Tradition Hinders Progress

Tradition. I can practically hear the song from “Fiddler on the Roof” playing as people squawk at how the University and its football program has lost its sense of the word in recent years with the Dave Brandon era and subsequent mediocre football program that occurred during his reign. Fans proclaim that the want the tradition of the old days when football was simply about football without all of the gimmicks and high prices the program has seen lately. Yet, I highly doubt that they would be saying that if Michigan was behind in the times compared to other football powerhouses like Alabama and Ohio State. The game is now at the point where if a program isn’t up to these standards then they are considered to be behind.

A Place of Tradition

The recent firing of Michigan Head Coach Brady Hoke and the departure of athletic director Dave Brandon got me thinking about the concept of conservatism and how people like consistency but most of all, tradition. In recently reading the works of Irish conservative Edmund Burke, I was struck with his idea of how “a cobbler should stay at his task” i.e. stick with what you know and don’t change things. While I think that this idea is important to a degree, I also have to disagree with it. If we never change anything then we will be stuck in the past. Part of life is change.

People will always be disgruntled. People will always have something to complain about. That’s inevitable. When Rich Rodriguez was coaching people complained about him too. What I think is telling though of how the University will and must change is the statement made by Jim Hackett the other day. He said, “I want to get rid of the word Michigan Man.’” He was referencing what has become an iconic phrase harkening back to the days of Bo Schembechler, who used the term when describing how he wanted a candidate to be a coach at Michigan. However, people typically use it in reference to how someone has to be of the Michigan character and even have ties to Michigan. The problem with that, though is that we live in a world today where that just isn’t possible. The fans and the people who work for athletics need to adapt to the changing environment while also maintaining the integrity of the sport and the program that Michigan has always been so famous for.

Some Michigan Fans

I don’t think it is bad to assume that we should maintain an air of conservatism in the way our football program carries out business, but I also think it’s important to pay attention to the fact that the business game is always changing and sometimes we need to adapt to that. You can still maintain your core values while changing the way you do business.

Letting Go of the “Michigan Man” Tradition

In recent days, a lot of events have been occurring on the University of Michigan’s athletic campus. Most recently Jim Hackett, the interim athletic director, fired the head football coach Brady Hoke. While this event probably seems irrelevant to a political science class, I think Hackett might be taking an approach John Stuart Mill would’ve approved in the firing of Hoke and the ongoing search for the next football coach. And that approach is changing the tradition of the much discussed “Michigan Man”.

Brady Hoke and the Old Prince Dilemma

We all know him, we all watch him clap endlessly on the sidelines on football Saturdays, and we all wonder about his future: Brady Hoke, the head football coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines. As many may know, Hoke’s future with the team is in serious question, following many seasons of incompetence and loss. After a 7-6 season last year, and the team off to a 4-5 start this year, many Michigan fans have become restless, and demand a change. Hoke has fallen prisoner to the philosophy of Machiavelli, and how a prince’s term affects his approval.

In Chapter XXIV of Machiavelli’s The Prince, he explains how leader’s success at various points in their career can either make or break them. Machiavelli states “for the actions of a new prince are more narrowly observed… because men are attracted more to the present than the past, and when they find the present good they enjoy it”(Machiavelli, Ch. 24). When Brady Hoke accepted the head coaching job at Michigan, he hit the ground running. Through his first season in 2011, the Wolverines cruised to an 11-2 record and a Sugar Bowl win. Michigan fans instantly fell in love with Hoke. He was so tightly observed, and so loved for bettering the program, he was hard to hate. 

Dave Brandon is not a Prince

I see a lot of unhappy people walking around Michigan’s campus lately. While some of that may be due to upcoming midterms, a lot of that has to do with the football team’s losing streak. Michigan is considered the “winningest” football team in college history. (“Wikipedia”) This is a title its fans take very seriously. After the Lloyd Carr years Michigan struggled with the newly hired coach, Rich Rodriguez. The most recent coach, since 2011 is Brady Hoke who fans have come to regard with an almost fanatic hatred.

Machiavelli would not approve.

I group up in Ann Arbor and was raised by a diehard Wolverine’s fan who didn’t even attend the school. I remember the sentiments that the townies have had towards these two coaches. “Rich Rod” generally was regarded with disdain and fans praised the decision to hire the current Hoke. Many believed that the football team would be brought back to its glory days of the Schembechler years. The hopes were high, especially when Michigan beat Ohio State. However, people are fickle and when a football team with Michigan’s prestige begins to lose nearly every game people are bound to go ballistic.

It wasn’t until I was sitting in class the other day that a light bulb went off in my head. We were talking about Machiavelli and what it takes to be a good Prince. Sports are kind of like politics. Dave Brandon, is kind of the Prince. Except, he’s a prince who doesn’t know how to be a very good one. Michigan’s recent luck in football may have everything to do with fortuna and Brandon can’t figure out how to roll with the dice given to him.

Brandon believes in running athletics like a business. This is all due to him being a businessman himself; he was formerly an executive of Domino’s Pizza. While he may have exercise “manly strength” as a leader should, he also lacks foresight and the ability to win over his people. I’m sure Brandon had no idea that Michigan would do so poorly in football or that Shane Morris would sustain a concussion that would go unnoticed by Brady Hoke. However, by being a leader it is his job to deal with the unpredictable. Machiavelli would not approve of Dave Brandon or his actions. Because it was his actions following the Shane Morris injury that would prove Brandon does not have the characteristics to maintain respect as a leader. He released a press statement at 1 in the morning, further incriminating himself and his ability to lead. He has alienated himself from the people so much by portraying himself as an arrogant, narcissist that he no longer has any desirable traits. Maybe he is all of those things, but part of being a successful leader is not showing them. Machiavelli believes that a leader should portray themselves as kind, humane, and faithful. (“The Prince”) While Machiavelli also believes that it is better to be feared than loved, that is hardly what has become of Brandon. Students and fans congregate in the hopes of getting him fired and recently a fan even changed his occupation on Wikipedia to “Pizza Delivery Man.” (“The Detroit News”) 

Dave Brandon has raised millions of dollars for this University. Yet, his more noticeable contribution is the steep hike in ticket sales and the massive sports complexes he has built. He appears to have “dirty hands” when it comes to the Shane Morris incident as well. While he eventually came out in support of Brady Hoke, he still delayed making a press statement. All in all, he has portrayed himself as a poor leader. While Brandon has continuously justified his actions and policies over the years in an “the ends justify the means” attitude, there haven’t been tremendous results to justify anything.

Michigan needs to stand by their school, which cannot be done by boycotting the athletics department in any way. Where is our sense of nationalism? You cannot simply quit just because of poor leadership. Part of being in a strong nation is sticking with it even when the going gets tough. In turn, Michigan needs leaders who appear to have strong convictions, passion, and the ability to create a loyal following.