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Chapter 3 A University President’s Perspective Before I became provost and then president of the University of Michigan, I was a member of its faculty. Like many members of the Michigan faculty family, my wife Anne and I were loyal but distant spectators of Michigan athletics. Joining most of the rest of Ann Arbor, we attended football games, sitting in the same seats near the end zone year after year with other members of the faculty. We had moved from California to Michigan in late 1968—arriving the same week that Bo Schembechler moved to Michigan, albeit without the same fanfare. Schembechler ’s first football season was also our first at Michigan. We cheered the Wolverines on as they upset Ohio State in 1969 to win a trip to the Rose Bowl. Then we agonized along with the rest of the university as Schembechler had his heart attack just before the game and Michigan was defeated by Southern California. We were enthusiastic fans, but no more closely involved with Michigan football than hundreds of thousands of others in the stands or in front of the television. We were a little less absorbed in basketball. During the 1970s, we shared season tickets with some friends for a few years, holding seats in the upper reaches of Crisler Arena under the scoreboard . But as our children grew older and became involved in their own sporting activities—and as the trek across bitterly cold parking lots to Crisler Arena made television a more comfortable alternative —we became armchair fans. Coming from warmer climates (California and Missouri) made it difficult for us to understand hockey, the other revenue sport at 46 Michigan. Although women’s athletics were not yet on the athletic department radar screen, Michigan did sponsor other men’s sports such as swimming, baseball, and gymnastics. But these were never given high visibility by either Michigan athletics or the media, and it was largely a case of out of sight, out of mind. This is not to say that we were uninterested. We were just not personally involved beyond the level of common fan interest. All this changed when we suddenly found ourselves part of the university’s central administration as I took on first the role of provost and then of president. Our crash course in intercollegiate athletics provided by these executive positions helped shape my evolving views concerning the challenges faced by college sports today. Cosmic Confusion It did not take long for me to realize just how complex Michigan athletics could be. In August 1986, during my first summer as provost, I was holding down the fort while President Harold Shapiro was off at his summer cottage on Lake Michigan. I received a phone call from the czar of the athletic department, Don Canham. “We have big problems! You know what those idiots in Admissions have done? They have refused to admit two of the best basketball players in the country! And you’ve got to do something about it right now!” “Calm down. I’ll look into it and see what can be done and then get back to you . . .” Well, come to find out, Canham was partially right. The Admissions Office had refused to admit two blue-chip players—none other than Rumeal Robinson and Terry Mills, who would later lead Michigan to a national basketball championship. Granted, they were Proposition 48 players who would be unable to play their first year because of their low scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. But our basketball coach, Bill Frieder, had recruited them with great public fanfare and offered them scholarships before their applications had even been received and processed by the Admissions Office. It was clear that there had been a major breakdown in communication, with the real victims being the students themselves. A University President’s Perspective • 47 After assessing the situation, I concluded that at this late date it would be both embarrassing and unfair to the students not to proceed with admission. They had been dealing with the university in good faith. It was not the students’ fault that the basketball coach had short-circuited the admissions process. Hence, after touching base with the president, I asked the Admissions Office to admit both students. Like many crises, this one provided not just obstacles to overcome , but an opportunity as well. I was able to get the attention of both the athletic department and the Office of Admissions and begin to develop a more rational...

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