re: Carr Retires as Michigan's Coach...

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BATON ROUGE - LSU coach Les Miles' name came up during Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's retirement announcement on Monday.

Miles, who is considered a top candidate to be the next Michigan coach, and Carr both worked under the late Michigan coach Bo Schembechler and Gary Moeller in the 1980s and 1990s. Carr was asked if he had "much of a relationship with" Miles.


"You know, when it gets to discussion any potential candidates, I defer to Bill Martin," Carr said in reference to Michigan's athletic director. "This process will be developed and executed by Bill, and I'm not going to get into all of the things that are his job. But I can say that, you know, there are a lot of things happening on the recruiting trail. It is a very competitive business. But those are things that you put to rest. So for some of those rumors that are out there, I'm not going to answer all of them."
Carr was making reference to a disagreement Michigan coaches had with Miles and his staff over the recruitment of cornerback Jai Eugene out of Destrehan High in 2006. Eugene is now a sophomore on the LSU team. Eugene had originally committed to Michigan, and Michigan coaches were miffed that Miles and his coaches kept recruiting Eugene after he committed.

It is common practice among many coaches to keep recruiting commitments, but some staffs recruit differently. Interestingly, Miles and his coaches were upset last year when Alabama coach Nick Saban kept recruiting LSU commitments Sidell Corley and Phelon Jones of Mobile, Ala.

"I'm not going to talk about candidates, because that's not my job," Carr went on. "But I do want to make it clear that I am not here to want to name the coach and all that baloney that some of you have written."

Miles easily has the strongest Michigan ties among the candidates, having played and coached at Michigan. Carr was also asked if his successor will be a Michigan man.

"Well, you remember a guy named Schembechler? He wasn't a Michigan man," Carr shot back. "Fritz Crisler (legendary Michigan coach) wasn't a Michigan man. Fielding Yost (legendary Michigan coach) wasn't a Michigan man. So I think the only thing I will say is that I know this - Bill wants to hire the finest coach in the country. And I don't have any doubts that he will do that."

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Being the Michigan football coach is about more than winning
SHAWN WINDSOR
Detroit FREE PRESS

The next football coach at Michigan doesn't have to be a Michigan man, doesn't have to have Michigan ties, doesn't have to have Michigan blood.

The next coach doesn't have to have head coaching experience or even much college coaching experience. He could be an assistant or come from the NFL.

So what does the next coach at Michigan have to have?
A lot of similarities to the outgoing one.

"Everybody is going to say, 'What are you looking for?' Well, I'm looking for the next Lloyd Carr, obviously," said Bill Martin, the man in charge of finding Carr's replacement.

Martin, U-M's athletic director, said Monday that he faced the stiffest challenge of his career, which was why he began compiling a list of candidates early this season when Carr told him it likely would be his last.

Martin wouldn't say who was on his list.

He said he had roughly 12 names, although the list always was changing. He said he wanted the search kept private.

Asked whether he was considering LSU coach Les Miles, Martin didn't comment. Miles, meanwhile, told reporters Monday that no one from U-M had contacted him and that he was focused on his top-ranked team. The BCS title

game isn't until Jan. 7. Martin said he hoped to have a new coach by the end of the year.

"That would be great," he said.

Martin has a lot of work before he gets there, even though he began background work months ago.

"I want to know how many driving-under-the-influence (citations) a potential coach has had," he said. "I want to know if he's a deadbeat in terms of paying his bills. I want to know anything that is a pattern in terms of past behavior that could be an embarrassment to Michigan."

Martin said the football coach at U-M was "for all intent and purpose the face of the university. And I know that."

Since 1995, Carr was the face of U-M. Martin said he wished he could clone Carr.

Short of that?

"I want to find a former high school history teacher," he said, "because that's what Lloyd is."

Martin said he probably could find coaches who would equal Carr's winning percentage of .752. "But will they represent the university in all the ways Lloyd has?" Martin said. "That is going to be tough."

This is why Martin will hire a private security firm to search for signs of bill-paying delinquency and a penchant for DUIs. This is why Martin spends time studying how those on his list react at news conferences instead of how they package blitzes.

"After an emotional loss, what do they say? How do they look?" Martin said. "Those are the important things."

And yet the coach must win.

"What's the benchmark?.....We win roughly three-quarters of our games,"

Martin said.

He said he would consider paying the next coach $2 million-$3 million a year, commiserate commensurate with the top salaries in the game. (Carr made

$1.6 million.) And Martin said he wanted someone who would coach for at least the next 10 years because that had been the Michigan tradition. Next week, Martin will form a screening committee comprised of former players and people with experience in college football. He said he would be guided by their judgments. He said he would talk with Carr. Ultimately, though, the criteria to hire the next face of Michigan must come from him.

"It's far more than just winning on Saturday," he said. "These positions aren't jobs. They are a way of life."

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Michigan AD has tough task ahead
DREW SHARP
The Detroit Free Press

The pressure is on Bill Martin. He knows it. He welcomes it.

His legacy as Michigan athletic director rests solely on who whom he hires as Lloyd Carr's successor. Failure isn't an option.
He learned in September that Carr would retire at season's end, but that

didn't stop him from regularly asking Carr whether he had a change of heart

- if only to buy more time before facing the biggest hire at the university

in almost 40 years. That was when Don Canham plucked an anonymous former

Ohio State assistant, Bo Schembechler, from Miami (Ohio) to coach the

Wolverines.

Martin always visited Carr in his office the Sunday morning following a Michigan loss. He had never seen Carr any lower than the day after the historic upset by Division I-AA Appalachian State in the opener. Carr's last season was irrevocably stained before it had barely begun.

Martin reminded him, once again, that this season didn't have to be his curtain call.

"He wasn't changing his mind," Martin said Monday. "Lloyd was firm in his

resolve that now was the time, regardless of what had happened in those first two games. And from that moment forward, I knew I had to get to work because this was going to be an extraordinary task replacing a man of Lloyd's character and integrity."

The challenge for Martin is reconciling storied tradition with the modern realities of college football. His objective is finding a coach that respects the "Michigan values" while steering the program toward a course of consistent national championship contention that keeps influential alumni happy.

But isn't the latter incongruous with the former?

"It might be," Martin said, "but that's why I'm putting all my energies into this process. I've got to focus on this as my primary responsibility."

Until Monday's official announcement, Martin's efforts consisted of clandestine background checks on potential candidates. He couldn't openly seek outside assistance, or news of Carr's retirement would have leaked earlier than Carr would have preferred.

"The head football coach at the University of Michigan is the face of this institution," Martin said.

But now that the search is on, Martin made it clear that he will investigate his primary coaching candidates as thoroughly as the White House would a Cabinet appointee. He has watched news conferences, to see how coaches handle the thrust and parry of media interrogation. He has promised a meticulous background scrutiny.

"I want to know how many driving-under-the-influence (citations) a potential coach has had," he said. "I want to know if he's a deadbeat in terms of paying his bills. I want to know anything that is a pattern in terms of past behavior that could be an embarrassment to Michigan."

Is it necessary for such a painstaking search process when there's possibly only one guy on the list?

Martin declined to comment on whether LSU coach - and, more importantly, Michigan alum - Les Miles is a candidate. It's a delicate situation. U-M's reputation would endure a devastating hit if seen tampering with another

team's coach, particularly if that team sits on the verge of a possible national championship.

After all, it was Bo, in his capacity as athletic director, who blasted Arizona State's lack of decorum by hiring Bill Frieder on the eve of U-M's appearance in the 1989 NCAA basketball tournament. Remember Bo's "a Michigan Man is going to coach this team" edict when he elevated Steve Fisher to replace Frieder?

U-M deservedly would face charges of hypocrisy if it did the same thing to LSU.

The job is probably Miles' if he wants it, but Martin probably will have to wait for another seven weeks to contact him formally.

If Miles took the job, that would save Martin from facing the harsh reality that the job is now only a borderline top-10 national position. That's heresy to the true Blue believers, but prestige in today's college football is measured more by lavish facilities. And only now can Martin point to the new construction of luxury suites at Michigan Stadium and a state-of-the-art football practice building. Could Michigan attract Miles if Miles didn't have any prior connection to Michigan?

No way. Michigan believes its football coaching position seeks its occupant, not the other way around. But if Miles isn't the man for the job, then Martin must sell the Michigan brand to bring in the big name with the big reputation that the school believes it deserves.

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If not him, then Terry Robiskie.

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i dunno how different the 2 really are

carr isn't exactly a poet when he's in front of a mic

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