Michigan Football: Twelve Wondrous Wolverines — #11 — Don Canham — Athletic Director
Posted at 6:15am — 6/11/2013
Michigan Football: Twelve Wondrous Wolverines — #11 — Don Canham — Athletic Director
Don Canham – Architect and Entrepreneur
Don Canham – Athletic Director 1968-1988
The Eleventh Wondrous Wolverine
With all the great legends associated with Michigan football, some may wonder why Don Canham is on this elite list. The simple answer is he saved Michigan football.
The 1960’s were a dark spot for Michigan football. There was one shining season, the 1964 team led by quarterback Bob Timberlake. The coach during this era was Bump Elliot, a better coach than his final record indicated. Part of the problem was an actual lack of interest in Michigan football. Part of the problem was the typical nation wide academia backlash of the 1960’s whereby university sports programs were considered entities that sucked money out of other student opportunities, even though many were self-funded. Many professors at universities simply dismissed intercollegiate sports out of hand and the climate of the era favored this viewpoint. Ohio State’s faculty senate voted not to let the football team go to Pasadena in the early 1960’s. And as the ferment of the decade continued sports, seen as part of the evil establishment, were under assault.
Don Canham found himself right in the middle of the above mini-mess. He was the perfect man for the task to get the Wolverine program back on track. Director of Athletics Canham was very perceptive, very creative, not afraid to take a risk, and successful at turning an idea into reality.
After an excellent career as Michigan’s track and field coach, Canham became athletic director in 1968. His hiring came at a critical time. Not only were the conditions listed above present, but Michigan had just been clobbered by Ohio State in Columbus 50-14, the famous game in which Woody Hayes was asked why he went for two points with a
monster lead at the end of the game and he responded “Because I could not go for three.”
Attendance was down, way down, and some higher-ups mentioned that a cannon could be shot in Michigan Stadium and not hit anyone. A popular Michigan man, Bump Elliot, was asked by Canham to step down and take a job as assistant athletic director. After one year, Bump left for Iowa City to become a very successful athletic director.
Canham had two advantages in tackling his dilemma: he was a visionary and he was revolutionary in how he attacked Michigan’s problems.
Canham knew that people needed to return to the big house to the tune of 100,000 each home game. He hired an unknown, Bo Schembechler, to take over the program, a guy who may be considered too tough in today’s climate. He then went to work on developing perhaps the greatest marketing program in college sports history.
Today, the marketing of major college sports approaches sickening. Back then not much was going on and marketing was in its infancy. Canham is considered the godfather of marketing sports programs.
Perhaps the best way to catch the spirit of Canham’s strategies is to watch a section dedicated to him on the high quality DVD Michigan Football Memories. Canham discussed how he designed tee shirts and cups on his kitchen table. He discussed the creation of band day to get thousands of high school students into the stands to give an appearance of a filled stadium. Importantly, Canham discussed making attending a game at Michigan the best experience in college sports, one that begged the attendee to return time and time again. He discussed convenience, whereby parents could just drop off a kid with a cheap ticket to watch a game at the stadium, then pick the child up just like a movie trip.
His marketing skills and aggressive innovation grew Michigan into a successful business giant, which is of course the going model for all schools today.
The Schembechler hire turned out very well, but Canham also hired many very successful coaches during his tenure, including Hutchins and Berenson.
Don Canham was very good at isolating the athletic program from the demands of the late 1960’s and placed the program in a nice position when intercollegiate sports enjoyed a renewed interest in the mid 1970’s and 1980’s. The idealistic academic types, who despised everything intercollegiate athletics stood for were still there, but were greatly outnumbered by alumni who wanted an exciting and successful sports program.
Canham was a Michigan man all the way. He attended Michigan as a successful track athlete, received two degrees from Michigan, served as a successful track coach, and made his final mark as an athletic director that resurrected Michigan football and marketed the entire program like no other.
Make no mistake; his influence remains strong to this very day.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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