David Jesse and Mark Snyder

Detroit Free Press

Dave Brandon's tenure as the University of Michigan athletic director ended today, amid growing controversy about his attitude toward fans and Michigan's traditions.

Brandon submitted his resignation to U-M President Mark Schlissel on Wednesday, following weeks of talks between the two about the future of the department.

"I accepted it," Schlissel said. ""There is no doubt that Dave loves the University of Michigan."

Once seen as the perfect blend of businessman, Michigan Man and fund-raiser, Brandon has been under intense fire since the summer, when U-M's Board of Regents took the rare step of publicly slapping down a request from the athletic department — for fireworks during football games — complaining that the traditions of U-M football were being lost.

Brandon was facing more potential embarrassment this weekend. Fans have been organizing a protest — "White Out, Dave Out" — by wearing anti-Brandon T-shirts for Saturday's homecoming football game against Indiana (3:30 p.m., BTN).

Some students, alumni and fans — growing more vocal by the month — have been upset with Brandon for some time. A survey of students early this month suggested that his relationship with them was irreparable. This week, the official alumni association ran a web post on its site, rounding up comments critical of Brandon. And fans renewed their calls for his head after a popular blog reported this week on several rude emails it said were sent by Brandon to fans.

It also appears that Brandon has lost the support of major donors. Stephen Ross, the biggest donor to the athletic department, appeared to backtrack earlier this week on previous comments supporting Brandon when he told the Wall Street Journal that he would not stand in the way of Brandon's departure.

Brandon's successor likely will come after a national search, but several names — all with Michigan ties — already have been mentioned as front-runners: Boston College athletic director Brad Bates and Connecticut athletic director Warde Manuel, both former U-M football players; former U-M associate athletic director of development Joe Parker, now deputy athletic director at Texas Tech; and Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, a former U-M assistant AD. If U-M wanted Long and wanted to move rapidly, a complicating factor might be that he is currently the head of the College Football Playoff committee.

Brandon will be owed $3 million by the university, divided into four payments. If fired, Brandon could have cost Michigan as much as $4.6 million, according to terms of his contract, which runs until June 30, 2018. It mandates the payment of the remaining years of his salary — currently $900,000 — and deferred compensation.

The endgame

Schlissel recently celebrated his first 100 days in office. Schlissel, who was the provost at the Ivy League's Brown University before coming to U-M, admitted at the start of his tenure that he did not have much experience with high-stakes college athletics.

He got a crash course in it.

Alumni, fans and students besieged him with comments. Media from across the nation wrote about him and his football program.

He stayed mostly quiet publicly about Brandon's future, breaking his silence with a short statement at the end of September and a six-minute speech at the beginning of a Board of Regents meeting earlier this month.

During the speech, he acknowledged the lack of connection between the campus community and Brandon but said that he was taking a deliberative approach to making a decision.

"We must be accountable for the facts, with response that is timely and takes responsibility for errors," Schlissel said during that meeting. "Without this, we break trust with our stakeholders.

"There are a number of additional issues facing our athletics department that will require a longer-term approach as we work to establish the right balance between competitiveness, financial stability and the athletic traditions we hold dear."

The majority of the eight-member Board of Regents favored firing Brandon, with only the board's two Republicans supporting him. Before he became athletic director, Brandon, 62, was a prominent Republican who served one-term as a regent and was considered a possible candidate for governor.

The tensions between board members and Brandon came to a head during a July board meeting when he asked for approval to shoot fireworks during games at Michigan Stadium. Board members took turns criticizing the move, saying it was cheapening the traditional game-day experience. Brandon had played football under Bo Schembechler in early 1970s.

Board members also were upset that Brandon did not show up for the public portion of the meeting, instead having a university facilities employee answer questions.

Multiple board members lobbied Schlissel to fire Brandon.

Andrea Fischer Newman, a Republican board member, was on the opposite side. She told the media after this month's regents meeting that she thought Brandon was doing a good job, when looking at the totality of the department.

All that pressure can be hard for a president to handle, said Judith McLaughlin, who runs a training seminar for new college presidents at Harvard University.

"It's a lot for someone who has been there one year, two years, 10 years, 20 years, much less someone who is new," McLaughlin told the Free Press on Thursday. "The ideal (way) is for them to have everything go smoothly and quietly for six months to a year while they learn.

"The ideal and reality are always far apart."

The key is for the new president, she said, to be a good learner and know what decisions need to be made right away and what can wait.

The background

When Brandon was hired in January 2010 to replace the retiring Bill Martin, many cheered.

U-M president Mary Sue Coleman was among those. She liked Brandon's business background and his marketing savvy.

Brandon first honed his skills at Valassis, a media and marketing services firm, and then at Domino's Pizza, where he was the CEO from 1999 until he left for U-M.

Lynn Liddle worked with Brandon at both of those earlier stops. She's the executive vice president of communications and investor relations at Domino's.

Brandon's strengths at both places were "creating a great culture, motivating the team, being a strong, approachable teacher. Setting specific, measurable and achievable objectives," Liddle, who has known Brandon for 33 years, said in an e-mail to the Free Press earlier this month.

"I'm a staunch supporter and friend of his and have long attested to the benefits he brings to the table with everything he does."

Brandon's political skills and connections also were seen as a plus when he was hired by U-M. He was elected to an eight-year term on the regent board and was an appointed member of the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees earlier in his political career.

"He was a major player in the Republican party, especially in financial circles," Lansing political consultant Tom Shields, president of the Marketing Resource Group who has deep ties to the state GOP, told the Free Press earlier this month. "He had a very high profile as the chairman of the Business Leaders of Michigan, a group of all CEOS.

"He made a lot of contributions and raised a lot of money for the party.

"His star was rising. He was very well-liked. His name was at the top of the list for statewide office."

Brandon has all but dropped out of politics since taking over as athletic director.

The highlights

Brandon was successful at many parts of his job. He increased revenues. He improved facilities. His teams won.

He arrived and established a marketing department, including hiring a chief marketing officer, Hunter Lochmann.

The ticket department fell under Lochmann's jurisdiction, and they began putting money into in-game resources and creating a student loyalty program.

Brandon turned over much of the previous staff at U-M — when he arrived, he said he would spend time evaluating before making changes — but those who stayed were rewarded with unique opportunities over the years, from ice skating on a Big House rink to making Michigan Stadium available for staff flag football.

He was willing to pay for coaches as well.

He insisted that U-M would pay competitively for the best coaches in the marketplace and did so immediately. He allowed U-M football coach Brady Hoke to hire defensive coordinator Greg Mattison for $750,000, more than double what Mattison's predecessor made under former coach Rich Rodriguez.

The basketball team enjoyed a rebirth during Brandon's tenure.

He gave basketball coach John Beilein a contract extension and a significant raise following the 2013 run to the national title game and re-upped Beilein's assistants twice since 2012.

Under Brandon's watch, there were massive facility renovations, part of a $250-million vision he proposed to the regents in May 2012. Initially spread out yearly until 2017, the remaking of the athletic campus now is scheduled to be completed by 2019.

He also secured a $100-million donation from Ross to help fund the construction, part of a $200-million gift from Ross to the university.

Beginning with the renovation of Crisler Arena (which Brandon renamed the Crisler Center, including the attached Player Development Center), the plan worked its way through campus. Already-completed projects include a new soccer facility, painting Michigan Stadium, a field hockey building, a new softball building and a renovated Schembechler Hall.

In the future are a $168-million multipurpose indoor facility for men's and women's track and field, cross country, lacrosse, soccer and women's rowing, a walk of champions and a complete renovation of Canham Natatorium.

While on the job, Brandon annually turned surpluses in the tens of millions of dollars and regularly invested back into the facilities, including paying off the debt service on the $226-million renovation of Michigan Stadium. Very few athletic departments in the country pay for themselves without millions in university subsidiaries. According to USA TODAY Sports survey for 2012-13, U-M's athletic revenue, with only about a $250,000 subsidiary, was the fourth-largest in the country, behind only Texas, Wisconsin and Alabama.

The proposed 2015 fiscal year budget projected a $5.1-million surplus, based in revenues of $151 million and operation expenses of $145.9 million. Last year exceeded projections and produced a $10.2-million surplus.

He also moved quickly when Michigan's annual series with Notre Dame fell apart, with the Irish exiting the contract and making the 2014 game the final one in the series. Brandon worked diligently to fill the void and set up U-M with an impressive series of home-and-home games for the next decade.

U-M will face Utah (2014-15), Arkansas (2018-19), Washington and Virginia Tech (2020-21), UCLA (2022-23), Oklahoma (2025-2026) and Texas (2024, 2027).

The Wolverines also will face Florida in Arlington, Texas, early in 2017.

He also helped bring successful outdoor hockey and soccer games to Michigan Stadium, drawing huge crowds and international exposure for the university.

The lowlights

Early on in his tenure, Brandon drew rave reviews from many circles. He handled the announcement that the NCAA would investigate the football program for possible violations under Rodriguez's watch. He also announced that the first night game in Michigan Stadium's history would be played Sept. 10, 2011.

But Brandon also drew ire.

He was criticized for his handling of the search for the football coach in 2011 that ended with the hiring of Brady Hoke, a former U-M assistant who was head coach at San Diego State. The popular choice among fans was Jim Harbaugh, a highly successful quarterback for Schembechler who had built a powerhouse at Stanford. Harbaugh ended up with the San Francisco 49ers. Hoke ended up in Ann Arbor. In six years at Ball State and two at San Diego State, Hoke had more losing seasons than winning one.

In June of that year, Brandon also drew fire for suggesting that he wanted U-M to have a mascot, an idea he later dropped.

In March 2011, he raised football ticket prices for the first time in seven years.

He also took considerable heat from fans when he said the band would not travel with the football team to the Dallas area for the kickoff game of the 2012 season, a decision that later was reversed.

He sold plenty of jerseys to fans but also received plenty of fire from traditionalists when he created a Legends jersey program in 2011, putting retired numbers back into circulation and on some players. He also made a number of alternate uniforms, always attempting to keep them secret until a big revealing. It nearly backfired at the Michigan State game in 2011, when the Wolverines had to change into them hurriedly after warm-ups.

He also had heavy turnover in the department. According to U-M salary records, more than 170 employees left the department in 2009-11 — many longtime employees. Still, Brandon grew the overall size and budget of the department.

In December 2013, the athletic department was wrapped in controversy when the Michigan Daily reported that placekicker Brendan Gibbons had been dismissed from U-M for an alleged rape several years prior and had been under investigation, despite Hoke claiming that Gibbons was missing games for family issues.

Brandon also had marketing missteps.

He hired a plane to skywrite "Go Blue" over from Michigan State's Spartan Stadium and then denied initially that the athletic department told the plane operators to fly over East Lansing.

He changed the seating ticketing system for students and raised prices. Students were also upset when Coke gave away free tickets with the purchase of products in the student union.

And then came the Sept. 27 game with Minnesota at the Big House. Quarterback Shane Morris was allowed to stay in the game and later return briefly, despite suffering a fourth-quarter concussion. The missteps that followed brought national embarrassment to U-M. Sports commentators across the country called for Hoke and Brandon to be fired.

Two days after the game — at a noon news conference on a Monday — Hoke denied that Morris had a concussion. At 1 a.m. that Tuesday, Brandon issued a statement acknowledging that Morris had a concussion. Brandon said Hoke didn't know Morris had a concussion until after the news conference, even though it had been diagnosed the previous day.

In the days following the Sept. 27 game — a stunning 30-14 loss to the Golden Gophers that dropped U-M's record to 2-3 — students held a large Fire Dave Brandon rally on campus, ending on the lawn of Schlissel's on-campus house, where they listened to anti-Brandon speeches and chanted for his firing.

In recent weeks, Brandon tried to mend fences. He announced that ticket prices for students would be slashed and did a round of media interviews apologizing for missteps.

"We've made mistakes, we try to learn from our mistakes, we admit to our mistakes, we apologize when appropriate for our mistakes, and that's who we are," Brandon told the Free Press during that media blitz. "That's what we teach our student-athletes to do, that's what we expect our coaches to do and, certainly, the way we behave as it relates to the administrative team supporting Michigan athletics."

The email exchanges attributed to Brandon were posted on mgoblog.com, a popular blog devoted to U-M sports, and they showed an apparent disconnect between Brandon and the fan base, which wrote him with concerns. The website said it made attempts to verify the emails through a computer expert and said its expert saw no evidence of hacking nor falsification.

Two of the emails were similar, with Brandon allegedly writing: "I suggest you find a new team to support. We will be fine without you. Have a happy life …"

There also were older exchanges printed on the website from last year that said he told one emailer to "stop drinking" and a sarcastic response of "thank you so very much … incredible insight!"

When asked about the veracity of the e-mails Tuesday, a U-M athletic department spokesman told the Free Press he "had nothing to add."

Brandon was approached by mlive.com at a Tuesday night event in which he was receiving an award and was asked about the emails.

"I don't read blogs, so I think it's nonsense," he said. "I'm here to get an award tonight, so I appreciate you showing up, but that's not why I'm here."​

Football troubles

The front door to the university, as many have called the football program, was the engine of the athletic department. Its seven annual gates of more than 100,000 fans bring in more than $6 million per game in ticket sales alone.

In the 2012-13 fiscal year, the football program produced $81 million in revenue — and a $58.4-million surplus. According the Business of College Sports — an authoritative website that tracks trends — only Texas had a greater profit in 2012-13.

That was Brandon's justification for being so involved in the program, from standing on the sideline during games to occasionally watching film with the coaches. Brandon was a constant presence in postgame news conferences, even before he was the athletic director.

Brandon had been a star quarterback at South Lyon when he arrived at U-M in the early days of Schembechler's reign. He was moved to defense and spent his career as a practice player.

He laid his reputation on the line in January 2011, when he fired Rodriguez, whose program was found two months earlier to have committed five major NCAA violations and who had a 15-22 record in his three-year tenure.

After firing Rodriguez, Brandon spent five days finding a new coach, traveling the country in secrecy, informing only his boss, Coleman, about whom he was meeting.

Although he occasionally was spotted conversing with another coach, including a visit with Louisiana State's Les Miles, a former U-M player and assistant coach, Brandon said he made only one offer for the job: to San Diego State coach Brady Hoke.

Hoke, a former assistant under Lloyd Carr, immediately validated Brandon's decision with an 11-2 season in 2011. It included a thrilling victory in the Sugar Bowl — Gibbons kicking the winning field goal in overtime. Yet every year since, the program record has declined, going from 8-5 in 2012 to 7-6 in 2013 to the current 3-5.

What angered plenty of fans — and students — maybe nearly as much as the losing was the ticketing changes.

Brandon phased in a personal seat license — called by his department a "Preferred Seat Donation" — eventually requiring every season-ticket holder to pay a fee for the right to buy tickets.

General ticket prices were raised only once in his tenure. But student tickets were a separate issue.

He was bothered that students would show up late to games or not at all, so he and his department surveyed other schools and implemented a general-admission policy in 2013. This angered the students who had spent years improving their seats as they got older.

The policy was ineffective and changed for the 2014 season, but the students made their voice heard by buying more than 8,000 fewer tickets this year.

A survey of U-M students by the student government was taken earlier this month.

"Respondents indicated that it is unclear whether the athletic director's relationship with the student body is repairable at this point," student body President Bobby Dishell said in a report on the survey. "Drastic measures need to be taken to demonstrate the athletic department values its students beyond the revenue dollars they bring in when they purchase tickets. Many students indicated that after several years of growing ill will, this might need to include a change in the leader of the athletic department."

Those drastic measures started today.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8815 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj. Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder.