As University of Michigan alumni return to campus for tomorrow's homecoming game, they will find a different former football player leading the athletic department. President Mark Schlissel accepted the resignation of Dave Brandon this morning and named Jim Hackett the Interim Athletic Director. Hackett is the former Chief Executive of Steelcase and was Brandon's teammate at Michigan in the 1970's.
Schlissel says the top priority for the university's next Athletic Director must be the welfare and experience of student athletes. He expects to continue work on brining athletics closer to campus life and understand the Michigan way of doing athletics.
Schlissel has been in close contact with Brandon over recent weeks and agreed that his continued presence at the university is a distraction to students and staff. He doesn't know the ultimate factors that led Brandon to submit his resignation Wednesday.
No timeline is being set for finding a permanent replacement.
Brandon's resignation becomes official Saturday, and the university has agreed to pay him a total of $3 million through 2018.
WEMU News will have more on this story as it develops