Coaching Perspective – Michigan

Michigan is one of the most successful programs in college football history so you can imagine how crowded the podium could be.  With so many wins over so many iterations of the team, two coaches lasted 20+ years and four others lasted a decade or more.  This is going to be a tricky field of contenders to navigate.

Not In Consideration (Chronological Order):

• No Coach: 1879-1890, 23-10-1
• Crawford/Murray Co-Coaches: 1891, 4-5-0
• Frank Barbour: 1892-1893, 14-8-0
• William McCauley: 1894-1895, 17-2-1
• William Ward: 1896, 9-1-0
• Gustave Ferbert: 1897-1899, 24-3-1 (6-2)

The 1898 team went 10-0 (3-0) to claim Michigan’s first conference title.  Ferbert left Ann Arbor to gold prospect in Alaska.  Some sources claim he struck it rich in 1908-09 with a million dollar claim while others dispute this.  It seems strange that at the turn of the century we were developing cars, airplanes and modern warfare while playing football and yet at the same time people still went on gold rushes.

• Langdon Lea: 1900, 7-2-1 (3-2)
• George Little: 1924, 6-2-0 (4-2)
• Elton Wieman: 1927-1928, 9-6-1 (5-5)
• Bump Elliott: 1959-1968, 51-42-2 (32-34-2)

Elliott wasn’t a bad coach by any stretch and even won league title and Rose Bowl in 1964 but his under .500 league mark doesn’t stack up.  He would go on to much greater fame as an administrator at Iowa.  As AD for the Hawks, he was the architect of UI’s basketball run in the 70s and 80s as well as a return to glory in football and domination of the league in wrestling.  In told Iowa won 41 league titles and 10 national titles in his 21 years of service to the school.

• Rich Rodriguez: 2008-2010, 15-22 (6-18)
• Brady Hoke: 2011-2014, 31-20 (18-14)
• Jim Harbaugh: 2015-present, 2-1 (0-0)

Did Not Place (7th to 4th):

• Harry Kipke: 1929-1937, 46-26-4 (27-21-2)

Kipke was a feast or famine coach in Ann Arbor.  Five times his teams finished fourth or worse in the league but damn if his four best years weren’t magical.  In a run from 1930-1933 his teams went 31-1-3 (21-1-1) and were co-champs ever season.  The ’32 and ’33 clubs also took home national titles.  Kipke is the only UM coach outside of Fielding Yost to win multiple titles at the school.  Kipke coached Gerald Ford and recruited Tom Harmon, convincing the later to stay at the school despite him resigning.

• Gary Moeller: 1990-1994, 44-13-3 (30-8-2)

Moeller is the great what-if for the Michigan program.  He took over after Bo Schembechler retired and continued the program masterfully.  In his first three seasons his teams went 28-5-3 (20-2-2) and were champs each year.  He made two Rose Bowls, winning one, in that stretch.  His final two teams both went 8-4 (5-3) and won bowl games.  Every single team he had was ranked in the final polls.  His recruiting efforts laid the groundwork for Lloyd Carr’s early teams, including the 1997 national title winners.  He also has the distinction of coaching Heisman winner, Desmond Howard in 1991.  Unfortunately for Moeller his career in Ann Arbor was derailed after tapes from a drunken outburst and disorderly conduct arrest in May of ’95 before the season started.  It is impossible to know how damaging those tapes would be today.  Steve Sarkisian had an incident before this season.  Larry Eustachy lost the Iowa State job but quickly found work at Southern Miss and then Colorado State.  As good as Lloyd Carr was, Moeller could have duplicated Carr’s success or even surpassed it making his tenure podium worthy.  We will never know.

• Bennie Oosterbaan: 1948-1958, 63-33-4 (44-23-4)

Bennie took over for all-time great Fritz Crisler and capitalized on the foundation with a national title in his first year and three league titles to start his tenure as well as winning the 1950 Rose Bowl.  While the rest of his tenure couldn’t match that hot start, it wasn’t all bad.  His ’53 through ’56 teams were all highly competitive ending every year in the polls with one top-10 finish.  Always competitive he finished with six top three finishes in 11 years.  It is this consistency that keeps him ahead of Kipke and the longevity of his tenure that breaks the competition with Moeller.

• Lloyd Carr: 1995-2007, 122-40 (81-23)

Let’s start with the obvious positives…worst season was 7-5 so he had no bottom outs.  He made a bowl game every year and won six of them.  He won two BCS bowls (Rose and Orange) and was in the final polls every year but one with six top-10 finishes.  He won the league five times and most obviously he won the 1997 national title.  He’s third in all time wins, too for crying out loud.  So why doesn’t he crack the podium?  His teams were consistently good, but rarely great.  The joke was, “you can’t spell Lloyd without two Ls.”  In reality his 40 losses over 13 seasons is closer to 3 losses a year.  His 23 Big Ten losses is right at that 2 loss a year mark.  He lost 5 of his final 7 bowl games and was 6-7 against Ohio State as well as struggled mightily against Jim Tressel.  The stunning thing about Carr’s tenure has to be how quickly it ended.  2006 they went 11-2 (7-1) with a national title on the line in their game with OSU.  2007 opened with the famous Appalachian State loss and ended 9-4 (6-2) and a bowl win.  Before the bowl Carr announced it would be his last game.  There was pressure, yes, but considering how chaotic the coaching search seemed to be and ended in the disastrous Rich Rod tenure has always made me feel Carr could have and should have been given several more years.  He could have easily had the up swing like Joe Paterno had after a few down seasons.  It is a questionable call Michigan is still dealing with, unless Harbaugh pulls them out of this tailspin.

Bronze Medal:

Fritz Crisler: 1938-1947, 71-16-3 (42-11-3)

I had a hard time deciding between Carr and Crisler.  Both have a national title and both won a Rose Bowl.  Carr won more league titles and more games.  Carr was also there three seasons longer and in an era with more games played.  The deciding factor was Crisler averaged a paltry 1.6 losses per season, way less than Carr.  You also need to contextualize Crisler’s era more.  During this time Iowa had a Hesiman winner, Minnesota won two national titles (and three league titles), Northwestern and Indiana (yes!) had some strong teams and Ohio State won a national title (and three league titles).  Yet, despite all that competition, Crisler finished third or higher every year.  Every year his teams were ranked in the final poll and 8 of those teams were top-10.  Carr’s teams were consistently good but Crisler’s teams were consistently better than Carr’s clubs.  Thus the nod to Fritz and the first spot on the podium.

Silver Medal:

Bo Schembechler: 1969-1989, 194-48-5 (143-24-3)

I didn’t just do this right.  A 20 year coach with nearly 200 wins and the all time winningest head man at Michigan.  Well I did.  Here’s the reason why.  Zero national titles and a measly 5-12 bowl record.  That’s the case why Bo isn’t the gold standard, but here are reasons why he should be in consideration.  13 league titles, SIXTEEN top-10 poll finishes, just four seasons of 2+ league losses (you read that right, insane) and a staggering 11 double-digit win seasons.  I love Bo, you love Bo, everyone loves Bo…but there’s just the nagging feeling he could never quite get over the hump.  In fact of all the coaches to place 7th or better, only Bo and Gary Moeller are the coaches without national titles.

Gold Medal:

Fielding H. Yost: 1901-1923, 1925-1926, 165-29-10 (42-10-2)

I know the immediate argument: different era.  I agree, that is a huge hit to Yost and can justify putting Bo in the number one spot.  In the schools I have done so far only Illinois’ Robert Zuppke’s tenure is as old as Yost’s but he at least coached into the 1940s.  The problem is regardless of the era, six national titles is a really hard argument to ignore.  10 league titles (1907-1916 UM was independent) is also a bold statement.  The fact is in 25 years his teams lost 29 games.  In the 15 years he coached in the Big Ten, he had 10 losses.  You couldn’t defeat his teams.  Case in point, he had a 56 game winning streak!  If that didn’t convince you, I think we just fundamentally disagree on how far back you are allowed to go.  Sure, if Bo had three or four national titles in a much more difficult era then I would agree with you, but I don’t think it is fair to dismiss Yost just because of different playing style.  I call this the Honus Wagner argument.  Is Wagner a lesser player because of the dead ball?  If you think the answer is yes, please never read another word I ever write.