Hackett on upcoming schedule changes, weight room upgrade, Noon vs Night games

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Great interview on WTKA by Hackett.

  • On future schedules that were set before Hackett got here-

    "There were some decisions made a few years ago that for whatever reason made sense then. I don’t know that they quite make sense today"

    LOL

     
  • Future B1G schedules will feature a much earlier B1G opener like the 70s and 80s had. 
     
"For example in the future because of the nine-game Big Ten season, we’re going to have to have an early Big Ten game as the season opens. All the Big Ten teams have agreed to start reconfiguring schedules to allow for that. And then there are some cool surprises maybe that will come. We’re working hard on some things can’t announce yet that I’m excited about.”
  • BTN will sell our TV rights to other networks beginning in 2017. We will see Michigan games on FOX for the first time. Probably FS1 sometimes, as well. 
     
  • Communication remains open with ND. Harbaugh and Kelly are the ones who initiated the return.
     
  • Fundraising is being done for a new weight room at Schembechler Hall. The building was gutted and the exterior was torn down in 2014 and completely remodeled.......at least the front porch was. Hackett on this-
     
"I want to say this so it doesn't upset people when we're raising money: the reason we need to do this is we put the important statue out front which is matters to me as much as anything, the museum which matters to our history. We never touched inside the building. We never touched any of the parts the players interact with. Weight room, training room, locker room."
  • Harbaugh went back to work at 2:30. An hour after the Signing of the Stars ended.
     
  • On the Noon vs Night battle-

“What happens in ’17, we have to start accommodating more night games and that’s a challenge at Michigan for a bunch of reasons. I’ve been trying to think of a way to get (night games) on a regular cadence. On the other hand, as Bo said toe to leather, playing that game at noon has a lot of attraction for the traditionalists, so I don’t know yet. I don’t know if we’re going to have a night game this coming year. Working on it but not settled.”

Link to the DetNews article where he goes into more detail.

MGoVictory

February 5th, 2016 at 3:13 PM ^

Average highs and lows in October, for Ann Arbor, through October 19th.

Day High Low
1 67.7 47.4
2 67.2 47.0
3 66.8 46.6
4 66.4 46.2
5 65.9 45.9
6 65.5 45.5
7 64.6 45.2
8 64.2 44.8
9 67.7 44.5
10 63.8 44.1
11 63.4 43.8
12 62.9 43.5
13 62.5 43.2
14 62.1 42.9
15 61.7 42.6
16 61.3 42.2
17 60.9 41.9
18 60.5 41.7
19 60.1 41.4

 

Of course, the lows are in the 40s, but this doesn't usually occur until several hours after midnight. Most likely, temperatures would be in the 60s and 50s during a night game through mid-October.

Climate Ann Arbor

redjugador24

February 5th, 2016 at 11:56 AM ^

There is a huge temperature difference during fall in MI between a noon and 8:00 kickoff. Like it or don't, that's a consideration. I'm sure there are other issues we're not aware of, but seems like last year they were worried about security for rivarl night games when people had all day to tailgate. Kinda makes sense.

ChuckieWoodson

February 5th, 2016 at 11:29 AM ^

And wheter or not people want to admit it, having night games is huge for recruiting and for the perception of the University.  LSU plays Bama at night and it looks like the freakin NFL while we're still kickin off @ noon.. Come on... why spend 2M on lights and then not use them?  I mean, the UTL games were huge successes in my view so I'm just a bit confused as to why we wouldn't schedule one every year. 

gwkrlghl

February 5th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^

Having 1 or 2 night games every year in September & October is nbd

Recruiting is critical for a program's success and you remember how damn good UTL was for recruiting? You want to just skip out on that and let other schools reap the benefits because "30 years ago we used to play all our games at noon!". Don't be stupid.

Traditionalists can blow me. Harbaugh is not traditional. SOTS was not traditional. If you wanna do everything like it's still 1974 then I hope you like being 9-3 every year because that was traditional too. I'd rather win.

Wolverine Devotee

February 5th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^

"Harbaugh is not traditional"

  • Brought back black shoes
  • Brought back White socks
  • Brought back Helmet stickers
  • Removed block M on pants
  • White pants on the road resembling the 1974-1976 road uniforms

I can handle home night games. But if they're against the likes of Rutgers or Illinois, that's a massive waste of a night game.

Are recruits really chomping at the bit to see those two matchups? 

We'll likely see PSU and Wisconsin as night games this year. I'd be perfectly fine with it. I just hope the rest of our games are at Noon.

 

Gucci Mane

February 5th, 2016 at 12:38 PM ^

I wish we never had a noon game. It's just way to early for me to get up. In addition to my own personal convienence, noon game showcase us to less of an audience, why wouldn't we always want to be on two biggest stage possible ?

True Blue Grit

February 5th, 2016 at 12:48 PM ^

if you live on the West Coast.  Watching a Michigan game at 9:00 in the morning never seemed right to me when we lived out in California.  And back then, before every home cable TV package carried the game, you had to go to a sports bar to watch it.   

slimj091

February 5th, 2016 at 6:05 PM ^

"I don't like to wake up before noon" is not good enough of a reason.

I prefer Noon games for one simple reason. The game will not be over lapped by the previous game that has gone into multiple overtimes causing TV watchers to miss half of the first quarter.

IMO games should be either at noon, or at 8pm once in a while for big non Ohio state game's. If that makes life hard for lazy people, or people living on the west coast then so be it.

gwkrlghl

February 5th, 2016 at 12:28 PM ^

"Harbaugh is not traditional" in the sense that he is decidely unconventional compared to how most Michigan coaches have been. Satellite camps, recruiting shenanigans, SOTS, etc.

Uniform changes isn't what I was getting at

jmblue

February 5th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^

So, you're in the Carolinas?  It's always seems to be the out-of-state people who like to lecture the actual ticketholders on this topic.

Night games are fun, but also inconvenient for a lot of people who drive long distances to go to the games.  I think it's OK to have one once in a while, but they shouldn't be held too often, and should be early in the season when it makes sense, weather-wise.  

Alton

February 5th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^

Pretty much every person who drives to an LSU game is able to park on campus (or near campus) in a lighted parking lot and walk to the game.  They don't have nearly as many people parking cars on lawns or on the street.

It's obviously do-able here, since it has been done, but there are a lot of stakeholders, especially the City of Ann Arbor, who don't care for it at all.  Yes, the University can tell the city to suck it up and deal with it, but that's not how the new administration wants to run things.

 

Wolverine Gator

February 5th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^

I went to plenty of Gator games at the Swamp while I was a student at UF during the Leak/Tebow years. People are parked anywhere they can find a spot: streets, lawns, parking lots, you name it. The only lighting is whatever people have chosen to make available or the streetlights if there are any. Very few people are actually parked in the school lots and those people probably paid TOP dollar. We played Vanderbilt at night (lets not talk about how Cutler took that game to OT).

RockinLoud

February 5th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^

I saw some mock-up for a new weight room last year that I thought was already being worked on. I must've missed that they're still fund raising for it. It looked pretty awesome from what I remember.