The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/575020
THE BUSINESS OF MICHIGAN ATHLETICS The Wolverine: Did you come in the first day planning to bring Jim Har- baugh back to Michigan? Hackett: "No. I was the fourth of four boys. My dad played for Paul Brown at Ohio State. He was an All- American and captain of the team. My brother played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State. The other two were in the Ivy League, and I played for Bo [Schembechler]. "We had coaching alumni in our house, and there was something universal about all of them. They were classic coaches. My dad had this principle, which I adopted: when you were out of the program, you needed to pay homage to your head coaches. "They don't get any time, they work their tails off, and it's an unre- lentingly difficult job. I'd come down here once a year, when I was running Steelcase, and take Bo out to lunch and go to practice with him. "When Bo died, I adopted Lloyd [Carr], and Lloyd and I became very close. Lloyd introduced me to Brady [Hoke]. "I would write Brady during the season. The role I played was, I wanted him to get notes from some- body who says, 'Hang in there. We know you're working hard.' "I had just written Brady a long note in August at the start of last season. I said I really felt like his time here was going to pay off the investment. He is such a decent human being, and the players loved playing for him. "When I came in here, the season wasn't turning out the way it should have. What was the problem? I was messing with people's lives, so I couldn't let myself jump to a bias. I said, 'Brady is the guy. How can I help him?' "I can't share what the conclusion about that was, because then I'm do- ing his performance review out loud. "As I was making the decision, I understood we weren't in a world without social media — where you could have a guy like Bo exist at Mi- ami (Ohio) University, and no one would know about it. The athletic di- rector could discover him and bring him to a platform like this, and wow! "The romance of that was what I think everyone wanted us to do again. But it became too big of an experiment. It was way risky. "The moment of truth was that Sun- day after the Ohio State game. I had to make a decision about one more year. We would have had to sign a three- year agreement, because coaches don't sign one-year agreements. "Michigan deserved not to experi- ment. It needed more certainty." The Wolverine: How do you ensure certainty? Hackett: "How many coaches can you attach certainty to? Some of them are really successful: a guy with whom I played, down at LSU [Les Miles], and a guy at Alabama [Nick Saban], and a guy at Ohio State [Urban Meyer], and the coach of the 49ers, and his brother [Jim and John Harbaugh, head coach of the Balti- more Ravens]. "Those are coaches you know will