Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Michigan coach has a good record, except against Jim Tressel.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Lloyd Carr has quieted most of the criticism about his coaching this year, leading Michigan to an 11-0 record and its best season since he won the 1997 national title.
Carr can silence his remaining critics -- perhaps one last time -- if he can help the second-ranked Wolverines beat No. 1 Ohio State on the road Saturday and earn a spot in the national championship game.
If Michigan loses, his record against Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel will drop to 1-5 and to 6-6 overall in one of the most storied rivalries in sports.
Carr has never been one to defend his mark against Tressel or anyone, but his mentor came to his defense when the topic arose Monday.
"That's hogwash," former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler said. "Go back through the history of the Michigan-Ohio State series ... one would win two, three in a row. That's just the way it is.
"I think we should go back and look at Lloyd's record. I don't care whether he beats Tressel or not."
Carr is 113-34 overall -- winning 77 percent of his games to rank among active coaching leaders -- and 75-20 in the Big Ten with five conference championships in 12 seasons as head coach. Against Top-10 teams, he is 16-6 and has won eight of 10 against teams in the top five.
One game matters
But at Michigan and Ohio State, how you fare in the rivalry is what really matters.
Just ask John Cooper.
Cooper won 72 percent of his games with the Buckeyes, but was 2-10-1 against the Wolverines -- including a 1-5 mark against Carr.
When Tressel was hired in 2001, he didn't waste any time letting fans understand what his focus was. Four hours after being formally announced as Cooper's successor, Tressel sent the crowd at a Michigan-Ohio State basketball game into a frenzy.
"I can assure you that you'll be proud of our young people in the classroom, in the community -- and especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan," Tressel said on Jan. 18, 2001.
Tressel was right.
The Buckeyes beat Michigan 26-20 on the road in his debut season. After losing to Michigan in 2003, Tressel has led the Buckeyes to two straight wins and has a chance to lead them to three straight wins in the series for the first time since the early 1960s.
Under the spotlight
Tressel agreed that coaches in the rivalry are given too much credit -- and criticism.
"Not unlike the quarterback sometimes gets blamed for things and maybe there wasn't good protection or a ball was dropped here or there, and the same as with a coach," he said.
Carr has been hailed as a great coach and has been second-guessed like a rookie, and the latter happened a lot last season and then carried into the winter, spring and summer.
Michigan was 7-5 in 2005 -- its worst since in two decades -- and closed a second straight season with losses to Ohio State and in bowl games.
"When you had the type of season we had, you're either going to back down and you're going to continue that trend, or you're going get up and fight," Carr said. "I don't think there's any question that it motivated all of us, and that's what it should have done."
Carr found a motivational ploy that worked this season, like he did in 1997, with a book -- Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" -- about a group that used teamwork to climb Mt. Everest. He started showing clips from the movie "Cinderella Man" during preseason practices and has gone back to it the day before each game this season.
A boxer in the movie tells his trainer that his opponent is not the same guy he was previously, just as the Wolverines don't believe they're the same team they were last year.
"It fits perfectly," offensive tackle Rueben Riley said.
New coaches help
Carr's new coordinators also provided a flawless match, with Ron English getting rid of a bend-but-don't-break scheme on defense and Mike DeBord implementing a zone-blocking style similar to what has worked for the Denver Broncos for years.
The coaching changes were made without Carr having to fire his previous coordinators, allowing them to leave to be NFL assistants.
"Coach Carr is loyal, but you do what you have to do," said former Wolverine David Baas, a San Francisco 49ers guard. "He did, and it's worked."
But the truth is, a lot of what Carr accomplished this season in a bounce-back year will be forgotten if he loses to Tressel for a fifth time in six games.
Willis Barringer, a Michigan safety and Ohio native, provided a much-needed dose of levity to the story when asked what he would say to people who think Tressel has Carr's number.
"He should call him sometime," Barringer said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.