The guy Bo actually wanted- Mo, what if he had not resigned back in 1995?

It's kind of sad to think of the expectations and mentality of the program when Moeller was coaching to what's going on now.  Michigan was coming off 5 straight Big Ten championships and then when we went 8-4 in 1993, people started freaking the hell out immediately and Moeller felt big time pressure.  (This was when 8-4 was considered the bottom of the barrel worst case scenario for us.)

In 1994, we were pre-season #3 I believe, with the #1 strength of schedule but the favorite to win the Big Ten.  Before the season started, the injury GODS struck down hard as we lost Walter Smith for the season, Tyrone Wheatley for the first couple of games, Joe Marinaro, and a few other I'm forgetting.  Again, Moeller felt the pressure and TV commentators brought up how everyone in Ann Arbor was ready to kill him after all those injuries and the season had not even started yet.  

Moeller's last two teams, just like Lloyd's first two teams suffered from that bizarre mid-90's slump of underachieving mixed with flukes and bad luck.  Wheather it was Ricky Powers fumble basically handing the game to Illinois, the hail mary against Colorado or Lloyd's insane playcalling on the goal line at Purdue.  All that sh*t continued to happen yet we had a decent record against highly ranked teams.

Every account I've ever read of the restaraunt incident blamed it on Moeller feeling the intense stress because of two straight 8-4 seasons.  Lloyd actually felt it too after his first two seasons with the exact same results on the field, he started stress eating as a result, gained weight and ran the steps at the big house to take it off.  But then 1997 happened and all was good. 

Moe was a hell of a coach. I was in school from 1990-1994. This is generally considered a golden age of Michigan sports. In football we won (or tied for) Big Ten titles 3 out of the 4 years I was there.  We were preseason #1 in 1990 and if memory serves we were solidly  in the top 10 all four years. The Fab Five also reigned supreme during this time and we reached two national championship games. 

To answer your question I think we would have won as much or more under Moe than we did under Carr. Lloy'd first 3 years were rocky and for a while there we even heard rumblings that he should be removed. Contrast this to Moe, who inherited a team in 1990-91 that had played ND in a #1 vs. #2 matchup. The offesne under Moe was prolific. For example, the 1991 team dissapointed but when it came time for the bowl game against an SEC team (Ole Miss) in the Gator Bowl we absoluetly demolished them and put up over 700 yards of total offense. That was well oiled fine tuned machine of a team and possibly one of our best ever. The 1992 team went undefeated but had 3 inexplicable tie games (9-0-2).  Overall I think Moe's teams won 4 out of 5 bowl games during his tenure. We were a true powerhouse and I'm sure it would have continued if not for a very public drunken stupor.

If Moeller would have remained the coach, we would have more than 1 National Championshihp in the past 50 years. It's a shame things ended the way they did.

So a lot of this has me thinking.  As someone who was very young when all of this went down, the only knowledge I have of the situation is what I read.  So when I read things like "railroading" and "anti-athletics administration" it gets me thinking.  

First of all, as it pertains to the anti-athletics administration, during the time period that Duderstadt was President, Michigan won a basketball, hockey, and football NC, went to 2 additional final fours, and produced 2 Heisman winners.  Maybe the adminstration didn't want athletics to be the face of the University, but I doubt that all the aforementoned occur, in addition to other successes, without institutional support.  The question of the proper place and role of athletics in an elite public research University like Michigan is something I find myself grappling with a lot lately.  Why is it that I'm more familiar with the coaches and players of LSU and Alabama than I am of the Presidents of Harvard and Stanford? When did college sports become something that was supposed to be for the entertainment of the University community and as recreation for student-athletes (i.e. athletes that would be admitted to the University regardless of academic merit [maybe kids on the edge get a bump, but the practice of accepting kids who otherwise would have zero chance of getting into these institutions because they can play sports is troubling]).  

So as far as Mo getting "railroaded" this my understanding of the situation.  If I'm wrong, please educate me.  But this is not Gary Pinkell getting a DWI or a routine DWI where Mo blew a .09 and he had to be made to apologize and could have gotten a suspension and all would have been okay.  And I highly doubt he would survive it today with the news cycle, blogs, etc.  

So here's the best account of the events that I've read and relied on:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950503&slug=…

So you have Moeller 8 drinks deep, screaming curse words about his wife, getting into a physical altercation with cops, who seem to have given him every chance to go home, assaulting the manager and other patrons trying to diffuse the situation, resisted arrest, and had to be taken to the hospital for fear of alcohol poisoning.

By all accounts, I've heard rumors that he had recently found out that his wife had an affair with Les Miles, and that was what set this whole mess off.  I'm sure the stress of the seasons and pressures got to him, but as I had always understood this situation, it was related to his wife (hence the epiphets he was screaming about her).  

So where is this revisionist history of him getting railroaded come from? It's not like he came to the administration and said "Hey guys, I have a problem, I want some time off to get treatment or I'm going to take care of this during the offseason" and they took the opportunity to say "Aha, prefect excuse to can this underachiever".  This was a very embarassing situation for the University -- an academically elite public research University at that, and this guy is presumably the most public figure associated with the University.  More people nationwide could have told you who Moeller was before they could name the President of the Michigan at the time.  So with all that, how do you keep him on?

I'm not trying to make him out to be some monster who should have been banished to the cellar forever or have been tarred and feathered down State Street.  He made a mistake, but that doesn't mean the mistake shouldn't have consequences, especially consideirng his job, a privilege at that, considering the unique position of athletics in American universitites, made it all the more damaging.  Can people really say that after this incident, Moeller should have been kept on considering the public nature of the position and the values the University supposedly embodies?

All this stuff lately really has me rethinking the position athletics holds at universities and the general comments I've been reading surrounding Schlissel being fired if he doesn't place athletics higher or de-emphasizes it, anti-athletics administrations, etc. I don't know.

did a bad thing.  And the University over-reacted IMO.  This is the beauty of opinions, we are entitled to them and they plus $4 get you a Venti-something at Starbucks.  In a black and white world I suppose it all made sense.  But, having also heard the rumors of marital infidelity, I am not prepared to say I could have handled the situation without also having made an ass of myself.  This, coupled with the fact that he was my favorite M coach "in-game" of any, means I would have found a way to have him do sufficient pennance, and gave him a chance to make it right going forward.

If you took Bruce Madej's class, he told us the story about the night of Moeller's incident since he was Football SID at the time. 

Long story short, he believes that if Bo wasn't on vacation and was present in AA for that incident, there would have been a PR storm BUT Moeller would have stayed on as coach. 

I always thought he was a great coach and hated to see the incident that caused his resignation.   IMHO, I think he would have been a much better coach and person than LC was.

Just to clarify, there is currently no coaching search going on. The Michigan football team has a coach, and he has not been fired. 

I only had one interaction with Mo and came away thinking he was a better person than coach, and I really liked him as a coach.  One of my dorm mates back then was working in the video department of the football team and asked me to drive with him to meet the video guys from MSU to exchange tapes.  The dorm mate was from Florida and didn't know how to get around.  This was before google maps and cell phones of course.  We stop by the football offices to pick up the tapes and Mo is in one of the video rooms watching tape.  He stops what he's doing, asks me how I'm doing, what my name is, what I'm up to, he extends his hand and we shake.  We tell him we're going to drive up to meet the MSU guys to exchange tapes, and Mo was really concerned because the weather was bad.  He tells us to be careful because it's snowing and to pay attention and not go too fast.  He sounded just like my mom.  I'm just a 17 year old freshman kid who obviously is NOT a recruit, and this was in the privacy of the football offices, and he genuinely seemed to care about my safety.  What a great guy.