The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/144506
There are a lot of constituencies to try and satisfy, he noted, and it's simply not going to happen to everyone's satisfaction. "Fourteen athletic directors come to the table, and they've all got their own bias and their own priorities and their own expectations of how they'd like to see things done," Brandon said. "In many cases, they're in conflict with one another. "Somebody has to come in and listen to everybody's wants and desires and needs, and then go out and come up with some framework that all 14 will agree with. They won't necessarily love every part of it, but they'll be willing to agree with it. "That's what happened. I'm very realistic about that, and I'm not going to whine about any particular element of the outcome. We're going to go play the games. We're going to work hard to win our division, and we're going to play in that championship game and try to earn the right to go to the Rose Bowl and beyond. "That's what we can control. The rest of it, we'll let the people who make those decisions make those decisions." The decision to include Maryland and Rutgers, at the very least, will put a lot of smiles on the faces of Michigan fans in the New York and Washington-Baltimore areas, Brandon assured. While the newcomers are a boon for Penn State, which "looks east," according to Brandon, Wolverines rooters are already salivating over the prospect of more accessible games to attend. "Michigan has such an enormous Brandon said of head coach John Beilein's basketball squad, "This program has reset itself in a way that should afford us the ability to compete for championships regularly." photo by per kjeldsen fan base and alumni base on the East Coast and the Eastern seaboard, this is a natural for us," Brandon noted. "I've heard from so many of our fans and alums who can't get up here for games, but they're already wondering, 'How do I get tickets for the Rutgers game? I do I make sure to get a ticket for the Maryland game?' That's an opportunity to see their team play, and that's a good thing. "From a recruiting standpoint, there are a lot of great players who come from those regions. The fact that we'll be traveling into those areas, displaying our talents, connecting with young people, connecting with high school coaches — that can only be helpful. "From a geographic standpoint, I like the fact that we're not flying over