Dave Brandon is out as athletic director at Michigan — by far the biggest victory of the year for Wolverines fans.
The embattled AD resigned from his post Friday afternoon in a press conference, and football coach Brady Hoke figures to be next to go after the dismal season comes to a close.
“This morning I accepted the resignation of athletic director David Brandon,” university President Mark Schlissel said. “Dave feels that it would be in the best interest of our student-athletes, the athletic department and the university community if he moved on to other challenges and allowed the important work of the department and the university to continue without daily distractions. I agree with this decision.”
It began going downhill for Brandon during the Minnesota game on Sept. 27, when Michigan quarterback Shane Morris, who was later diagnosed with a mild concussion, remained in the game one play after taking a hard hit in the fourth quarter. Then, because of what later was described as sideline confusion, Morris returned for an additional play.
Brandon, with four years on the job and four years remaining on his deal, and Michigan fans have been at odds for a while. An on-campus student rally demanded his firing and an online petition also was created to gather support for Brandon’s dismissal.
A popular Michigan sports blog, MGOBlog.com, recently published alleged email conversations between the AD and fans in which Brandon responded to legitimate concerns with snarky responses. He told one fan to “stop drinking and go to bed,” when the fan complains about the football team’s losing, and Brandon throws blame at former coach Rich Rodriguez, now thriving at Arizona.
There was anger after Brandon began charging the student football section at a general admission rate during the 2012 season and had their season tickets raised to the highest price in the Big Ten this fall.
Students planned to distribute 2,000 “FireDaveBrandon” T-shirts for Saturday’s homecoming football game against Indiana. They can keep the shirts, just change “Dave Brandon” to “Brady Hoke.”