Myles Brand dies

Karl Hungus · Sep 17, 2009

slappy4428 said:

Karl Hungus said:

slappy4428 said:

Maybe it's the cynical Yankee bastard in me. But on an anonymous message board like this, why must everything be fond memories and fuzzy thoughts to someone who, in their particular case, might not have deserved it?
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Should making difficult and unpopular decisions for a powerful governing body exclude someone from being remembered fondly? Does it mean that he was a bad human being, across all levels of his life? Do you think because certain things may have defined him professionally that he doesn't "deserve fuzzy thoughts and fond memories" from those that choose to share those?

There is a disconnect between the professional and personal legacies of people, and distinctions should be made. Personally, someone's professional legacy seems a lot less important.
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Agree with a lot of your sentiment. But fuzzy thoughts and fond memories mean more when they're backed up with a story -- from living next door to a person or watching him once for five minutes on TV -- than plastic perfunctory kinds found on this site in many different threads.
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No question about it. Even as an employee of a Division I school, I don't think I should weigh in with an RIP.

PCLoadLetter · Sep 18, 2009

Piotr Rasputin said:

Someone said "Separate the personal life from the professional."

I dealt with Brand on a personal level while doing professional stories. So did some of my friends. He acted like a pompous prick when dealing with the students, student media in particular. His M.O. was to make sure that everyone knew he was the smartest guy in the room, the building, the campus, the hemisphere. So as a "personal"ity, he was your typical major-college careerist. No time for anything except bureaucracy.

As for his professional credentials: as NCAA president, he did a lot to push the importance of academics. While the formula they came up with for measuring academic progress has some flaws, the idea is a great one. Punish schools for failing academically. Excellent. No complaints.

But as a university president, both at Oregon and at Indiana . . . let's just say that those who don't get the vitriol are likely not alums of Indiana, circa 1995-2002, or Oregon, circa 1990-1994.

I am not glad he's dead, though I am glad he's no longer president of my alma mater. And I can assure you the same about Highway 101. No one here wishes any manner of death on anyone (though if nature were to take its course with Al Davis, that would help the Oakland Raiders greatly). I have no ill will toward Myles Brand. I just thought he was a bad university president.
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Just got back from vacation and didn't know about this until I saw the thread.

Always found his rise to prominence sort of baffling. And I largely agree with both Piotr and Bubbler on this one.

PCLoadLetter, University of Oregon class of 1990

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Myles Brand dies

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