While Lloyd Carr came under fire over the last few seasons for his problems against Ohio State and in bowl games, his overall resume will make him one of the greats.
The Legacy of Lloyd Carr
By Pete Fiutak
We live in a BCS world where a combination of human biases and opinions are mixed in with the cold hard data generated from the computers. When taking into account the legacy of Lloyd Carr, it’ll be important to take a step back from the recent issues with Ohio State and bowl games to look at the entire résumé, and then history might be far kinder than a segment of the fan base was over the last few years.
Obviously he’ll always have next to his name the problems against Ohio State late in his career with six losses in his last seven in the rivalry, but overall he was 6-7 against the Buckeyes.
Lloyd Carr Highlights
- 121-40 record
– 1997 national title
– 5 Big Ten championships
– A .752 winning percentage
– A .779 Big Ten winning percentage
Lloyd Carr Lowlights
- Lost six of last seven games to Ohio State
– Lost to Appalachian State 34-32
– 4-6 on the road in the regular season against BCS teams & Notre Dame
Obviously he’ll always be the coach that lost to Appalachian State, but he also did a phenomenal job of bringing his program back from disaster. The 2007 regular season ended with two losses, but despite a slew of big injuries, he guided his team to an eight-game winning streak after an 0-2 start to get in a position to win the Big Ten title. He did the same thing in 2005 when his Wolverines overcame a rough first half of the year to hand Penn State its only loss of the season on the way to a key four-game winning streak to save the season.
Obviously he’ll be remembered for struggling in the big non-conference games, but out of his 40 overall losses, a mere 12 were by more than seven points and there was only one loss to a team (1996 Purdue) that finished with a losing record.
Obviously he’ll be the coach who, going into this year’s bowl, lost five of six bowl games including three Rose Bowls, but it’s not like the BCS losses came to, well, Appalachian State, dropping two to national title-level USC teams and to a Vince Young-led Texas. Overall, he’s a not-that-bad 5-7 in the bowls so far.
Michigan finished in the Big Ten top three for 11 straight years, won five Big Ten titles, came within the whims of the voters from playing for the national title in 2006, and won a national title in 1997.
Oh yeah … he won a national championship.
Lost in the haze of the Ohio State loses and the recent bowl issues is a perfect 12-0 1997 season that not only established Carr as one of the greats, but also made his résumé better than the beloved Bo Schembechler’s. While history has looked back on Bo as a legend, he never won a national title, was routinely pantsed in the Rose Bowl, and had a legacy of not being able to win the really, really big one. Carr won the really, really big one, but that won’t be remembered as much as his inability to win a slew of just plain big ones.
Remember, Michigan is the winningest program in college football history. It’s a place that actually believes that Leaders and Best stuff. So while Carr’s consistent excellence was good enough for most places, and would’ve made him a god, complete with statues and field namings at about 100 other schools, being out of the national title hunt before October year in and year out didn’t sit well with the fan base that wanted national championships every year.
The Wolverines were in the national title hunt until the end in 2006, but were out of it this year on opening day and lost a non-conference September game from 2000 to 2005. Under Carr’s watch, Michigan went a pedestrian 15-9 in regular season non-conference games against BCS teams and Notre Dame, and was 4-7 since 2000. Carr was able to deflect the criticism by saying the Big Ten title was most important to Michigan, but that backfired once Jim Tressel was hired at Ohio State.
But beyond the numbers, beyond the expectations, and beyond the negatives coming in the big games, Carr was what a college football head coach is supposed to be. He won a lot of games and did it without a whiff of scandal, plenty of class, and with a love for his players that inspired unquestioned loyalty. He was a true Michigan head coach and will be looked upon as a sort of father figure who got his beloved program to heights not seen in almost 50 years, and then steered it through way above-average season after way above-average season.
But being way above-average doesn’t cut it in Ann Arbor, just like it doesn’t cut it in Columbus, Los Angeles, Gainesville and South Bend. The next head coach will be hired with that in mind, and the next head coach will quickly realize that the expectations of being Michigan, the bull’s-eye on the back as everyone’s circle game week-in-and-week-out, and with the weight of the one of the greatest programs in all of sports, being way above-average really isn’t that bad.
Source: The Legacy of Lloyd Carr
