The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/575020
THE BUSINESS OF MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ger in the stadium. I definitely don't want to shrink it, either. "With this decision [to hire Har- baugh] … all the students came back. I've been encouraging them to be crazy, within the limits of what the president likes. "When I went to the games, I loved to watch what the students were do- ing. This was my college. It impacted me when they were into it. "We've fixed that in Crisler Arena, and there's a version of that in the stadium. "Then Jim invited a number of the students to come to a Saturday prac- tice. I don't know how many they got, but it was incredible. They all sat down in the end zone. "The electricity is coming from them. What do we do to help them? We've had town halls to ask them what they don't like. It all just got better when Jim arrived. It all got better, overnight." The Wolverine: Will you be the ath- letic director for the football season opener in 2017? Hackett: "I don't know the an- swer to that, but I'll tell you why. I never spent the time to work on it. When I was coming here, I thought I was coming for a few weeks. Mark [Schlissel, president of the Univer- sity] was new, and this had all just hit him. "I said to him, 'If you have to change the football coach, you don't want the athletic director and the football coach to be brand new in the same year. Jim doesn't count as brand new. I do. "I got busy. My family has been really supportive. My wife … I can't pay her enough homage for her flex- ibility. "Mark and I are going to sit down and talk about it. What are his goals, and what do I want to do? We'll come back with a plan. "We've got a really good president. He's grown incredibly. This is his era. He spoke to the team [the week of the Utah game]. He was fantastic. "Jim got up at the end of the speech and just yelled, 'This never happened!' I wondered, did he mean Mark's speech didn't happen? He said, 'No. Where I've coached in college, the president never came to speak to my team.' "They gave Mark a standing ova- tion. That's forever embedded in the coach's mind and in the president's mind. That's a good start. "They have a lot of affection for each other. We've gone to his house to eat out on his porch and talk about the academic standards, and what we're trying to do to protect the integrity of Michigan. What the president, and I, and Jim want, and shared, is wonderful. "We're sitting around having ca- sual discussion about what we count on each other for. It's just a marvel- ous moment. "I thought, 'This isn't going on ev- erywhere' — I know it isn't. I know university presidents don't open the door like that.' "This guy has got a great gift, and the coaches really respect him." ❏