University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel, left, listens as regent Laurence B. Deitch expresses his concerns about fireworks during U-M football games during the Regents' Meeting at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Thursday, July 17, 2014. "This does not feel right to me," Deitch said. (Patrick Record | The Ann Arbor News)

U-M president, regents mum on Hoke and Brandon's handling of Shane Morris injuries

By Jeremy Allen | mlive.com

ANN ARBOR - University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel and all eight members of the Board of Regents have remained silent about the apparent mishandling of the injuries suffered by sophomore quarterback Shane Morris during Saturday's 30-14 loss to Minnesota.

During the loss, Morris suffered an ankle injury, which was later diagnosed as a sprain. A few plays later, Minnesota's Theiren Cockran hit him late, and he appeared dazed and wobbly. He fell into the arms of Michigan lineman Ben Braden before waving off the athletic staff. He was allowed to remain in the game for several plays thereafter.

Head football coach Brady Hoke released a statement Saturday night saying, in part, "(Morris) was evaluated by our experienced athletic trainers and team physicians, and we're confident proper medical decisions were made."

Athletic director Dave Brandon did not agree with that assessment.


Michigan's central student government has posted a petition to fire Dave Brandon. (Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)

Brandon released his own statement early Tuesday morning, apologizing for what he called "a serious lack of communication" and "a circumstance that was not in the best interest of one of our student-athletes" as it pertains to Morris.

"I sincerely apologize for the mistakes that were made. We have to learn from this situation, and moving forward, we will make important changes so we can fully live up to our shared goal of putting student-athlete safety first," Brandon said in the statement.

"I, along with (associate athletic director for student-athlete health and welfare Darryl Conway) and our administrative and medical teams, have spent much of the last two days carefully reviewing the situation regarding Shane Morris. We now understand that, despite having the right people on the sidelines assessing our student-athletes' well being, the systems we had in place were inadequate to handle this unique and complex situation properly."

Board of Regents members Larry Deitch and Andrew Richner, both reached by phone, said they had no comment on the issue.

All other regents have not yet responded to phone messages or emails.

University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said there would be a communications meeting Tuesday morning, and that the handling of the Morris situation will be discussed.

"I don't have anything from the president to share at this point," Fitzgerald said Tuesday morning.

"We're going to be checking in later this morning. We're going to be talking about the situation. It's just a communications meeting at this point, but we'll probably have something to share after that."

Brandon concluded his statement by stating: "We have learned from this experience, and will continue to improve ways to keep our student-athletes' health and safety our number one priority."