Category: Football

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Conspicuous Consumption- The Michigan Wolverines; the 1 Percent of College Athletics

The athletic department is building a new electronic billboard which according to Athletic Director David Brandon, “…happens to be across the street from a golf course so it won’t annoy anybody.”

This is interesting on two counts.

First, if it’s not going to annoy anyone why build it? Isn’t the whole point of a billboard to get attention?

And second, this from an athletic department that had to search the couch cushions in order to send the marching band to the upcoming Cowboy Classic?

Critics from the community have questioned the need for such a billboard to which Brandon responded, “…It’s not at all unusual for athletic campuses … to have some sort of display board activity.”

Yeah, Dave, right. It’s not unusual for athletic campuses to have football stadiums either.

Of course, not many have a capacity of over 109,000.

Everything that Michigan does is over the top. And the Athletic Department is very successful. According to the NCAA, UM is one of the few athletic programs turning a profit.

And Michigan fans like it that way and so do many residents in the Ann Arbor area who live around the University of Michigan campus.

Hail the Victors! The Leaders and Best!

But success sometimes breeds arrogance and increasingly the Athletic Department is being perceived as being oblivious to the local community.

When a regent suggested that, “…Brandon consider allowing local non-profit organizations to advertise on the sign “so the community can feel part of the board that they will be looking at,” he shot the idea down.

Too hard! Can’t do it!

Now there are some amazing people working the athletic department, many of whom have come in under Brandon’s tenure. Surely one of them could figure out a policy and procedure to handle such requests.

Heads will roll at the Big Ten. Inconsistent branding!

But Brandon would have to make that a priority. And there’s the rub, the athletic director wants the community to support his sports teams and athletes (especially the so called non-revenue sports) but seems less and less open to community input.

You would think someone who had been voted out as regent would have learned to pay a little more attention to the public.

Brandon has brought much needed discipline from to the Athletic Department but it has come at a price.

You hear the term “metric” thrown around a lot.

The metric for loyalty is now measured in Priority Points rather than years as a season ticket holder. Fans who’ve had their seats for 20,30, even 40 years are losing out to deep-pocketed donors.

These long time fans are your core demographic, and they’re getting dumped on.

The Athletic Department leadership needs to understand that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

There is no Michigan Athletic Department without the University of Michigan, and the University is publicly funded by the taxpayers of Michigan. Upset enough people and you have a problem.

Former Coach Lloyd Carr talks with UM AD David Brandon at the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon

By most metrics the tenure of Athletic Director Dave Brandon has been a stunning success. The hire of football coach Brady Hoke, the Big Chill, and the first night game in Michigan Stadium history are all positive metrics.

The focus on the “Michigan” brand, while annoying to some, is a positive step to improve the overall marketing of the athletic department.

There may be no clear metric for it yet but there are people who are upset at some of the drastic changes.

Unhappy long time fans and a local community that perceives you as arrogant is a volatile mix that shouldn’t be ignored.

If the athletic department truly wants to realize its vision of “…Relentlessly Striving to make Michigan Athletics the Leaders and Best in Every Way!” it would be well served to be a better partner with its local Ann Arbor neighbors and be more receptive to the complaints of its fans.

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Dear Penn State: The Joe Paterno Statue has to Go

Update 7/20

Amid the fallout of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, Penn State University will remove the statue of legendary infamous coach Joe Paterno near Beaver Stadium this weekend.

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Over the last 20 years I’ve spent every fall splitting time between high school and college football games. Many of my friends are high school or college coaches while both my brothers coach high school football. We spend hours diagramming plays and discussing coverage packages.

I believe that participation in sports is a remarkable tool to help prepare people for life and football is my favorite sport. So it was understandable that I considered Joe Paterno to be a hero.

But I started to lose respect for him in 1999. It took some digging but here is a video of why.

I saw these plays on TV during a game break. My immediate reaction was that JoPa was going tear into Arrington.  He may have somehow missed it did during the game but there would be hell to pay afterwards!

But JoPa didn’t. In fact he defended Arrington and even said that he had no interest in reviewing tape of the plays in question. He just ignored it. Here was one his players blatantly taking cheap shots at a defenseless opponent and JoPa couldn’t care less.

Success with honor, indeed.

Penn State won the game when Arrington blocked a late FG attempt by Pittsburgh. Penn State escaped with the game, their #2 ranking intact but JoPa reputation, at least with me, was on the decline.

In order to win a game, he turned a blind eye to the thuggery of one of his players.

Winning was more important.

It would be a decade between Penn State wins over Michigan. My respect for JoPa continued to decline as the number of Penn State football player arrests continued to climb. It got so bad that ESPN did a special report on the subject in 2008.

Between 2002 and 2008 “…46 Penn State football players have faced 163 criminal charges, according to an ESPN analysis of Pennsylvania court records and reports. Twenty-seven players have been convicted of or have pleaded guilty to a combined 45 counts.”

But before every Michigan-Penn State game someone would make the obligatory, “isn’t JoPa great!” remark and I’d answer the same way every time.

“I like JoPa, I like to beat him.”

And after every defeat JoPa would have some lame excuse to explain his team’s futility, “the timekeeper screwed us!” and my favorite “the grass was too long!”

All during this time my opinion of JoPa was that the game had passed him by and that he was compromising his values- “Success with Honor!” to stay relevant.

So when the Jerry Sandusky scandal broke, I assumed that he was victim of circumstances, that people around him had hidden the horror of Sandusky’s actions because surely there’s no way JoPa would have stood idly by as children were molested.

But the Freeh Report issued  last week made one thing perfectly clear- JoPa was an active participant in enabling Sandusky to continue preying on children.

He covered for him and enabled his actions.

Since the report, the Penn State community is in agony. There is talk of the Penn State football program getting the death penalty, and the University will soon be facing a number of lawsuits from Sandusky’s victims.

And outside Beaver Stadium, the statue of Joe Paterno continues to stand.

According to ESPN the statue remains “…in part, to not offend students and alumni who still hold the late coach in high esteem.”

I understand that people have strong feelings about the JoPa they thought they knew. But given the contents of the report there’s no way that statue should remain.

We don’t build statues to people who enable serial pedophiles.

When I scandal broke, I wrote- …We can debate  exactly what Joe Paterno could have done differently, but let’s agree that he should have done more than he did.

Far from not doing enough, the report found that Paterno discouraged Penn State officials from contacting outside authorities.

Penn State- this is the guy you want to honor with a statue?

At some point JoPa stopped being deserving of the honor.

Penn State fans have a choice- keep the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium, idealizing the Paterno myth or join the rest of the world in mourning the failings of Paterno the man.

You can’t have it both ways.

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16 is the answer to life the universe and everything (for 2012) Denard Robinson

Denard Robinson holds the key to success this season

With apologies to Douglas Adams and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the answer to the meaning of life the universe and everything is not 42.

It’s 16.

At least that’s the answer for Michigan Wolverine fans this season.

After weeks of breaking down game tape  and evaluating the incoming football roster for the upcoming season, I have reached the following conclusion:

It’s all about Denard Xavier Robinson.

Of course, he needs no introduction. Since he grabbed hold of the starting QB position two seasons ago amid the implosion of Tate Forcier he’s taken Wolverine fans on a wild ride. From the 2010 Notre Dame game where he gained 258 yards while announcing his entry into the Heisman Trophy race, to last season’s improbable last minute comeback, again against the irish, to lead the Wolverines to victory in the first night game in history of The Big House- Denard is the spark plug that makes the Big Blue Machine go.

Denard Robinson Photo Gallery

In fact last season’s 11-2 record might be the most damning indictment of former coach Rich Rodriguez and his gang who-couldn’t-shoot-straight defensive coaches. With Denard in full Heisman mode in 201o, the team barely squeaked into a bowl game beating. This past season a more restrained Denard Robinson under Brady Hoke and a rejuvenated Greg Mattison coached defense gave a Wolverine fans a taste of what’s possible.

For the next three months, fans will debate who will snap the ball, who will block and who will catch the ball for the Wolverines. We’ll agonize over every rumor while fretting over the the defensive line and backfield depth charts.

I’ve seen Anthony Carter electrify Michigan Stadium. I’ve seen Desmond Howard dominate the Buckeyes and break into his Heisman pose. I was there when Tim Biakabutuka ran for 313 against the Buckeyes. I was at Penn State when the mere appearance of Charles Woodson in the Wolverine offense made the Nittany Lions panic like a second rate junior varsity squad. I saw Braylon Edwards dominate Michigan State in the famous triple overtime game.

I’ve experienced all these great performances and many more (even some by opponents; Donovan McNabb, Dennis Dixon, and Troy Smith to name a few) but the game-in and game-out electricity of Denard Robinson trumps them all.

Last year my analysis told me the we were looking at a 8-4, 9-3 regular season. In retrospect, a few less distractions at Michigan State, a few calls breaking our way against Iowa and…which brings us to this season.

There’s three months to fill before the Wolverines play in Dallas.

We’ll hear the clowns at ESPN debate whether Denard should demand to play wide receiver!

We’ll talk about why it took 18 months for the Athletic Department and the band to figure out travel arrangements for the Cowboy Classic.

We can question if “The Brand, The Brand, Brand(on),” has replaced the “The Team, The Team, The Team!”

But there’s really only question that matters when the Wolverines take the field in Dallas against Alabama to start the season.

Where’s number 16?

 

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…and the band played on- Michigan Wolverine Marching Band *will* play in the Cowboys Classic

On October 14, 2010, the Michigan athletic department announced that the Wolverines would travel to Dallas, Texas to face the Alabama Crimson Tide for the 2012 season opener.

“This is a great way to kick off the 2012 season with two of the nation’s winningest college football programs,” said U-M director of athletics Dave Brandon. “We are excited about playing a regular-season game in the state of Texas, a region of the country where we have traditionally recruited. Our goal is to get as many Michigan fans to the game as possible to witness this match-up of traditional powers.”

On Thursday April 19 2012, the members of the Michigan Marching were informed via email that…

“…it has recently been decided that the Michigan Marching Band will not be traveling to Texas for the Cowboy Classic game vs. Alabama this fall. The Athletic Department is treating the Alabama game as a standard road contest, not as a bowl game. Therefore, there is no bowl-style budget available to bring the band to Texas.”

What happened during the 18 months between these announcements may take some time to uncover but reaction from Wolverine fans was known immediately. Less than 5 days later the athletic department reversed itself and it was announced that band would be traveling to the game.

The solution that had remained a mystery for 18 months was suddenly solved in less than 5 days.

The message is clear- don’t mess with the band.

Fans may be accepting of piped in music during home games but the idea of having the Victors played via tape during a huge national game is unacceptable.

Fans, stung by rising ticket prices and seat licenses, and a less than stellar home slate of games put their collective feet down.

Sending the band isn’t cheap, and surely the athletic department can’t be expected to pay for everything all the time but considering the special nature of this game and the projected athletic department budget for 2012

…At the University of Michigan Board of Regents meeting on Thursday, athletic director Dave Brandon presented a budget with anticipated revenues of $121.2 million versus expenses of $109.8 million, a surplus of $11.38 million. The Michigan athletic department expects a surplus of $4.7 million for fiscal year 2011, which ends June 30. It will be the department’s 10th straight year in the black.

This should have been an easy call. Certainly it shouldn’t have taken 18 months to find a solution.

Now some have questioned the financial terms of the deal Michigan negotiated to play in the Cowboys Classic. They cite the loss of revenue for surrendering a home game at Michigan Stadium versus the revenue generated by traveling to Dallas.

This is why accountants don’t make strategic decisions for organizations.

Now there are things I don’t like about this game. First and foremost it leaves season ticketholders with a weak slate of game at the Big House this season. Secondly, Dallas err Arlington (the home of Cowboys Stadium) is one of my least favorite destinations and honestly I would have preferred playing an away in a collegiate stadium.

But those reasons aside, if you’re Dave Brandon you make this deal in a heartbeat.

For the 6 month run up to this game Michigan will receive unprecedented media coverage.  They get the opportunity to play a high profile game in the heart of prime recruiting territory and within driving distance of tons Michigan alumni.  They have locked in a high profile opponent, something that even a BCS bowl bid (Virginia Tech) can’t guarantee. The game is early enough in the season that the Wolverines can easily recovery from a loss, and if QB Denard Robinson pulls of the victory he and the Wolverines could be on the way to very special season.

And stay tuned because rumors of more special event games have been swirling for years. Visits to the New York area and the west coast (anybody up for a Nike/Adidas showdown?) have obvious appeal.

The only mistake in this saga was shortchanging the band.

And now with the minor details resolved we only have to wait for the actual game to be played.

I’m so excited I’ll even go to Dallas.

Go Blue!