The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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INSIDE MICHIGAN ATHLETICS coach Jim Harbaugh, when many laughed at the notion he'd leave great success in the NFL to return to college. He never wavered in his approach to bringing Harbaugh back to Ann Arbor. "I'm just mesmerized by how much work Jim got done in this short amount of time," Hackett said. The disappointment of the loss to Ohio State aside, he added, "We all felt we earned the right to be in that game be- cause of the way we played. You couldn't ask for any more of one person. … He's truly an extraor- dinary talent, in so many ways. I fell in love with that." Meanwhile, Schlissel learned to deeply respect Hackett. "Jim Hackett has been an excep- tional interim AD," Schlissel said. "I could not have asked for more from a leader. He stepped up at a moment of need and has served the institution with great distinction. Personally, he has been a pleasure to work with, and I will always owe him a debt of grati- tude." In addition to hiring Harbaugh and signing an unprecedented deal with athletic apparel giant Nike, set to begin next fall, Hackett put in place contract extensions for basketball coaches Kim Barnes Arico and John Beilein. He had avoided putting a timeline on his tenure since coming to Michi- gan. He retired as CEO of Grand Rapids-based office furniture sup- plier Steelcase and agreed to jump into some heavy lifting in Ann Arbor. "Sometimes you do things for God and country," Hackett noted of return- ing to Michigan after he'd just nicely settled into retirement. "I felt com- pelled to come and help." He's not going anywhere yet, he reminded. "We're going through a succes- sion here," Hack- ett said. "In this specific case, we don't have a cri- sis. We don't have something that's forcing our hand to make a rash de- cision, so we get to manage, not only from a selection standpoint … but also the onboarding and hitting the stride. "I know how to do that. Without patting myself on the back, that's what I've done in the business world. I'm beginning to organize my thoughts for the president on how to onboard this person." Hackett insisted he'll be "sprinting to the tape" in terms of his remaining efforts as Michigan AD. Schlissel asserted he's approaching the search with an open mind, and that while previous involvement with Michigan is an advantage, it's not nec- essarily going to be a deciding factor. "The bottom line is, we're going to hire a spectacular person," Schlissel said. DIGITAL BONUS: CLICK THE ICON TO PLAY OR STOP THE PODCAST The AD Search