The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/575020
anyone call him a dishonest man that didn't care about his players. They sent him to his Monday press conference at noon with one message: 'Do not talk about what happened,' and then they assured him that a press release was coming out moments after he finished. "Poor Brady Hoke gets hammered endlessly with the same questions, and he cannot answer them except to say a press release was coming very soon, but that didn't end up being true. They intended that, but it comes out 12 hours later. "There's a great quote from Regent Larry Deitch in the book — 'You sent Brady Hoke out there and made him look like a dishonest fool, and he is neither of those two things.'" The Wolverine: There are many who claim you wrote this book to 'get back at' Brandon for pulling your press credential. How do you respond to such claims? Bacon: "What evidence does anyone have that the press pass started me writing these things? I wrote Three and Out, and they moved me to the fourth row. Then I wrote Fourth and Long, and they pulled my press pass. "It wasn't, 'Press pass pulled, I'm mad so I'm writing this.' It was, 'I wrote, David Brandon was mad and he pulled the press pass.' "On top of that, the press pass has never mattered to me. I've never complained about this. In 2013-14, I wore my jeans, put on my Michigan hoodie, sat in the crowd and cheered on the Wolverines. I was having a great time in 2013-14. "I write books — I don't have to be up there. It didn't affect me personally or professionally, and there is no way I'm throwing my career away over a press pass being revoked." The Wolverine: When he was at Stanford (2007-10), Jim Harbaugh drew the ire of Michigan when he said that U-M needed to raise its academic standards. How did those hurt feelings eventually get settled? Bacon: "He said it's a great school. He said he had a great education when he was there, but he said that they should let people have more say in their majors, but Michigan again did not do the smart thing, which is contact Jim directly, have a conversation, figure out what he said that was true and work to make your academ- ics for football players better. Instead, we had shots across the bow, which looked bad for everybody. "After what happened in 2009, Jim Harbaugh was still feeling uneasy about his relationship with his alma mater, which he clearly loves. Todd Anson, his friend, is in his office at Stanford and says, 'Let's send Bill Martin an email.' Bill is stepping down, and Jim sends a short email saying congrats on a great run. "Bill responded quickly and said, 'Thanks and you're too big a part of this Michigan football family, we need to get you back. How about playing us in 2012, 2014 or 2016?' "So they went back and forth and re-established the bond. That was the first fence mending from anyone with Michigan to Jim." — Michael Spath