M alumni association report on athletic department
mlive (baumgardner) dug digged this up, so i am linking both the original mlive article that led me to this and the alumni association website
it seems that if the alumni association is willing ot publish clear discontent, the tide of discontent is so strong that it cannot be hidden by associations that are typically loyal to the university at all times
i found the comments, particularly from those who have had season tickets for 30+ years most interesting.
http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2014/10/michigan_alumni_also_…
http://alumni.umich.edu/about/news-features/alumni-react-lower-football…
Update:
freep now cutting and pasting from the M alumni website
http://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverine…
October 29th, 2014 at 2:05 PM ^
The Alumni survey was pretty damning
October 29th, 2014 at 2:06 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 2:28 PM ^
so even less digging was needed.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:12 PM ^
I'm an elk, a Mason, a communist.
I'm the president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance for some reason...
Ah, here it is. The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:59 PM ^
on Groupon. Thanks, Dave!
October 29th, 2014 at 2:18 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
I was hoping "digged" was jargon at first. Nope.
Yeah, dug.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:45 PM ^
yup, it's dug. my mistake. thank you for your investigative piece on spelling.
have a good life.
love,
dave
October 29th, 2014 at 3:17 PM ^
Just trying to make you aware, but not fully aware.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:32 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
i was trying to turn a new leaf!!!!!!! i suggest you relax and try it!
i never said that i don't make mistakes...just that they happen as downstream consequence of someone else's mistakes...
now if you will excuse me, i need to start drinking before i get canned.
go blue!
dave
p.s. will you help me find a new team to root for?
October 29th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^
Is hitting the fan big time.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:41 PM ^
In the "Alumni React..." post, there were three things in the comments that, if true, really, really REALLY piss me off.
1) A 1970s team alum is coming back as his team is being honored at homecoming. He got one free ticket for himself, but any guests (he was allowed only 3) had to pay $75 a ticket.
2) Apparently disabled individuals used to have valet parking available near the stadium entrance. This has been replaced by parking for box seat bigwigs. Now people with disabilities need to arrive an hour before the game, park at the golf course, take a shuttle, and then wait up to an hour after the game to take the shuttle back.
3) It was once possible to purchase lifetime Victors Club membership for some 5 figure value (this was in the 80s or 90s I think?). People who did so have consistently seen there "lifetime" benefits chipped away, in particular their Blue Lot passes have been given to box seat bigwigs and they now have to tailgate south of the golf course.
In all three cases you have extremely loyal and/or disadvantaged fans being screwed over in the name of a quick buck. This sucks, and I'm embarrassed by it.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
that 70s player should have just bought 4 cokes!
October 29th, 2014 at 2:52 PM ^
My dad was one of the first Life Members of the Victors Club in the late 1970s-early 1980s. It was a $10,000 total donation, payable over several years. They got away from the program in the early 1990s, IIRC, at the absolute latest.
It's true that the Athletic Department has been quietly whittling away the benefits, even though there are probably very few Life Members actually left. There were never that many to begin with--enough to fill about a row or two of parking in what is now the Blue Lot, at its peak. Considering a lot of those people are probably dead, how much would it really take to satisfy their promises?
To be fair, the decreasing benefits didn't start under Brandon. That being said, it's accelerated over the past several years.
October 29th, 2014 at 6:04 PM ^
I would be *honoring* people like your father. Not pissing on their pantlegs. These alumni reactions disgust me.
This is much more personal.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
To be fair I think #1 has been an issue for a long time (not just under the DB regime).
I heard for a while now that former players were only alloted a few tickets (if that) and had to pay full price for friends and family and that has always pissed people off, for good reason.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^
Even if that's your general policy for random games, not cutting a break for a starter on a team specifically invited to homecoming to celebrate their 40th reunion? Damn, that's cold. At least let the guy bring a +1.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:53 PM ^
Absolutely agree with you.
It would seem that as a former player himself that would have been one of the first things DB would have changed, but noodles had to be placed and blocks M's had to be streamlined...
October 29th, 2014 at 2:42 PM ^
Question: Who is actually happy with DB right now? The only people seem to be the current coaches...
October 29th, 2014 at 2:54 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
If we beat Rutgers and Minnesota, I think there would be a lot less pised off people.
October 29th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
I don't know...people were already pretty pissed off after ND and Utah
October 29th, 2014 at 4:11 PM ^
The Utah loss in hindsight looks slightly better but yeah. Goose-egg in the final ND series game for a while? Notgood.
October 29th, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
Brandon has been fostering an Us vs Them mentality within the Athletic Department, meaning that he's trying to play it out that it's the Athletic Department vs the unruly alumni and fans who don't know what they are talking about because they have never been a part of Athletics.
I'm sure there are some athletes, former athletes and coaches who are more than willing to buy into this line of thinking. Especially since Brandon has delivered a lot of cash into the athletic programs. To them, the opinion of those of us that weren't on a Michigan sports team is irrelevant, just like it is irrelevant to Brandon. So that is who still supports him.
October 29th, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^
There are a couple of trolls on Twitter who claim to be happy with him.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
and an ass as well. They see that douche several times a week and are only issuing public statements supporting him because what else can you do? I have to imagine a number of them will also be happy to see him fired
October 29th, 2014 at 6:05 PM ^
maybe his wife. Maybe.
October 29th, 2014 at 2:47 PM ^
At this point it doesn't matter if DB is a bad AD or not. The whole situation has become so toxic that a change needs to occur rather quickly for the health of the program. So if the poeple in charge of these things could move swiftly and confidently on this matter that would be appreciated, thanks!
October 29th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^
"I come to Ann Arbor to remember the days that I lived there, that I went to games with friends, that I remembered cheering for MY team. If I wanted a corporate culture, I'd just go to an NFL game."
This one strikes a chord for me. I find myself increasingly dismayed that the environment in and around the stadium and the program is becoming all the things that we went there to attempt to evade for a few hours. This person is pretty much spot on - if I want my timeouts sponsored and my concessions to be only slightly cheaper than The Earl, there are many places I can go in the Detroit area alone for that.
October 29th, 2014 at 3:15 PM ^
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October 29th, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
but he has 4 years of Michigan experience, and several decades of being in Corporate America. He says in his emails that "I get it!!!!!..." but he clearly doesn't. He runs the AD like a poorly run corporation. Tone deaf to customers; stupid ideas over and over again
October 29th, 2014 at 3:11 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 3:20 PM ^
is that there is hardly any mention of the product on the field being lousy, just that the cost of attending keeps rising while the atmosphere of the stadium experience has become corporatized or made to feel like an NFL stadium.
College football is a far better fan experience than pro football is or hope to be.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:24 PM ^
The best part of all this, not counting the obvious endgame, is that the shitstorm is falling directly where it shoud: on David Brandon's shoulders. That is taking a lot of the attention away from the terrible product on the field, which is great for the players.
It's not the players' fault that the AD tells their coaches to use a playbook that was outdated ten years ago. It's not the players' fault that the coaches can't even control the sidelines. It's not the players' fault that everyone entrusted with developing them has let them down.
Put the pressure where it belongs. As much as I want to see David Brandon fired, I am beginning to think that it is even more appropriate to let him twist in the wind, dodging fecal debris as it falls from the sky.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:21 PM ^
Dave Brandon is now disliked by the students, the fans and the alumni association. That only leaves the players liking him, and they only like him because they're a part of his department. See ya, Dave.
October 29th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
I was President of the Westchester County U-M alumni club for a decade. At one time, we sold hundreds of tickets to alums as part of a pre-season bulk alumni club offer.
At one time, it was easy and the tickets were okay, though usually in the end zone at the other end from the student section.
Then, our Club was told we could only order games if we had 25 tickets ordered per game, so we joined up with the other clubs in the NYC area to try and make the minimum.......and of course, OSU, MSU and Notre Dame are never even offered to the alums.
But the last few years, the tickets the Athletic Dept makes available to the alumni clubs are so bad......have you ever been to row 1 in the corner of the south end zone? you cant even see play at the other end zone
so magically, almost nobody orders tickets through the alumni club any more. we have one alum who orders 16 tickets at a time and he gets his block together this way.
and I was in school with (and knew) Steve Strinko. He was a warrior and he was The Man. the idea that the Athletic Dept does not care about the Steve Strinkos of our world sucks.
October 29th, 2014 at 6:08 PM ^
He has many valuable accomplishments he can highlight during his resignation speech.
Get out now, Dave. Before your reputation is completely ruined.
October 29th, 2014 at 6:41 PM ^
is it going to take to get this clown out? No one likes him, and this just prove sit.....just leave, you have brought nothing but shit here.
October 29th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
October 29th, 2014 at 11:08 PM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 12:14 PM ^
We hooted and hollered about wanting change and administration listened. They brought in someone who they felt would help with creating excitement at football games i.e. HD scoreboard, jets, loud music, legends jerseys, drone idea etc etc etc. It's Buisiness and Marketing 101. I didn't hire the guy, nor did I hire BH.
I certainly don't agree with it all nor do I agree with giving crap to 18-22 year olds who haven't earned anything in about a decade. We bascially just enabled the whole program to think that teams would fear them simply because of the winged helmet and 110k fans screaming about tradition and being the winningiest program of all-time.
This was DB's image and his model for change, and he brought in a coach who he felt would bring us championships. It hasn't worked but just because you don't like the results doesn't change the fact that the majority of us craved a bit more excitement and less predictability.
If you weren't one of them then God Bless, because evidently you saw this train wreck coming before anyone else. Amen to you, mate.