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| Brandon was Michigan AD since 2010. Photo Credit: Rick Osentoski/USA Today Sports |
Dave Brandon's reign as Michigan athletic director looks like it has come to and end.
By: Michael Hanley
There are multiple reports stating that Brandon is resigning from his job. According to the Detroit News, Michigan has scheduled a 1:30 pm EDT press conference at which the president of the school Mark Schlissel is going to discuss just exactly what the future of Dave Brandon holds in regards with the school itself.
This resignation has been building for quite sometime now as a series of events have pushed Brandon to this most unceremonious of having to give up his role at the school. First, he and the football program came under scrutiny in how they handled quarterback Shane Morris' concussion and the steps they took afterwards that enraged the fanbase and student population.
This led to Brandon having to come out and issue an apology. The students took matters into their own hands as they held an on campus rally, calling for him to resign immediately after this gaffe that was made.
The second event that further put Brandon in trouble was the ill fated promotion from the athletic department in which fans could get free tickets to the Michigan home game vs. Minnesota with the purchase of two 20 ounce Coca-Cola products. It was a very cheap and tacky way of trying to lure people into buy tickets and reducing the many empty sections of seats inside the stadium.
The third and final blow to Brandon was the release of some very contentious and testy emails exchanged between himself and Michigan fans.He did not deny the strong worded emails in which he told supporters of the Wolverines to "quit drinking and go to bed" or to "find a new team" This only put more gasoline onto which was already an inferno for Brandon and the athletic department.
It will not be cheap for the university to buyout Brandon's remaining contract. It has been reported that they will be on the hook of paying him as much as $3.8 million to fulfill the deal that he signed and was to run through the year 2018.
That is allot of money even for a highly regarded and wealthy university like Michigan, but if they truly want to move on from all this mess and bad press, starting over at the athletic director position would be the first step that would make sense and give fans and the students a chance to get a new man to head up athletics for the university and to build a positive and open relationship with.
Follow me on Twitter: @Magic20099
