By Angelique S. Chengelis, The Detroit News

Ann Arbor – Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon absolved Michigan coach Brady Hoke and his coaching staff but blamed a breakdown in communication of the medical staff for allowing Shane Morris, later diagnosed with a concussion, back into Saturday's game.

Hoke and Brandon, along with the athletic department and football program, have been under fire and national scrutiny regarding player safety since Morris, a sophomore quarterback, diagnosed with a "probable mild concussion," stayed in the game after a big hit that left him wobbly and requiring the assistance of a teammate to steady himself.

Brandon spoke in a one-on-one interview with The Detroit News on Thursday afternoon – he conducted several interviews with various media outlets – in his first public appearance since the game.

Brandon said he would "never" fire football coach Brady Hoke in the middle of a season. The Wolverines are 2-3 this season, including a 31-0 loss to Notre Dame.

"Brady Hoke is the head football coach at the University of Michigan," Brandon said. "We evaluate every coach at the end of every season."

Brandon hired Hoke in 2011 after he fired Rich Rodriguez. Hoke's record at Michigan is 28-16, including 9-9 over the last two seasons, but Brandon said Hoke and his assistants "deserve the opportunity" to complete the season.

"They have at least seven, hopefully eight more games to play," Brandon said. "At the end of that, as we always do, we'll sit down and take measure of where we're at and what we need to do to continue to improve."

Brandon also said he has not considered resigning, and has no indications from UM president Mark Schlissel that his job is in jeopardy.

"To this point the president of the university has been supportive and has given me no indication that he lacks confidence and trust in my ability to do the work I have been doing," Brandon said.

Brandon called the student protest on UM's campus Tuesday that called for his firing "hurtful to me, hurtful to my family."

He added: "Last week's been very difficult. The idea that anybody would question our commitment to the welfare and health of our student-athletes is just hurtful."

Brandon early Tuesday morning released a timeline of events on the sideline during the game Saturday against Minnesota, admitting how poorly the situation was handled in the aftermath.

The diagnosis was not made until Sunday. Hoke, at his weekly news conference Monday shortly after noon, said as far as he knew at that time, Morris did not have a concussion. Brandon said Thursday that Hoke was not informed until "later Monday" of the diagnosis.

Morris stayed in one play before being removed. He returned, however, for one play, shortly afterward.

Brandon has endured intense public scrutiny and criticism.

"I take responsibility for the safety and welfare of our 931 student-athletes," Brandon said Thursday. "We had a significant breakdown of communication on the sideline. I've thoroughly been educated as to the best that we could reconstruct the events that took place, and my conclusion is there was a breakdown of communication among our medical staff.

"Our coaches had nothing to do with it. Their job is not to evaluate health issues. That's why we have numerous doctors and trainers down on that sideline. I spent all my time with doctors and trainers and Shane trying to piece together what happened. I think I understand where the breakdowns occurred and I immediately went to the next step, and that is how we make sure this never happens again.

"We're bringing all kinds of technology and changes to the sideline to make sure this never happens again, because for us to send a kid out on the field under any circumstances who could even possibly be concussed is unacceptable."

Brandon was not clear in his Tuesday statement or during the interview whether Morris was examined for a concussion on the sideline before re-entering the game when quarterback Devin Gardner's helmet came off, requiring him to leave the field for one play.

Jeff Kutcher, a U-M associate professor of neurology widely considered an expert in the field of concussion research, is on the field for all Michigan football games.

"The communication gap that happened on the sidelines continued and misinformation and misunderstandings evolved as a result," Brandon said. "At some point all you can do is say we're sorry, we learned from our mistakes, we're making changes to ensure this never happens again, and we move forward. It's not about throwing anybody under the bus."

Brandon, in his statement, said that as of Sunday, Morris was diagnosed with a "probable, mild concussion" along with a high ankle sprain.

"The probable concussion diagnosis was not all clear on the field on Saturday or in the examination that was conducted post-game," Brandon said in the statement.

"I am not a doctor," Brandon told The News. "What I've learned is the diagnosis of concussion sometimes takes time. It can change over time. This went from Saturday evening into Sunday and Monday. There were a lot of perspectives being offered."

Brandon said a communication breakdown – again – prevented Hoke from being properly informed when he met the media for his weekly Monday news conference.

"It's another example of the breakdowns of communication," Brandon said. "The reality was, the last voice Brady heard on this topic gave him what he thought was the most accurate information, and in retrospect, it wasn't. We were not together, and Brady was not appropriately prepared with the correct information before he went out to have his weekly press conference.

"My focus was finding out what the hell happened on that sideline that caused us to send Shane back out there. Where did we screw up and how do we make sure that doesn't happen again? Now, we have a responsibility to get that information out. We know the public craves that and we know there was a tremendous amount of sensationalism around it, so we wanted to get the statement out, but we weren't going to send it out until we had all the facts."

The release was not sent until nearly 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Brandon said it has been a challenging week. In addition to the rally calling for his job on Tuesday, there has been an online petition circulating for the same purpose.

"Five years ago when I came into this job I never envisioned a day there would be helicopters covering a rally that was in part focused on how I'm not doing my job and I don't deserve the role that I have here," he said. "It's hurtful to me, and it's hurtful to my family. And I'm not tone deaf. It clearly means we've got to do some things different and better. We're not going to be able to make people happy all the time, and we're not always going to play great, and we're not going to win every game, but we've got to do our very best to stay connected with the people that we need to be successful. And I'm committed to that."