In the aftermath of Michigan's response to the NCAA, lots of documents involved in the investigation were released to the public, including ones that highlighted e-mails between people with the football program and people in the compliance office. To say the least, the e-mails showed just how incompetent some people with the football program were and how their carelessness helped make this whole mess possible.
↵One of the people who really did an awful job of helping the compliance office with things like CARA forms in the years leading up to the allegations of NCAA violations was Brad Labadie. Up until Monday, he was Michigan's director of football operations, but he resigned from that job on Monday in order to take a job with Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
↵↵↵"I wish Brad well," Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon said. "He has worked hard and worked incredible hours.
↵"He's been in a punishing job in terms of hours, and to get into a traditional position with more normal hours and a young family is what works for him now. He's moving out of athletics at this stage."
↵Brandon added: "I absolutely don't think people should" think his departure has anything to do with the NCAA investigation.
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Even though Brandon says that we shouldn't think the NCAA investigation is related to Labadie's departure, it's tough not to come to that conclusion. Back in May when all of the documents were released, mgoblog went through them page-by-page and came to the conclusion that Labadie should be fired. He wasn't the only one responsible for this mess obviously, but had he done a better job, there's a chance none of these allegations or the subsequent investigation would have ever happened.
↵He may be leaving on his own terms, but it's just tough for me not to connect the dots, regardless of what Brandon said about the situation.