Photoshop Phriday: Jim Hackett
From 1973-76 Jim Hackett was a center on the Michigan football team under Bo Schembechler. His senior year, with Rick Leach at quarterback, the team went 10-2 including a 42-10 bulldozing of MSU and a 22-0 win against OSU. In February of 2014 Hackett retired after 20 years as CEO of Steelcase, a Grand Rapids based furniture company. But that was all just a warm up act for the months to come. In October of last year Hackett answered the call from President Schlissel to become the interim athletic director following Dave Brandon’s departure. Given the situation he was walking into it was clear that Hackett had no intention of being a caretaker AD.
After not quite two months on the job Hackett had brought Jim Harbaugh back to Ann Arbor as the new head coach. Even though Harbaugh has yet to play a game I’m fairly certain this move would be enough to get a Hackett statue built on campus. The excitement has reinvigorated the football program and made me even more impatient than usual for the season to start. There is a season ticket waiting list for the first time since 2007 and over 50% more students purchased tickets than last year. Most recently Hackett helped negotiate a new apparel contract with Nike, . It isn’t fully clear how long Hackett will stay on or retain his interim title, but there is no doubt about his love of bread. In 1976 he even brought Tartine country and parmesan pepper loaves to team photo day!
