Bo Schembechler, 1969-89, Head Coach
Ann Arbor News, December 16, 1987 Bo To Retire Career as coach at U-M to end at Rose Bowl By Chris McCosky In Chicago last July, Bo Schembechler was asked about the legacy he might leave college football when he retired from coaching. "When I get through coaching," he said, "they'll say he was an old hard-nosed bastard, but that he was honest." Bo Schembechler, 60, will end his brilliant 26-year coaching career after the Rose Bowl game on Jan. 1, according to informed sources. He will, the sources say, continue to serve as athletic director. Gary Moeller, who has been an assistant to Schembechler for 18 of the 21 years he's been at Michigan, is expected to be named head coach for next season. Schembechler was to meet with his players this afternoon. A press conference has been set for 5 p.m. Schembechler, Associate Athletic Director Jack Weidenbach nor any other member of the Michigan athletic department would comment on the situation. The decision to retire stemmed partly from health concerns, sources said. Schembechler suffered heart attacks in 1970 and 1987. His doctors have been persuading him to retire for the past five years. The decision was made easier by two other facts: One, the football program is in superb condition. two, by being the athletic director, he can keep the athletic department and football department personnel, many of whom he placed there, intact. The second factor was critical to Schembechler. In his book, "Bo," he recalled a conversation with Alabama coach Bear Bryant just two years before his death. Said Bryant: "You are going to find this out someday. I hired 47 people at the University of Alabama athletic department. If I quit what happens to them? What happens to those assistant coaches and office people and all of them that I brought in here? ... Here's what. They're out in the cold. The new guy will replace them. Now how can I do that to them? ... You'll face that someday, Bo. You will. And, damn it, I hope you are smart about." Bryant, tired and sick, coached another season at Alabama and died one year later. "That was loyalty," Schembechler wrote -- the kind of loyalty that led Schembechler into accepting the athletic director's job in 1987. Sources close to Schembechler said he decided to make the announcement now because he wanted prospective players being recruited to deal directly with the next coach. Schembechler will leave a very healthy football program. The Wolverines, ranked third in the country, made history this season by winning their second straight outright Big Ten title. No team had accomplished that since Michigan State did it in 1965 and 1966. It was Michigan's 13th title since Schembechler took over in 1969. Michigan will take a 10-1 record into the Rose Bowl game against the University of Southern California Trojans. If the team wins on Jan. 1, it will be the only Big Ten team ever to win back-to-back Rose Bowl games. Schembechler's record, including a six-year stint at Miami University in Ohio form 1963 to 1968, is 234-64-8. At Michigan, he is 194-47-5. He was the winningest active college coach in America and will retire as the fifth winningest coach in NCAA history. Ironically, he is only four victories behind his mentor, Ohio State's Woody Hayes. Known for his integrity and deep devotion to his players, Schembechler transformed Michigan's football program into one of the best in the nation. Empty seats at U-M's stadium ended during his tenure. In fact, there have been 91 straight crowds in excess of 100,000 at Michigan Stadium. Schembechler, against his wishes, has become the major spokesman for college athletics and a national celebrity. And the range of reaction across the country went from disbelief to overwhelming reverence. "The governor thinks the world of Bo. He has great respect for his ability, leadership and his integrity," said Tom Scott, a spokesman for Michigan Gov. James J. Blanchard, who is a Michigan State University graduate. "The governor may bleed green, but he has great respect for what Bo has done for Michigan and the state of Michigan." Said Purdue coach Fred Akers: "He's meant a great deal to all of intercollegiate football, not just the Big Ten and Michigan. He'll be missed. I can't think of anyone that deserves more of a well-earned rest. I'm just happy to say Bo is a friend." Said former Michigan basketball star George Pomey, an active athletic department booster: "My first thing is from a health standpoint. I believe that's what is prompting this. He was pretty much told it was taking a toll on his life. This give him time to make an orderly transition." Said former quarterback Tom Slade (1971-1973): "I have a hard time believing it. I won't believe it until he says so. I just can't imagine him not calling There's no way I can imagine him being an athletic director and not a coach." Said former player Don Dufek (1974-1978): "It doesn't surprise me. His health isn't all that great. It's about time he worried about taking care of himself instead of worrying about winning football games. I think that a lot of people have waited for this day -- not because they want to see Bo resign, but because they want to see what the next era in Michigan football will be like." Former Michigan basketball coach Bill Frieder, now at Arizona State, said: "The last time he had a heart attack, when I went up to see him at the hospital, I knew in my own mind that he'd have to gie up football sometime. I always was amazed at the way he'd fight it and come back and have a determination not to (resign as coach). It's too bad, because the guy's an institution as football coach. I imagine that he'll name Moeller. "He's certainly a tough act to follow, because Michigan football has been outstanding the last 20 years. But it's also been outstanding the last 100 years. It will continue to be good in everything because it's Michigan. That's how I feel. It will always be successful in football, though maybe not as much right away." There had been hints that Schembechler would retire after this season. In the forward to his book, Schembechler wrote: "I have put together this book because I want people to know some of the things I've learned, some of the things I've seen and why I said and did what I did in my 37 years of coaching. I wrote it now, frankly, because I don't know how much longer I'll be around." He also told sports analyst Beano Cook of ESPN, the cable television sports network: "I don't really know (when I'll retire), but it could be soon." On Monday, Schembechler told a university sociology class that he would never sit in the coaches office of the new $12 million Center of Champions football building. The building, which will house the football program, is expected to be ready by this summer. He also told the class that Moeller would be the next coach at Michigan. Schembechler has never had a losing season. He has won 13 Big Ten titles and gone to the Rose Bowl 10 times -- more than any other Big Ten coach. Seventeen of his 21 teams have been ranked in the Top 10 nationally and gone to bowl games and he has coached 93 All-Americans. But the one prize that has eluded Schembechler is the national championship -- a prize that Schembechler termed "mythical." "If you think my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another thing coming," he said earlier this season. "I have never played a game for the national title. Our goals have always been to win the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. If we do that, then we consider our season successful." Michigan still has a remote chance to win the national title this year. It must beat USC, and then get a lot of help. No. 1 Colorado would have to tie No. 4 Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, and No. 2 Miami would have to tie or lose to No. 5 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. "It's quite a longshot," Schembechler said recently. Earlier this season, Schembechler was asked about his retirement. "I'd like to coach until I'm 65," he said. "But I'm not sure they'll let me. It's a constant battle. I'd miss it. I'd miss it a lot." News reporters Jim Cnockaert and Jeff Mortimer contributed to this report. Images
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