Lloyd Carr Appreciation Thread

Submitted by Gameboy on

I hope all of you appreciate now how DIFFICULT it is to win 8 to 10 games, win/compete for B1G championships, and go to a bowl game EVERY YEAR!

Coach Carr was pushed out by people (this site included) who thought any idiot off the street can do what Carr did year after year. After two coaches and too many embarrassing loses later, we all know the truth now.

Coaching football in NCAA is hard. Not very many people are good at it. It is difficult even when you have the enormous resources that this great university can provide.

I hope you remember that for the next coach and beyond.

GoBlueInNYC

October 1st, 2014 at 4:58 PM ^

This fan base can be so goddamned ridiculous and stupid about some things. Carr was a great coach, responsible for our last national championship (the only one in the last 65 years), is a big contributor to Michigan's various records and streaks, fielded some truly great teams, and was an excellent representative for the University.

He should be appreciated and people should really stop being so petty and short sighted about what he contributed to the University and the football program.

bronxblue

October 1st, 2014 at 7:28 PM ^

I guess there are people who belittle his accomplishments and that is uncalled-for, but at the same time Carr had lots of problems as a coach that people are forgetting about simply because of time.  I always said he was a great recruiter with a mediocre in-game management.  And while I don't want to knock his national championship too much, freaking Gene Chizik, Larry Coker, and Bobby Ross also coached championship teams.  Carr is better than all of them, but his NC isn't the end-all, be-all argument some are making it out to be.  

My two major issues with Carr were his continued failures to evolve with the college landscape (which culminated against App St. and Oregon, but showed itself against teams like USC as well), and how poorly, frankly, he handled the transition to RR.  He clearly didn't like the guy and I get that, but if you want to be known as an ambassador for the program, you don't sabotage the new guy coming in the way he did.  It doesn't invalidate his legacy, but to me that tarnished a bit of the luster we all had for him following the Citrus Bowl.

GoBlue_55

October 1st, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^

You're right. He won a national championship with someone else's kids. He stopped recruiting towards the end of his career. He did the "Michigan Man" thing when Rich Rod took over. He lost to APP ST. I'll never forget him. Truly a Michigan Man.

MerryMarkley77

October 1st, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^

I grew up with Bo and watched the Bo to Moeller to Carr transition.  I got frustrated with Moeller because he wasn't winning at the rate Bo was and was relieved when he got fired.  When Carr won the national title in '97 I thought he might be the second coming of Bo.  But I do think he lacked adaptability.  I remember Moeller doing no huddle offense in his first year and wondering why in the world is this guy doing that.  Maybe he had a better vision for where college football was headed. Carr started strong, but the game did seem to pass him by at some point.  I remember Joe Falls at Benny Oosterbaan's death writing a nice tribute to him, but saying his downfall was that he refused to recruit when other schools started to, because he just thought that the Michigan name would draw players.  In my mind I compare Carr to Oosterbaan.  He started out strong, but finished less so, because he didn't see the things he needed to do to stay competitive.  Why did he only try the spread in his last game?  I wonder what Moeller might have done had he not had that one bad night.  All I know is that Michigan's teams have never blocked and tackled as crisply as they did under Bo.  And that's how you get to a winning percentage of .796 over all and .850 Big Ten.

Webber's Pimp

October 1st, 2014 at 7:00 PM ^

Dude don't even bother. This board is full of idiots. Even those who called for Carr's head on this board will never acknowledge they were wrong or that Carr was a hell of a coach. The Michigan Man standard that we all talk about is a comlete myth based on the posts I've read on this board. 

 

lilpenny1316

October 1st, 2014 at 8:19 PM ^

And I stand by that.  It's not my fault that people went apeshit when RichRod was hired and brought out the pitchforks as soon as he was hired.

LC was good, but I thought that with the talent we had we should've had great results.  3-4 loss seasons is very average with the talent we had.  

We couldn't stop mobile QBs/spread offenses: Syracuse/Donovan McNabb, Indiana/Antwan Randle El, Ohio State/Troy Smith, and Oregon/Dennis Dixon.  That's not even mentioning the Northwestern debacle in 2000.

Fact remains that we couldn't beat Tressel who outcoached him and whose players outplayed ours and we had too many losses to teams we should've beaten.  Oh and we won one Rose Bowl with him.  

bronxblue

October 1st, 2014 at 7:06 PM ^

Carr was a fine coach, but his middling-at-best support of RR when he replaced him set a lot of bad things in motion that are still plaguing this program today.  He was good for the University and won, but he isn't a saint, and his pettiness has hurt the program in a number of ways.

MAKarmanesq

October 1st, 2014 at 11:34 PM ^

And more importantly, a great MAN. I was damn proud to have worked for him--which I don't think I could ever say if I were a manager under the current clown show.



Please keep praying for Lloyd, his family and especially young Chad too, everyone.