Update: Michigan president Mark Schlissel has announced Dave Brandon’s resignation.
The embattled Dave Brandon resigns as Michigan AD
The AD’s fan approval plummeted in his four years with the program, especially following the events in the football game against Minnesota.
Original: Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon is resigning after a tumultuous four years with the school, according to ESPN’s Brett McMurphy. The former CEO of Domino’s Pizza, he was often criticized by fans for his business decisions that alienated parts of the fan base, culminating in a disastrous football season that’s included the controversial treatment of an injured player.
After quarterback Shane Morris played through multiple apparent injuries against Minnesota on Sept. 27, Brandon's office was silent until a 1 a.m. statement, which appeared to contradict head coach Brady Hoke, the following Tuesday. Hours later, students started a petition to remove Brandon from office, receiving thousands of signatures.
Despite success in basketball and other sports, Brandon's failure was his inability to listen to his customers, the fans, when it came to football. Despite lackluster results and poor matchups on the field, he raised student ticket prices and changed the ticketing procedure, causing thousands of students to drop their season tickets. Botched promotions contributed to poor attendance, and he appeared to place more of a premium on sponsors than he did on fans.
What may have been the final mark against Brandon was an email exchange with a fan that was published on MGoBlog, in which Brandon snapped at a fan that emailed to voice his criticism with the football program. That email and several others were floating around for a few weeks, but were finally shown to be authentic.
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Under Brandon, the football team never got back to the success it enjoyed under the Lloyd Carr years, and his hiring of Hoke turned out to be nearly as bad for the program as the previous hiring of Rich Rodriguez. Brandon was part of an era in which the Wolverines placed a premium on finding “Michigan Men” for the job, and as a Michigan graduate, he fit that mold. However, it wasn’t enough for the fans and the program to overlook his missteps.
The Wolverines have reportedly looked into two potential replacements, UConn athletic director Warde Manuel and Boston College athletic director Brad Bates, both of whom played football at Michigan.
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