Dave Brandon Resigns as Michigan Athletic Director

Updates from Saturday, Nov. 1

ESPN's Joe Schad provides information on who may succeed Dave Brandon as Michigan's next athletic director:

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Michigan has targeted Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips as a candidate to succeed Dave Brandon, according to a source.

This is an indication that Michigan will seriously consider candidates without university ties.

[...]

Some logical candidates also likely to be considered include Connecticut's Warde Manuel and Boston College's Brad Bates, who do have Michigan ties.

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Original Text:

Dave Brandon has stepped down as Michigan's director of athletics amid growing tension with the fanbase. University president Mark Schlissel announced the decision on Friday, according to Rod Beard of the Detroit News:

Brett McMurphy of ESPN broke the news:

Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated has more detail from Michigan president Mark Schlissel:

Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press and Brendan Quinn of MLive.com report on the details of the resignation:

The move comes as the school's storied football program sports a 3-5 record. The results have steadily declined in recent years after initial success under Brady Hoke, whom Brandon hired after the exit of Rich Rodriguez.

David Jesse and Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press have more information on why Brandon was fired:

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Once seen as the perfect blend of businessman, Michigan Man and fund-raiser, Brandon has been under intense fire since the summer, when U-M's Board of Regents took the rare step of publicly slapping down a request from the athletic department — for fireworks during football games — complaining that the traditions of U-M football were being lost.

Brandon was facing more potential embarrassment this weekend. Fans have been organizing a protest — "White Out, Dave Out" — by wearing anti-Brandon T-shirts for Saturday's homecoming football game against Indiana (3:30 p.m., BTN).

Some students, alumni and fans — growing more vocal by the month — have been upset with Brandon for some time. A survey of students early this month suggested that his relationship with them was irreparable. This week, the official alumni association ran a web post on its site rounding up comments critical of Brandon. And fans renewed their calls for his head after a popular blog reported this week on several rude e-mails it said were sent by Brandon to fans.

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Jim Russ of the Detroit News reports on a replacement for Brandon:

Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated noted it will be billed as a resignation, though there was never another realistic possibility despite what may have gone on behind the scenes:

Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports says the decision doesn't necessarily mean Hoke is going to follow Brandon out the door in the immediate future:

Brandon had faced mounting scrutiny in recent weeks. He was shoved in the spotlight after an incident involving quarterback Shane Morris back in September. Morris was allowed to re-enter a game shortly after taking a punishing hit, and it was later reported that he suffered a concussion.

Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News highlighted the aftermath of the Morris incident:

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After the story appeared on various national networks Sunday and Monday after the game, Brandon authored a lengthy statement after piecing together the events of that game night and the aftermath. The statement was publicly released just before 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Students then protested Brandon during a rally, and an online petition demanding the president fire Brandon gained steam and had more than 11,000 signatures when it was presented at the Regents meeting.

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Brandon never recovered, as the situation became more tense with each passing week.

Michigan students then organized a public protest over raised ticket prices earlier this month, demanding Brandon be fired.

It also didn't help that the football team wasn't showing any signs of serious progress to divert attention away from the other issues.

No further details about how Michigan plans to move forward were made available. Those should come at the press conference later in the day.