, of course, just a hunch.
1 year 18 weeks ago Great news - and thanks Justice!

This is very good for the program.  Kids love Coach Jackson and he is a genuinely good guy.  He will help stabilize recruiting.  I also appreciate Justice's frequent support for the team and his steadfast committment.  Looking forward to seeing him compete for UM.
1 year 19 weeks ago What do you mean, we should jump off?

I don't understand.  We should not "jump on the bandwagon" because of Hoke's record at  . . .SDSU, that traditional football powerhouse?  Come on, please.  He has done really well at really bad places.  How do you think UM would have done this year against TCU and Mizzou with our defensive situation.  And as Coach said, "this is Michigan for God's sake."
1 year 19 weeks ago Feel much the same

Wrote a few days about the same feeling.  Read alot and don't post alot.  But the negativity can be really bad around here.  My wife actually noticed and commented on it.  Life is short.  I'm amazed at how many people are so purely negative and willing to trash.  I think Brian must be simply exhausted at this point.  But he needs to get alot more positive about this stuff.  I mean, this is college sports, not life and death.  Let's have some fun, right?  Brian, please lead us to a happier place with inspiring, supportive stuff, not the nearly constant downer stuff.
1 year 19 weeks ago Have to love to inspire

Disagree totally with this.  Don't think Bo loved Michigan.  You can't inspire unless you are passionate.
1 year 19 weeks ago Totally agree

It is easy to say "he's our coach so let's support him."  But I genuinely thought Coach Hoke was terrific during the press conference.  You can see passion, sincerity and love for all things Michigan.  He killed it.  I don't think it is fair to bash Brandon by contrast.  Brandon is sleep deprived and justifiably sick of the media nonesense.  I think Brandon was fired up by Coach and thought this is the time to send the message that this is Michigan.  We run things, not the Detroit press.
1 year 19 weeks ago Miles is the next coach and let´s support him

Don, it became clear to me as all of this was playing out that we should have seen this coming sooner.  I think Miles has been the guy from day one.  Probably planned since December or earlier.  The way DB has done his ¨succession planning¨ it really makes sense to me that this has been lined up for a long time.  The fact that DB and LM know each other really, really well tells me that DB did not just happen to call LM this week.  This has been packaged for a long time.  The rest has been a play out required to save face of good folks like RR, JH, BH, Fitz, etc.  Higher ed and corporate types often conduct ¨searches¨when the winning candidate was selected in a board room or clubhouse months before.  I am not being conspiratorial, and I´m not being critical of DB.  I just think this is the way things are done.  I simply refuse to believe that a corporate warrior like DB would let the single most important job of his tenure get started on January 1, 2011.  This was ready to go, with a timeline planned out, weeks if not months before.  Now the press would never approve of that, and various consituencies (like the pro RR faction) would never abide this kind of thing.  So that is why a ¨search¨has been conducted.
1 year 19 weeks ago Thanks for this clipping

I wasn't aware of this article, but this is exactly what I was referring to - succession planning.  But in this case, the candidate chosen has so much history that it only seems logical to me that this has been orchestrated for some time.  I saw the comment about Fitzgerald and Pinkel, which does raise the question about whether DB was really conducting a "search."  But it is very common to conduct "searches" in the corporate and higher ed world when the person to be selected is a fete accompli (sp?).  In order for DB's "search" to be plausible, it would make sense that there be candidates.  Why have a search:  to preserve the illusion for RR´s sake (he could save face with the team and the outside world until the bowl game), to preserve the illusion for JH´s sake (so that JH could play the bowl game and then JH could make his own choice and not get rejected by UM), to preserve the illusion for the outside world, and ultimately to save face for DB whose credibility is on the line. 
1 year 19 weeks ago I understand your frustration but

I really do understand your frustration - the scenario could seem like a screw up.  But think about it.  Do you honestly think that DB, a creature of the corporate world, has not been thinking of contingency plans for months and months with the single most important corporate decision he has to make?  He has undoubtedly been considering his options since he took over - during practice-gate, after losses to B10 rivals, etc.  I am absolutely sure he had a very short list of candidates long ago.  I am actually also convinced he decided to hire Miles long ago.  What we cannot be sure of is whether he told Miles that long ago (assuming I'm right, which is, admittedly, a big assumption).

But to me, all of the "DB is a screw up" crowd really is ignoring the basic reality of who DB is, what he knew his number 1 job has always been, and how he had to have been gameplanning this long ago.  Again, he may have had bumps in the road, but to me this is really the only thing that makes sense.

Finally, if I were a betting man, I think that Miles has known he was going to get hired long ago, but he will take that to his grave.  I mean my God, these guys played football together.  This is like the mafia.  The outside world will never, ever be inside. 
1 year 19 weeks ago I think I have it figured out

The only thing that makes sense is the following:  Brandon has known that RR was going to go for some time - back to December at the latest.  But he could not approach JH or LM until after bowls.  He also did all the due diligence and determined that all of the constituencies and considerations supported a LM hire more than a JH hire.  He also cannot afford to embarrass JH so he prepared a response at the RR presser to say JH to the pros, because he had already planned to go with LM.  BH was never really in the picture except as a backup.  But in order to (1) treat RR with dignity; (2) allow the bowl games to get played; (3) allow JH to save face (and permit a possible future hire), and (4) to get LM hired, he had to let these things unfold this way. 

I am an employment lawyer.  This does not qualify me in any particular way, except to say that I have been involved in executive hiring before and it is rare indeed that these kind of moves are not choreagraphed in advance.  I think Mr. Brandon's years in the corporate world have served him well.  This may have been set up months ago this way.  I would be highly surprised if there is not a timeline somewhere on DB's lawyer's computer with this kind of thing put together in great detail.  There may have been surprises along the way, but I'd put money on this.  Admittedly, a small amount.
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