Hackett discusses athletics in chat

Michigan’s interim

athletic director
met with students
Tuesday evening

By JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday,

Michigan
interim
Athletic

Director Jim Hackett was sitting
in an armchair in the Pond Room
at the Michigan Union when his
phone rang. He took it out of his
pocket and looked at the number.

“This
is
Coach
(Jim)

Harbaugh,”
Hackett
said,

drawing awe from the crowd.
“But I’m going to call him later.”

Hackett had other business to

tend to. Tuesday night, he held
a town hall meeting with about
30 students to exchange ideas
about the student experience in
Michigan sports. Topics ranged
from the school’s new Nike
apparel contract, to the Maize
Rage seating policies, to football
scheduling.

Hackett’s appearance — and

his postponement of business
with his famous football coach
— came as part of the Athletic
Department’s mission to interact
more with the students than the
previous regime did in an effort
to gain their support.

Five senior associate athletic

directors accompanied Hackett
to help convey the department’s
vision.

“I brought help because the

way I run athletics is, really,
I don’t make every decision,”
Hackett said. “I believe in
empowering others with great
talent — I should say better than
I am in lots of aspects of our
business — to hear with me what
you’re talking about.”

In the 11 months he has been in

office, Hackett has worked with
his team on fairly comprehensive
changes
throughout
the

department. He has reunited the
Michigan fan base and revived
morale, an effort punctuated
by two key accomplishments:
the hiring of Harbaugh and the
new apparel contract with Nike
worth $169 million over 15 years.

The latter of those was the

first topic of discussion at the
meeting Tuesday. A student first
asked about the impact the Nike
deal will have on campus. For
instance, the contract dictates
that the company must hire four
Michigan students as corporate
interns each year. The Athletic
Department is still working
on the process of selecting
those interns, but the new deal
nonetheless
promises
wide-

ranging benefits.

“It turns out the financial

rewards, which are extensive,
isn’t the whole reason we picked

them,” Hackett said. “We kind of
assumed Michigan would get its
due. It’s a really powerful brand.
So we went after thinking about,
which one aligns with our notion
of, we want to be kind of the
smart Athletic Department.”

To shift the conversation with

the apparel companies away
from money and product and
toward the University took some
convincing. Now, the discussion
centers around the campus:
Besides the student internships,
the Athletic Department and
Nike are attempting to plan
community events or teaching
exercises.

Those aspects and the product

combined to make Nike a more
popular choice in the decision
than Adidas or Under Armour.
Tuesday, Hackett took a poll of
how many students preferred
each brand in the spring —
the last time he held a similar
fireside chat — and the answer
was overwhelmingly Nike.

At the same time, another

student followed up, wanting
to make sure that the tradition
of Michigan was being upheld,
which
Hackett
said
was
a

priority,
though
Nike
does

dictate most of the conversation.

“This is college,” Hackett

said. “This isn’t pro. This isn’t
Las Vegas. It’s not trying to be
super
flashy.

It’s not trying
to be a fashion
statement. It’s
a statement of
a college. It’s
Michigan.”

Of
course,

much of the
apparel
news

at
Michigan

has
centered

around the football uniforms
carrying the Jordan brand’s
jumpman logo. Hackett said
former Heisman Trophy winner
Charles Woodson first advised
him of the possibility of working
with Jordan’s brand.

Hackett, in turn, took the idea

to his football coach.

“The minute I took this to

Coach Harbaugh,” Hackett said,
“he said, ‘Sweet.’ ”

The conversation soon shifted

to basketball, where most of the
discussion regarding the student
experience has revolved around
the Maize Rage. In recent years,
students have called for their
section to take up more of the
lower bowl in an effort to create
a more exciting environment.
Hackett faced this question at
his last town hall meeting in
April, when he answered that
the Athletic Department was
working on a solution.

When
a
student
brought

the issue back up on Tuesday,
Hackett and his team said
expansion was still a goal, but
it also poses a conflict to season

ticket holders. Putting more
student seats in the lower bowl
could move dedicated season
ticket holders higher up.

“It
is
a

challenge,
and there’s no
promises
on

what we can
do because of
that
tension

between those
two
groups,

but we’re open
to having this
conversation,”

said Rob Rademacher, one of
Hackett’s aides and the Athletic
Department’s chief operating
officer.

The basketball talk included

another popular point of debate,
the idea of putting two Final Four
banners from the Fab Five teams
back in the rafters at Crisler
Center. The University took
down the 1992 and 1993 national
finalist banners in 2002 as part
of the NCAA sanctions. The
10-year period of dissociation
between four former players and
the University ended in 2013.

A Maize Rage member on

Tuesday
advocated
for
the

banners being replaced, citing
popular opinion from the group
at a meeting Monday night.

Much like the expansion of

the student section, that issue
has
broader
consequences,

though.
Elizabeth
Heinrich,

the chief student development
and compliance officer, noted
that the NCAA has vacated
Michigan’s wins from those
Final Four seasons. As a result,
the tournament runs did not

technically
happen,
per
the

NCAA’s definition.

Hackett
and
his
team

said they would be open to
commemorating those teams in
some other way, but reinstating
vacated banners might prove to
be too great of a challenge.

Most of the rest of the

discussion
centered
around

football, including opponents
and
the
Michigan
Stadium

experience. One student asked
about
the
scheduling
quirk

that resulted in the Michigan
State and Ohio State games now
being in Ann Arbor in the same
season and away from home
every other season. That was
a concession the Wolverines
were forced to make when the
Big Ten added Maryland and
Rutgers, expanded to 14 teams
and divided into East and West
divisions.

Other Big Ten opponents, as

well as marquee non-conference
opponents, could remedy that
effect, with one standing out in
particular: Notre Dame, which
ended its series with Michigan
last season.

The rivalry has reentered

the conversation in the media
over the past couple of weeks,
with Hackett, Harbaugh and
Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly
all coming out in support of a
renewal.

“There’s not a negative force,”

Hackett
said
Tuesday.
“I’m

really open to it, and I believe
in it. I think it’s a destiny kind
of game, with two programs —
one is the No. 1 in total number
of wins, the other is the No.
1 in percentage of victories.

They should be playing, and I
wanted to send a signal to the
whole world that Michigan’s not
sitting there mad because they
were the ones that exited the
last time. We have to get over
that.”

Hackett
was
unavailable

for
further
comment
after

the fireside chat, but Chrissi
Rawak (one of
Hackett’s aides
who
handles

external
relations)
and
Kurt

Svoboda,
the

department’s
associate
athletic
director
for
media

relations,
confirmed no phone calls have
been made. Michigan does not
have an open date on its schedule
until 2018.

In the present, the students

were focused on their experience
at Michigan Stadium. A graduate
student inquired about creating
a separate section for graduate
students,
to
help
improve

attendance. Another asked about
finding a way to group people
together to make the experience
more enjoyable and avoid making
students sit alone at the top of
the stadium. A third brought up
the idea of allowing students on
the field before the game as a
promotion.

The Athletic Department does

not have plans in the works on
any of those fronts, but accepted
the feedback. Hackett and his
team’s main goal Tuesday was to

move closer to the students after
a tumultuous era under former
Athletic Director Dave Brandon.

Before
the
meeting,
the

engagement team went over its
goals for both the department
and the students using a number
of charts and lists taped on the
wall. Phase one, as they called
it, focused on the present, with

phases
two

and three on
the near and
distant future,
respectively.

In the near

future,
the

department
vowed
to

“confront
emotional
issues”
such

as lack of trust

and lack of voice. The session
before the meeting included
surveys from students, including
“tension wires,” the results of
which
were
skewed
heavily

toward feeling like a customer
over family and feeling muted
over having a strong voice.

In the distant future, the

Athletic
Department
wanted

students to build a foundation of
support at what Hackett went on
to call an elite university — with
one caveat, he said.

“We don’t want to be an

arrogant place,” he told students.
“We want to be humble. We
want to win and be humble
about it and have the pride that
this is the best place. But if you
go around talking about it, then
it’s arrogance. I hope that comes
through that we’re not trying to
be an arrogant group of people.”

8A — Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

ZACH MOORE/Daily

Interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett met with students in the Michigan Union on Tuesday night to discuss athletics and his goals for his department in the present and the future.

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

The hiring of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been one of the two biggest highlights of interim Athletic Director Jim Hackett’s tenure so far.

“I believe in
empowering
others with
great talent.”
“We want to

win and
be humble
about it.”