turd ferguson

December 16th, 2013 at 12:55 PM ^

Agreed, and I'm happy to see that Michigan's embracing lacrosse these days.  There isn't really any such thing as "negative awards" in this business, though.  A polarizing AD like Brandon probably will get more than his share of positive accolades without those accolades being balanced out on the other side by something that conveys that he is, in fact, polarizing.  

Maybe I should start the "Turd of the Year" award or something to help solve this problem.

samdrussBLUE

December 16th, 2013 at 12:53 PM ^

Is there any other person even in consideration?  I mean, he made both teams DIV 1 programs, is giving them facilities and resources.  Good to receive, but seems pretty obvious if that is what the award is based on.

laxalum

December 16th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^

I usually go to either this event or the US Lacrosse convention, which is in January.  I chose the USL convention this year.  Had I known he was going to be there, I would have attended.  Great for Michigan for him to get this kind of recognition, and his attendance in Baltimore at a lacrosse luncheon further demonstrates his commitment to the sport.

kzooblue2016

December 16th, 2013 at 2:43 PM ^

I heard he made sure lacrosse was being played on a field with a giant noodle as the midfield emblem, with a DJ playing Pop Evil as the he shrunk the student section and enforced assigned general admissions. All the while he was literally branding the lacrosse players with the block M.

 

Just kidding. Good work in regards to lacrosse, Dave. 

Bando Calrissian

December 16th, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^

I really do think this is great and all, but to put it in perspective, Dave Brandon is not the first athletic director at Michigan to try to put lacrosse on the map. He's just the only one who had a surplus large enough that he could put up a program for men AND women in order to get around both the Title IX and financial roadblocks that faced Bill Martin when he mulled it over a few years earlier. What held back lacrosse was the same reason men's soccer took forever and a half to go varsity (after YEARS of trying), just as much as it's the same reason women's hockey has been knocking at the door since the mid-1990s.

When the men's club lacrosse team was winning like crazy in the mid-2000s, Athletics was trying all they could to raise the profile on campus, the biggest example being the much-publicized game against Johns Hopkins over at Elbel. The money just wasn't there. So, basically, just like the massive facilities upgrade, Dave Brandon pushed a half-finished Bill Martin project over the top, and Martin gets next to no credit when the accolades are handed out.

 

laxalum

December 17th, 2013 at 9:51 AM ^

I don't disagree with your premise that Martin doesn't get enough credit for many of the projects he started, but I have to disagree about lacrosse.  The one positive impact he had on the program was elevating it to "varsity club" level in 2001.  Other than that, he pretty much ignored the sport as far as I could tell.  Athletics had nothing to do with Hopkins and Army coming to scrimmage the club team in 2007.  That's why the game was at Elbel instead of at an athletic department facility.  That event was scheduled by JP (he and the Hopkins and Army coaches are close) and run by the Recreational Sports Department, which oversees club sports.  I was one of the many alums in attendance (it was a great night that made me really proud to have been part of the program), and I remember that Bill Martin was supposed to make an appearance but never showed.   The Army AD, who is now the Maryland AD, was there by the way.  I had an opportunity to chat with him.

Until a few years ago the athletic department technically oversaw the rec sports department, but the two had virtually nothing to do with each other.  Now rec sports is completely separate from athletics.