The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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but once you get to that point, you have to have the 300-plus employees doing their part to funnel into the objective. "Dave set this direction, and we created a game plan for our athletic department, just like you set a game plan for the men's basketball team against Ohio State, or rowing in the championships. Just like a team sets a game plan, we've set one for Michi- gan athletics. Everyone within the department has their own respon- sibilities they need to complete, so we can gain that overall objective of competing at the highest level. "That's where Dave sets himself apart. He's got this drive, this vision, and this direction he wants to take us." Areas of emphasis in the major re- structuring of the department include: • Reconfiguring reporting lines within the department. • Bolstering the human resources program, allowing the department to, in Brandon's view, make better hires and make those within the de- partment more accountable. • Embarking upon a significant marketing investment, with an em- phasis on social media. • Making greater use of informa- tion technology regarding revenue acceleration, cost containment and efficiency. • Ramping up development ef- Brandon brought men's and women's lacrosse from club to varsity status, giving U-M 27 var- sity sports. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN Brandon "The whole concept was to create an energy around innovation, and be willing to take a few risks, even if there were people out there that were always going to try to shoot you down. We were going to keep moving. We wouldn't always get it right, but hopefully we would create some new opportunities and new energy." forts, which had already seen a spike through the revenue generated by Michigan Stadium seating programs. Brandon quickly established con- job. Dave knew how we wanted to proceed, and we wanted to make sure we fulfilled all the NCAA sanctions. "We did that, we moved forward trol in the athletic department, ac- cording to Ablauf, with a deft han- dling of Michigan's football issues involving the NCAA. In conjunction with U-M president Mary Sue Cole- man, the AD made certain the matter got handled quickly and correctly. "Dave believes in transparency," Ablauf noted. "We were going to hit this thing head on. We were go- ing to deal with it, and we were go- ing to move forward. That's exactly what his leadership and direction provided to everyone, including the university. They understood where we were going, and they were part of the process as we went along. "Dave and Mary Sue were leading that. Getting through that entire pro- cess — as difficult as it was, since we had never been through it from a foot- ball perspective — they did a great 54 THE WOLVERINE AUGUST 2012 and we put together a better process. We had some process errors along the way that led to this, and we've reinforced those and doubled the ef- forts to make sure we aren't going to have NCAA violations in the future." When it came time to reestablish the head of Michigan's most visible athletic team, Brandon again took a strong lead. The search that eventu- ally led to Hoke becoming Michi- gan's head football coach was no fluke, Ablauf insisted. U-M's lead media relations staffer pointed out that hiring represents a Brandon strong suit, something with which he's been involved since his first days in the business world at Proctor & Gamble. The boss, Ablauf noted, keeps his own scorecard when interviewing. When all the talking is done, he tal- lies it up and calculates a winner. In this instance, it was Hoke — and ulti- mately Michigan, Ablauf interjected. fan will look back after last year and moving forward, knowing Brady was the right choice for a lot of reasons," Ablauf said. "He was the right choice because he understands Michigan. He's the right choice because he has a set of guiding principles he lives by, that aren't negotiable. "Dave went through his process "Everyone that's a Michigan and knew what he wanted. Then the execution of it was as flawless as it could be. From the announcement to the team, to the public, to the press conference, it the best orchestration that I've ever been a part of." While he's building a staff, Brandon knows Michigan needs to keep the cranes going on the athletic campus. For his part, Brandon acknowl- edges the leaps forward in football, basketball and hockey facilities, along with many other areas of the expanded athletic campus. Rather than breathing a sigh of relief that so much has been accomplished, he sounds like someone just warming up to an ongoing task.