Lloyd Carr Retiring Next Week?
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Rumors are swirling that Lloyd Carr is stepping down as Michigan's head football coach, effective after the Ohio State game next Saturday. From MSNBC.com:
Lloyd Carr apparently is set to call it a career at Michigan.
According to a source close to Michigan’s football program, PA SportsTicker has learned that Carr is leaning toward retiring as the Wolverines’ coach.
A formal announcement could come as early as next week, after Michigan closes out its regular season against archrival Ohio State.
The third-winningest coach in Michigan’s storied history, the 62-year-old Carr has received intense criticism in recent years for the Wolverines’ shortcomings in big games.
Michigan has dropped its last three contests against Ohio State and has lost five of its last six meetings with the Buckeyes, who posted a 42-39 victory last year in a showdown tabbed as the “Game of the Century.”
The Wolverines also have endured well-chronicled postseason struggles under Carr, losing each of their last four bowl games. Carr is 6-6 all-time against Ohio State and owns a 5-7 career record in bowl games, including 1-3 in the Rose Bowl.
Carr’s job security once again came into question two months ago when the Wolverines opened the season with consecutive losses at home to Appalachian State and Oregon.
It marked the first time Michigan started a season with back-to-back home losses since 1959, and Carr once again found himself on the proverbial coaching hot seat.
But speculation regarding Carr’s job status died down September 15 when the Wolverines posted a 38-0 rout of rival Notre Dame, a victory which jumpstarted an eight-game winning streak and vaulted Michigan back into the national rankings. Currently ranked 23rd, Michigan (8-3) dropped a 37-21 decision Saturday at Wisconsin. But the Wolverines still can win the Big Ten Conference title and clinch a BCS bowl bid if they defeat the seventh-ranked Buckeyes in Ann Arbor this weekend.
Carr owns a career record of 121-39 in his 12-plus seasons at Michigan. An assistant in Ann Arbor under Bo Schembechler and Gary Moeller, Carr has guided the Wolverines to at least a share of five Big Ten titles.
Carr’s crowning achievement came in 1997, when Michigan was named co-national champion after going 12-0 and closing out the campaign with a victory over Washington State in the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines were voted champions by the Associated Press, but Nebraska was voted No. 1 in the national coaches’ poll.
Is this a case of retire before you get fired? It has been 10 years since his last success, by U of M standards. It might just be time to hang it up.
