Bill Martin retiring as Michigan AD

And yet, couldn't wait for him to go when he was in Ann Arbor last time.

 

Dave Brandon, Domino's Pizza CEO, will be named athletic director.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100105/SPORTS0201/1050363/U-M-to-name-Domino-s-Dave-Brandon-athletic-director

He's a former Bo player, which mean RichRod better win this year or else. He's squarely in the Old Blue camp.

Dave's a good choice - a highly respected businessman, former U-M regent and former player who knows the U-M tradition inside and out.

In a way, I'm a bit surprised because he was strongly rumored to be running for governor as a Republican this year. He would have had a good shot to win because Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat who is term-limited, has done such a crappy job. Folks around here were so hoping that she would have gotten a job in the Obama administration. That would have been such great news for Michigan. (And, no, I'm not criticizing the Democratic Party - just her.)

 

Be interesting to see what this means for DickRod -- by what I mean how long he'll stay.

 

My thinking is it means Rodriguez will be there about one more year. If he goes under .500 again, he's done. If he wins 6-7-8 games, my bet is he goes out and scares up another job on his own and skips town in front of the firing squad. If he wins 9-10 or more, all of a sudden he's golden, but I don't see any indication that's likely.

Harbaugh now is definitely in the on-deck circle. Another year, everyone will have pretty much forgotten about his allegedly scandalous remarks, and if DickRod flies the coop on his own, he'll be welcomed back with open arms.

 

Well, at least he left the football and men's basketball teams in good shape.

 

Anyone else have a problem with DI schools opting to bring in business people to run their ADs instead of experienced athletic administrators? They did it at Oregon and I think Indiana as well. It almost seems like the job has become akin to an ambassadorship with the big money donor getting the title while the "little people" do most of the grunt work.
Granted, I realize much of an AD's time is fundraising and who better to tap the alum base than one of their own, but I still wonder about oversight and institutional control.
I doubt a university would turn over its law school to someone who doesn't have experience as a school administrator.

 

Indiana and Notre Dame hired lawyers who had been very involved in sports ventures. Fred Glass and Jack Swarbick were both movers and shakers in terms of getting big events (Final Fours, the Super Bowl, etc) to come to Indianapolis. If Division I athletic departments are businesses, why not hire businessmen or people with that skill set to run them? How is this different from universities hiring ex-politicos and big shots as their president?

 

I guess it comes down to what you value as an institution. The hiring of politicos without academic backgrounds and lawyers and businessmen in athletic departments tell me that higher education has already strayed from its mission if you are allowing the priorities to change what your looking for in a leader.

 

So Columbia strayed from its mission when it hired Eisenhower as its president?

 

My point is that running an athletic department or a university these days may not require being a respected researcher or noted educator so much, but be more a matter of having a great Rolodex and be able to cut a good business deal.
Colleges seem to try and have it both ways, talking about amateurism, academic freedom, research, education ethics etc. but saying more by who they hire for their top gigs.
Which makes me believe that if someone can present a model where a college football playoff will make more money than the BCS - they'll do it. Tradition of the bowls be damned.

 

I think it depends a lot on the businessman (or lawyer or politician). Just because someone hasn't spent his whole career as a football coach doesn't mean he doesn't care about college sports and the molding of young athletes.
And, frankly, having a lawyer or some other savvy operator as AD may help a university prevent incidents like the Mike Leach debacle.

 

Braylon Edwards got a little jab at DickRod on the last NFL game. In the intro where they say their names and schools, Edwards said, "Lloyd Carr's University of Michigan."

He says it was just to pay tribute to Carr, but of course, it looks like a pretty good dig at DickRod.