Interesting (and Apparently Obscure) Interview of Bo Schembechler
Bruce Madej from the Athletic Department tweeted the following link to an interview given by Bo, apparently 10 years before he died and 15 years ago now. The link actually takes you republication of the interniew on the occasion of Bo's death.
Bruce Madej commented in his tweet that he had never seen the interview, which is amazing to me since he has been the PR guy with the athletic department forever.
I thought the interview was very interesting on a variety of topics and thought many of you would enjoy it.
November 18th, 2011 at 1:51 PM ^
I found the "Michigan Man" comments pretty interesting.
November 18th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^
bo_lives with his 69th (too bad it wasn't your 1969th, but close enough) post on an OP about Bo the day before Nebraska. Beware, Mr. Martinez, this means certain doom for you and your team.
November 26th, 2011 at 6:35 PM ^
i made sure not to make another comment until after The Game. just sayin'
November 18th, 2011 at 1:56 PM ^
Very interesting. Would Bo disapprove of Brady not wearing a head set like so many of you MGoFans do? It looks like it. Man, it would be so awesome if Bo was still alive to get his take on these modern day topics.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
Bo would never publicly disapprove of anything the Michigan head coach did. If asked about it, he'd just chuckle and say something like, "I guess that works for Brady, but I could never remain that calm out there."
November 18th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
Brady said he talked to Bo just before he left to take the Ball State job, and Bo told him now that he was a head coach he needed to put on the headset and take over the offense in order to maintain control. Brady told him that that wasn't who he was...that he was a defensive line coach. Anyway that was Bo's advice.
Don't have a specific link, but it was a recent interview through MgoBlue.com
November 19th, 2011 at 11:05 AM ^
that was my reaction too - it's almost like that paragraph exactly described Hoke:
"I hate to see these coaches standing on the sidelines with their arms folded over their chest looking so calm and removed during a game. Some of these guys never even call a play; they just delegate everything and their coordinators call the plays. All they do is decide when to punt and when to kick a field goal. All of the fun of coaching would be gone if you didn’t actually coach during the games."
November 18th, 2011 at 2:01 PM ^
I found this section interesting.
"I hate to see these coaches standing on the sidelines with their arms folded over their chest looking so calm and removed during a game. Some of these guys never even call a play; they just delegate everything and their coordinators call the plays. All they do is decide when to punt and when to kick a field goal. All of the fun of coaching would be gone if you didn’t actually coach during the games."
This pretty much describes Hoke's in-game coaching style
November 18th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
Just because Hoke and Bo's style were different doesn't mean the both can't be right. This is a comfort issue, if Hoke is fine with no headset, delegating most/many choices to the DC or OC, then I am ok with it. Bo didn't do this but that is ok, it is a different era and they are different men, but they have the love of Michigan which is the same.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^
Bo did have a heart attack...he just could not do it all
too much pressure...he was not a man to let it go
I think hoke's style works for him, and if he wins out, then I will throw out the headset I have at my desk for listening into conference calls
November 18th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^
I like this comment. while we all love Bo, we have to realize that we're not getting Bo 2.0 in Brady Hoke ... & that's not a statement about coaching ability or even values - just style. Hoke may turn into a great coach for us, & he definitely seems to value many of the same things as Bo (toughness, focus on the players, integrity, etc.). he just ties it all together with a different style, like a calm, focused storm.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^
Hoke may not wear the headset the whole game, but he does when he feels he needs to. Especially when the defense is on the field.
I believe from watching him during the early game especially, he did this to focus on teaching the players. He has faith in his coaches, and knew his time would be best watching and teaching play by play.
He doesn't just stand there, fold his arms, and cheer. He constantly teaching.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:26 PM ^
I knew this would be brought up here after reading that comment. People who think that Hoke just stands there and doesnt coach during the games... are full of shit and do not understand football. He coaches a ton, period.
Secondly...check out this clip of Bo coaching in 1971. Bo is on the phone with his coordinator asking for the plays. He is coaching his ass off, but someone else is calling the plays:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Pht16jbKk
To try to attribute one quote that Bo may 15 years ago, to the current head coaches method of sideline coaching is fallacious.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:02 PM ^
"It ratchets up the pressure on every kid and on every coach. It makes recruiting, which is a horrible process, even worse, because there is less margin for error. It puts pressure on coaches to take away the scholarships from kids who don’t pan out, which is totally wrong. And by having freshman play, kids don’t have any time to adjust to being students before they become athletes–which is essential if you’re serious about this issue. I went over to summer practice the other day and I saw two freshman–who had not yet suited up in a game here, had not taken a class, were not really students yet–being interviewed by 12 media people. It’s absurd.
Wow.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:23 PM ^
This response struck me as well. I know its been tossed around many, many times and maybe I'm just very thick-headed, but his thoughts on the topic are very sound. It makes total sense in actual practice, where these freshman are thrown into situations that some seniors on the team don't even have to deal with.
I can't imagine what life would have been like as a freshman in college trying to adjust to college life and academics if I had a full-time job of playing a college sport heaped on top. And not just playing a college sport, but playing a sport that draws millions of eyes every week. Can you imagine the pressure!?? Freshman, as a group, simply aren't mature enough to handle it and they're being set up to fail. (Of course there are always exceptions - no doubt about it.)
November 18th, 2011 at 3:01 PM ^
November 18th, 2011 at 3:13 PM ^
I was thinking recruiting, oversigning, paying players, baseball and hockey draft tug of wars, it is all there. Bo's words still very relevant today!
November 18th, 2011 at 2:22 PM ^
Thanks for posting.
I found the comments about recruiting as a "horrible, demeaning process" very interesting also.
Bo was decisive. Right or wrong, he was decisive about what he said and did. You knew where he stood on things. He didn't waffle about.
This seems like a rare quality in modern times.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^
To me, Bo was always right. About everything, and I think the biggest lesson I got from reading Three & Out is that our program would have been in a much better situation over the last 5 years if Bo had been alive.
For me, the most interesting part was what he tried to do while he was with the Tigers, in bringing the hockey draft procedure to MLB. I think it would improve college baseball, help marginal players get an education for the rest of their life instead of riding buses in the lower minor leagues, and give the teams a chance to evaluate players better, instead of comitting millions to a kid straight out of high school.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:29 PM ^
disagree with you on this. I think things would have gone a lot differently had Bo been around during the transition years. I would also say that the program would have been better off had Mo not left so abruptly. We would have had several more years of Mo and Carr together to carry on Bo's legacy. Maybe another 6 years or so. Then Carr takes over in 2000 instead of 1995 and coaches until 2010 or so thus making the loss of Bo less painful. As it was we lost Bo and then a year later we lost Carr as coach. That's a lot of trauma in a short span. Bo's legacy effectively ended when RR came in and I don't think people were ready for that. The loss of Bo was too fresh and the last conenction to him was lost when Carr stepped down. Then the schism within the Wolverine family set in.
November 18th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^
Funny thing though, I read that article to myself in Bo's voice!
Go Blue!