With all the hype about Lloyd leaving and who will fill his role next season, one thing that seems to get lost is just how much Lloyd will be missed. He's been an excellent example of a great coach, and an even better man. And before we crown the next head coach at Michigan, we need to take some time to both enjoy the man still coaching the team, and reflect on his wonderful career at Michigan.
Bo hired Lloyd as a defensive backs coach in 1980. Then in 1987 he was promoted to defensive coordinator. When Bo stepped down, he became assistant head coach/def. coordinator. And then when Gary Moeller was fired in 1994, Lloyd became interim head coach and then eventually later that season...the full time head coach.
MGoBlue.com has some nice "did you know?" facts about Lloyd Carr:
• Lloyd Carr is one of only 12 current Division I-A coaches who have won a national title.
• He has the best winning percentage of all the previous Michigan coaches at Michigan Stadium. Carr is 69-9 (.885) in his career at the "Big House."
• Carr and the Michigan football staff conduct an annual women's football academy that benefits the comprehensive cancer center at the University of Michigan.
• He was a member of the NCAA Football Rules Committee. He was appointed to the committee in 2000 and his term ran until Sept. 1, 2005.
• Carr was named to Board of Trustees of American Football Coaches Association in 2003.
• The U of M Club of Downriver annually awards the Lloyd Carr Scholarship to an outstanding senior from one of the Downriver high schools to support fine representation of the Downriver area at the University of Michigan.
• Carr and Regent David Brandon are currently co-chairs of the U-M Health System's "Champions for Children" campaign, that is a part of The Michigan Difference campaign taking place throughout the University.
• The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame presented Carr with the 2002 Philip A. Hart Award, presented annually by the Michigan Women's Studies Association to a man who through the course of his career has advanced the cause for women.
• Carr was the first coach in Michigan Athletic Department history to endow a scholarship at the University.
I've always like Lloyd Carr. He seems to me like the typical "tough guy" coach. But he also has a much softer, intellectual side to him that only shows through every once in a while. He's an adamant reader. When he lets his guard down, its nice to see him open up a little bit. You get to see what really makes him so special and why so many players love him.
When he takes the field tomorrow, there will be a lot of eyes on the old coach. History seems to only remember what you did last. Lloyd's career could very well be defined by how well he does in his (supposedly) final game at Michigan Stadium.
But one thing that is not uncertain, is that Lloyd will continue to remain and visible and vocal member of the athletic department. He's spent a lot of his time giving back to the both the university and the community. Michigan is his home. He may not keep an office in Schembechler Hall like Bo did after he retired, but he will be around...as a spokesman of sorts...like a President after his term.
Win or lose tomorrow...Lloyd Carr will always be remembered as a loyal, honest and devoted member of the Michigan family. He, like his mentor Bo, was a man who was always tough when he had to be, and there for you when you needed him. He ran a clean program, he turned countless young men into great leaders...Michigan Men.
We will miss you Lloyd.
Go Blue.
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