University of Michigan Football Coaches
Lloyd Carr
1995-2007
122-40
Lloyd Carr led the University of Michigan to a bowl game in every season at the helm, and claimed the Big Ten title in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004. He became the first Wolverine coach to win four straight bowl games, beating Auburn 31-28 on New Year's Day at the 2001 Florida Citrus Bowl, after leading U-M to victories in the 1998 Rose, 1999 Citrus, 2000 Orange and 2003 Outback Bowls.
Carr's 2004 squad went 9-3 overall and 7-1 in conference to tie Iowa for the Big Ten title and win a return trip to the Rose Bowl. In the first meeting the schools, the Wolverines lost a tough 38-37 contest to Texas when the Longhorns made a field goal at the buzzer. The highlight of the season was triple overtime 45-37 win over Michigan State. U-M scored 17 points in the last four-plus minutes to tie the game in regulation. Braylon Edwards caught two 4th quarter touchdown passes to send the game into overtime and secured the victory on a 24-yard toss from Chad Henne. State held a 17-10 advantage at halftime and a 64-yard run by Cobb extended it to 27-10 before Michigan began its comeback. MSU amassed 535 yards of total offense to U-M's 496. After Edwards' winning catch and a successful mandatory two-point conversion by Massaquoi, the Wolverine defense held on a fourth-down pass to preserve the win.
The 2003 team claimed Michigan's 41st and Carr's 4th Big Ten title and a number six ranking in the Associated Press poll. Highlights included the greatest comeback in school history against Minnesota and Carr's first win over Ohio States's Jim Tressel. The team opened the season with three lopsided wins over Central Michigan, Houston and Notre Dame, but then lost two of the next three and was down 28-7 to Minnesota entering the fourth quarter at the Metrodome. John Navarre went 15-20 passing for 195 yards touchdowns, Chris Perry ran for two scores and Garrett Rivas kicked game-winning field goal the Wolverines scored 31 points in the final quarter to gain 38-35 win over the Gophers. The comeback set the tone for the rest of the season as the Wolverines rolled to six straight victories, including a decisive 35-21 win over the Buckeyes. The team couldn't continue its run in the Rose Bowl, however, where a dominating USC squad handed Michigan a 28-14 loss.
Carr led the 2002 team to Michigan's 28th consecutive bowl appearance; a 38-30 win over Florida in the Outback Bowl. The Wolverines compiled a 10-3 overall record and went 6-2 in the Big Ten. The finished the season ranked 9th in the AP poll.
Carr's 2001 squad posted an 8-4 overall mark and finished 6-2 in the conference. Highlights included handing Penn State its first home shutout in Joe Paterno's 36 year coaching career, registering a 20-0 victory in Happy Valley, and defeating eventual Big Ten champion Illinois 45-20.
During the 200 campaign, Carr's squad claimed a share of the school's 40th conference crown with a thrilling 38-26 victory over Ohio State in Columbus. The Wolverines posted a 9-3 overall record, with all three losses coming by a total of seven points. Michigan finished the year with a No. 10-ranking in the USA/ Today/ESPN poll and No. 1-ranking in the Associated Press poll after beating Auburn in the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Carr led Michigan to a 10-2 record in 1999, including an exciting 35-34 overtime win against Alabama in the FedEx Orange Bowl (fifth different bowl game that Michigan has participated in during Carr's five season's at the helm). The Wolverines finished No. 5 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' polls and tied for second in the Big Ten Conference with a 6-2 record.
His 1998 Michigan squad rebounded from an 0-2 start to finish 10-3 and claim the program's 39th Big Ten Conference title. They capped the season with a 45-31 victory over 11th-ranked Arkansas in the CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl to ensure their second straight 10-win season. Carr led Michigan to eight consecutive wins and finished the year with victories in 10 of the last 11 games.
Michigan captured a Big Ten title and Rose Bowl victory behind the leadership of Carr in his third season at the helm. Carr and the Wolverines proved that excellence is a product of dedication, teamwork, and execution; the direct result of which was Michigan's first National Title in 49 years (1948 season).
Carr, who reached 25 wins faster than any current Big Ten coach, became just the second Big Ten coach to post an undefeated regular season record in just his third year of head coaching (Joe Paterno went 10-0 in 1968 but was not affiliated with the conference at that time). He also wrote himself into the NCAA record books, becoming just the seventh coach in NCAA history to have reached 29 wins in just three seasons of coaching.
Prior to being elevated to head coach, Carr said he thought he held the greatest assistant coaching job in the country, serving 15 years under Bo Schembechler (1980-89) and Gary Moeller 94). Carr joined Schembechler's staff in 1980 as defensive secondary coach, became defensive coordinator for eight and then moved into the position of assistant head final five years before becoming head coach.
Carr moved into one of the nation's best head coaching positions on May 16, 1995 when then Michigan Director of Athletic Director Joe Roberson named him as the interim head coach of the Wolverines following the resignation of Moeller. On November 13 1995 Carr had the "interim" title removed. He is the 17th football coach in school history, but only the 10th since Fielding Yost made his debut in 1901.
Carr began his U-M head coaching tenure in dramatic fashion as his first game against Virginia provided the biggest comeback in Michigan history. The Wolverines trailed 17-0 with less than 12 minutes remaining, but came back to win with a touchdown on the final play of the game for an 18-17 victory.
The 1995 regular season culminated in a 31-23 home win over second-ranked and undefeated Ohio State in one of the biggest triumphs in school history.
The Wolverines finished the 1996 season with an appearance in their 22nd consecutive bowl game and ranked number 20 in the national rankings. Highlights from Carr's second season included a road win against Colorado and home field victories against UCLA and arch-rival Michigan State. Michigan closed out the regular season with yet another win over an undefeated and second ranked Ohio State team, this time by a score of 13-9 at Ohio Stadium.
In 1997, Carr put all the pieces together, posting the most impressive regular season campaign at U-M in more than 25 years. At the start of the season, coach Carr not only faced a schedule rated as one of the toughest in NCAA Division I-A, but also had the task of deciding on a starting quarterback while having to replace three All-Americans, four starters on defense and three starters on the offensive line.
Under Carr's steady hand, Michigan remained consistent each week, en route to its first Big Ten title and Rose Bowl appearance in five seasons. With a 24-3 defeat of then No. 5 Colordo in the first game of the season, Michigan flexed its defensive muscles, giving fans a sneak peek of what to expect all season long. Michigan remained perfect through its first three games, boosting Carr's September record to 10-0. Even with tough road contests against Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin , the Wolverines remained focused.
The Culmination of Michigan's 1997 regular season proved to be the most dramatic contest of them all, with Michigan defeating No. 4 Ohio State 20-14 in front of the largest crowd in Michigan Stadium history. With the victory, coach Carr became just the third U-M coach to defeat Ohio State in each of his first three games, following coaching legends Fielding H. Yost and Crisler.
Carr and his Michigan Wolverines reached the summit of their journey when they defeated No. 7 Washington State, 21-16, in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Two days later Michigan was named the Associated Press National Champions. A week later, the Wolverines, were awarded the MacArthur Bowl by the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame and the Grantland Rice Trophy by the Football Writers Association of America, given Annually to the nation's most outstanding football team.
Carr's leadership of the 1997 Wolverines earned him several national coaching honors, including the Walter Camp Football Foundation, American Football Coaches Association, Football News, Maxwell Football Club, Woody Hayes, and Paul "Bear" Bryant coach of the year awards. With the awards, Carr became just the fourth Michigan coach to win coach of the year honors, behind Crisler (1947), Bennie Oosterbaan (1948) and Bo Schembechler (1969).
A three sport athlete at Riverview High School, Carr was an all-state quarterback (1962) in football. He enrolled at Missouri for three years and was the backup quarterback on the Tigers' 1966 Sugar Bowl championship team.
Carr transferred to Northern Michigan University and quarterbacked the Wildcats to an undefeated season. He graduated from NMU in 1968 with his B.S. in education. Carr went on to earn his masters degree in education administration at NMU in 1968 under a Mott Fellowship.
Carr began his coaching career as a high school assistant at Nativity High in Detroit (1968-69) and at Belleville (Mich.) High School from 1970 to 1973. He was head coach at John Glenn High School (Westland, Mich.) from 1973-75, earning Regional Class A Coach of the Year honors in 1975 following an 8-1 season.
Carr's collegiate coaching career started with two seasons at Eastern Michigan (1976-77), followed by two seasons at Illinois (1978-79) before arriving at U-M.
In 1997, Carr was inducted into both the Catholic League and Northern Michigan University Halls of Fame.