Lloyd
Carr has led the University of Michigan to a bowl game in every
season at the helm, and claimed the Big Ten title five of the past
seven seasons (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 25years. 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 o 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 most
dramatic contest of them all, with Michigan defeat 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.