At Thanksgiving Dinner this year the talk flowed into Michigan’s disappointing football season. Almost all the siblings on my dad’s side went to Michigan for some amount of time (only one graduated). My aunt brought up how East Grand Rapids coach Peter Stuursma inherited nothing and is now going to the state championships every other year (for the sake of this story, we’ll overlook how Kevin Grady’s dad finds “housing” in the district for some talented athletes).

When my uncle brought up the fact that he lost 6 games his first season (that’s a 2-6 season which is the same winning percentage as 3-9 fyi…), she said “Yes, but after that they won a lot of games every year.” At that point my hand was firmly attached to my forehead. When I said what the difference was between Peter Stuursma’s first year and Rich Rodriguez’s, she said that something was, but she couldn’t explain it to me.

Then I explained how Rich Rodriguez generally had a rough first year followed by a fairly good second year and then BECOMES A MACHINE. I told them how at WVU he had one bad year followed by four years of 8+ wins and 3 years of 10+ wins*. After I said that, another uncle said “10 wins won’t cut it at Michigan.” At this point I’m trying to resist the urge to fly over the table with a butter knife. Lloyd Carr was a great coach and only had 5 of 12 years with double digit wins. Bo Schembechler, THE Michigan coach in the modern era was only slightly better at 10 of 20 seasons of 10+ wins**.

I’m hoping he just doesn’t really know football. If Michigan fans think 10 wins is unacceptable, we’re worse off than I expected. 10 wins is a great season. 8 wins is a good season. Sure we’re Michigan and our team should always be in contention for a championship, but you can’t expect to be a game or two away every year. With limited scholarships, you don’t have hegemonic powers. There is more ebb and flow. It’s time Michigan fans learn to appreciate what we’ve had, have and will soon have.

*People are mature. From Rich Rodriguez’s Wikpedia entry:

**It’ s a little hard to compare the to eras given Bo only had 10 games with a much harder to reach bowl up until 1975, but Lloyd’s whole tenure was within the era of limited scholarship era. I’m not sure if the factors balance out or not.

Posted under Football

Every year the Greek Community has a semester long fund raising program inaccurately called “Greek Week.” On Wednesday night, representatives of the charities receiving the funds address everyone in the Greek system at Rackham auditorium. One of the annual charities is the Lloyd Carr Cancer Foundation. To speak on behalf of the fund, Lloyd Carr has spoken 3 out of the past 4 years.

I was lucky to sit up front by the speaker staging area, and from watching him before and during his speech, I reaffirmed my strictly idealistic man-crush on Lloyd Carr.

Before his speech as people were filing in, I saw Carr walk up and begin talking to the spokesman for one of the charities. This kid is in a wheel chair, and couldn’t even make it on stage to give his speech. Lloyd without an SID or handler telling him, talked with this kid for about 5 minutes. After his speech, the host of the event told the audience that Lloyd had also promised him and his family tickets to a Michigan game this year.

His speech was vintage Lloyd Carr. I could just imagine his note card for the event:

1. Reminisce about own Greek experience
2. Awkward anecdote about leadership
3. Talk about football

It is important to note that transitions between topics are not allowed. The awkward anecdote involved Ernest Shackleton where he compared Michigan students to Antarctic explorers. The football talk was about his love of the NW corner of Michigan Stadium.

If we ever need to get a score late in the game, or get an important stop, I always hope it’s in the North End.

TAKE THAT RICH ALUMNI!

He was asked after he left the stage to say a few words about Bo (Bo’s charity fund was the next charity to speak), so he awkwardly went back up on stage and took the mic away from the emcee and told the story of his first interview with Bo, which included road rage, the Pretzel Hut and suspending players. I’m putting this in a quote, but I’m paraphrasing here:

For my first interview for a job at Michigan I flew in on a Monday. I walked into Bo’s office, and there were a couple assistant coaches in there. We went out to the Pretzel Hut, which was a fine Ann Arbor establishment to go for lunch and a beer.

So after we left the Pretzel Hut, we headed to get the car in the parking structure. Bo was driving, and he pulled out and before he could even get the transmission into drive, a car that had been coming up slammed on his horn, and I mean really slammed. He wanted Bo to know he had pulled out in front of him.

Well, Bo wasn’t in a good mood, he had to suspend some players earlier that day which never makes any coach feel good, so instead of putting the car in drive and going on his way, he leaves the car in reverse and slams into the guy.

I was thinking to myself ‘this is one hell of an interview,’ when the guy behind us honked again! So, Bo did the only thing he could do, and slammed into the guy again.

The obvious question this brings up is how big of a deal was drunk driving back in 1981.

I really think this type of thing is what makes a college football coach. Lloyd Carr, despite being a grumbling curmudgeon with the press, is open and compassionate with students and fans. Sure success on the field is in important (and Lloyd has had success with a .758 winning % and 5 Big Ten Titles), but if that was it, coaches would just be hired guns like they are in the NFL (or Alabama).

Lloyd Carr is the definition of a Michigan time, and I was really surprised and impressed that the day Michigan jumped to the lead of the Fulmer Cup, he was there in front of students and being a part of campus. Hopefully for Lloyd, he can win a (Mythical) National Championship and ride into the sunset with a legacy appropriate for such a good coach and such a great man.

Posted under Coaching