Jim Minick offered to
resign, but Jim
Hackett refused it
By ZACH SHAW
Summer Managing Sports Editor
After being arrested on suspi-
cions of drunk driving May 8 and
consequentially being suspended
from his post as associate ath-
letic director for football on May
13, Jim Minick felt that resigning
was the natural next step.
Interim Athletic Director Jim
Hackett disagreed.
“Jim Minick submitted his res-
ignation and I refused it,” Hackett
said. “This is a man who served
seven tours of duty (in the Marines).
Selflessness is a way I would
describe him. He got thousands of
emails, most of them from people
who served in war with him, urging
him to soldier through this.
“He and I had deep conversa-
tions about it, and I was convinced
this is a guy who will learn from
this mistake.”
On the night of his arrest,
Minick crashed his vehicle into
a ditch on Airport Boulevard and
State Street just south of Ann
Arbor. The 51-year-old refused a
breathalyzer test at the time, but
blood tests would later reveal his
blood-alcohol content level was
0.185, well above the legal driv-
ing limit of 0.08.
Minick, a lifelong friend of Jim
Harbaugh who was one of the coach’s
first
hires
at
Michigan
and
even
teamed
up with Har-
baugh to assist
two women in a
car accident in
March, pleaded
guilty to oper-
ating a vehicle
while intoxicat-
ed and refusing
a
breathalyzer
test on June 24. He received eight
months of probation and a $1,325 fine.
“He made a life terrible mis-
take,” Hackett said. “He dealt with
something that can kill people.
People die, either himself or others,
from what happened. So the grav-
ity of it was not dismissed at all.”
Despite
the
resignation
offer, Hackett felt Minick could
improve after his mistake. Even
after Harbaugh — who was
arrested on suspicion of driv-
ing
under
the
influence
in
2005 — request-
ed Hackett take
a second look,
Hackett saw an
opportunity for
improvement.
“(Harbaugh)
wanted to make
sure he was being
objective,” Hack-
ett
said.
“The
coach has no margin for error in
judgment when people under-
stand they’ve gotten a break,
and now they have to prove their
commitment. We’ve got a really
tight alignment on what the stan-
dard is moving forward.
“You have one of two ways you can
go, you either get manipulated by peo-
ple who make mistakes and they can
con you into being compassionate,”
Hackett said. “If you’re compassion-
ate, you get people who unexpectedly
are surprised by that and then they
become better employees.”
So far, outcry about Hack-
ett’s decision has been minimal.
The interim athletic director has
received three letters express-
ing disapproval, but Hackett has
responded to all three letters with
the same justification.
“We
deal
compassionately
with people who make mistakes,
we’re not setting different stan-
dards,” Hackett said. “(It’s) more
about what I need to do to get
him back on his feet. This is not
a guy who has had a serial prob-
lem, and even then I would’ve
given him a deep consideration,
but that’s not the narrative here.
This is a one-time mistake that
was made.”
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Former Michigan lnebacker Brandon Graham finished second in school history in tackles for loss and sacks.
10
Thursday, July 9, 2015
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
FOOTBALL
“This is a
guy who will
learn from his
mistake.”
Catching up with NFL
LB Brandon Graham
By ZACH SHAW
Summer Managing Sports Editor
On Saturday, former All-Ameri-
can, Big Ten MVP and first-round
draft pick Brandon Graham will
host his first-ever youth camp in
his hometown Detroit. Like many
of the camps he has volunteered at
for his NFL peers, the linebacker
aims to bring out the community
in a fun-for-all event.
Last month, the Daily sat down
with the Eagles’ linebacker to dis-
cuss his camp, hometown and, of
course, Jim Harbaugh.
The Michigan Daily: You see
a lot of NFL players at camps,
volunteering their time. what’s
the draw from an athlete’s per-
spective?
Brandon Graham: “Just seeing
the kids have fun, giving back, just
to see their faces light up when
they see people like us, that’s not
that far away from where we are
now. It’s just a blessing to be able
to come back, see the kids and
have some fun.”
TMD: You’re from Detroit,
an area that Michigan tries to
work with a lot both in and out
of sports, how important is that
connection with the community?
BG: “That’s the biggest thing
about being here in Ann Arbor,
you want to have a connection
with Detroit, because this is your
home. They’re going to be the guys
that come and make this Universi-
ty better, so you better make sure
that you can connect with them.
“We can relate to a lot of the
things they’re saying because we
know the area and a bit of what
they go through. You might have
gone to the same schools or know
some of the same people. The con-
versation and connection is there
because you’re from the same
place. You feel right at home.
“I think with (Michigan coach
Jim) Harbaugh being here and
everyone helping to get that con-
nection, it’s going to help a lot of
people by building that relation-
ship. That’s the start of it, having
stuff down there, people up here
go down there, people down there
come up here, just enjoy each
other and keep building.”
TMD: You’re starting your
own
event
this
year,
what’s
spe-
cial
about
your camp?
BG:
“It’s
called Select
100, and it’s
100 boys and
100 girls. I
wanted
to
make
girls
a part of it
because obvi-
ously you see
a lot of dudes at these camps, but
there’s not much that the girls
can do. So what I wanted to do is
bring in half and half for girls and
boys. We built an obstacle course
for the girls to go though, and then
we’re going to finish with the girls
by introducing them to yoga and
promote anti-bullying, teamwork,
confidence building for everyone.
It’s going to be a good time,
man. I’ve never seen a camp like
this with girls involved, and I
wanted to do something different
than what everyone else has.”
TMD: Switching gears, you’ve
been pretty vocal about your
support for Harbaugh and this
year’s team. What have you seen
from the outside that has you so
excited?
BG: “The energy, it’s all about
the energy. I’d heard about Har-
baugh when I was in the league
and how he was there and at
Stanford, and everyone says he’s a
great coach. I just can’t wait to see
it show up at Michigan, because
we sure need a spark.
“You can just see by the recruit-
ing. I think we’ve got the players
now that’re going to be good, and
I think Harbaugh is really going to
develop the guys and get the maxi-
mum out of each guy.”
TMD: You were a part of
some successful and unsuccess-
ful teams at Michigan. What
advice would you give this team
if they’re trying to win a champi-
onship and establish Michigan’s
dominance again?
“Just stay together, make sure
when things get rough that you’re
staying together. That’s when you
really find out how good your team
is, when you’ve got a little adver-
sity or teams might start to break
up, you’ve got to stay together.”