The Dave Brandon era at Michigan has come to an end.
Unviersity president Mark Schlissel announced at a Friday press conference that the embattled athletic director offered his resignation Friday morning, and Schissel accepted it. Brandon had served in the position since 2010.
Ex-Michigan linebacker Jim Hackett, who retired this year as CEO of Michigan-based furniture company Steelcase, has been named interim athletic director.
Schlissel said Brandon approached him Wednesday about his possible resignation, with Brandon saying he believed his continued presence in the department had become a distraction.
"I've spoken regularly with Dave over the past week and we both want what's best for Michigan athletics," Schlissel said. "He is fiercely dedicated to all our student athletes. ... There is no doubt that Dave loves the University of Michigan."
Michigan will buy out the remainder of Brandon's contract, which ran through 2018, for $3 million paid out over the following four years.
Brandon had come under increasing fire during the 2014 football season with the program's handling of a concussion suffered by quarterback Shane Morris forcing Brandon into an apology and sparking an on-campus student rally calling for his removal. The athletic department also came under fire for a brief-lived promotion in which fans could receive free tickets to Michigan's home game against Minnesota with the purchase of two 20-ounce Coca-Cola products.
This week, MGoBlog.com reprinted several testy apparent e-mail exchanges between Brandon and angry Michigan fans in which Brandon allegedly told supporters to "find a new team" and "quit drinking and go to bed." Brandon did not deny the veracity of the emails in a brief interview with mlive.com late Tuesday.
Also this week, Miami Dolphins owner and billionaire Michigan donor Stephen Ross -- one of Brandon's most vocal public supporters -- told the Wall Street Journal he would not attempt to influence Schlissel on any decision concerning Brandon's future.
Among the candidates mentioned as possible replacements for Brandon are Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, a former Michigan athletics official; Boston College athletic director Brad Bates, a former Michigan football player; and UConn athletic director Warde Manuel, also a former Michigan football player.
A former Wolverine himself who played under the legendary Bo Schembecler in the early 1970s, Brandon was hired after some 10 years as the CEO of Michigan-based national pizza chain Dominos. He won election to Michigan's board of regents in 1998, though he was voted out in 2006.
Though Brandon has been praised for his management and support of Michigan's non-revenue sports, his highest profile decision was his choice in late 2010 to fire then-head football coach Rich Rodriguez and replace him with San Diego State's Brady Hoke in early 2011. Hoke went 11-2 with a Sugar Bowl championship in his first season but finished 8-5 in 2012, 7-6 in 2013 and 3-5 in his first eight games of this season.
Schlissel indicated (though stopped short of confirming outright) that if no permanent athletic director has been appointed by the end of the 2014 season, Hackett would lead the season-end evaluation of the football program -- and would have the capacity to potentially make a change in the program's head coach.
Michigan plays at home against Indiana on Saturday. Students had planned another protest calling for Brandon's dismissal at the game.
