Steve Hutchinson.
Charles Woodson.
Ian Gold.
Steve Breaston.
Amani Toomer.
Braylon Edwards.
Anthony Thomas.
Brian Griese.
Jim Backus.
These are just off the top of my head... Oh yeah, and this guy...
...and there are dozens more. All stars, or at least valuable role players in the National Football League. What's their connection? Obvious to most sports fans: they all played at Michigan. And were coached by Lloyd Carr. Hmmm. Maybe he was better than the "experts" thought. His 13 year record would certainly lead you to believe it.
Lloyd retired this past Monday after 13 years as head coach. He's been getting a lot of praise this week, much of it from the same fan sites, and bloggers who screamed for his head for the last 4 or 5 years. I'm not going to add to the craziness.. You can find all the good stuff at just about any sports site you wish to Google.. ESPN.com, Sporting News, Freep.com, etc. But I did want to point out a new blog I've added to the blogroll column at the right. MGoBlog is maybe one of the best written blogs- of any genre- that I've read. I've listed it below Bodio's and TerrierMan's blog because, well, because it's just that good. Even if you're not a Michigan fan, you will enjoy Brian Cook's posts. In fact mgoblog scooped the mainstream media on news of Lloyd Carr's impending retirement- almost a week before it happened.
Meanwhile, in the real world of Division II football, where national champions are det
ermined the old fashioned way, with a tournament, my Grand Valley Lakers will be hosting North Dakota this weekend in a second round game. It's difficult to remember back that far, but North Dakota was the last school to hand the Lakers a loss. That was back in 2004! If you haven't been paying attention that's 38 straight without a loss, and includes the past two DII championships. I'm hoping for 39, 40, and 41... and 3... over the next couple of weeks.Go Lakers!
Geez, Dan... beginning to think you're screening my comments. But I imagine it's just this crappy computer at work failing to make contact.
ReplyDeleteTo business: dropping The Regal Vizsla in honor of MGoBlog on your blog-roll! I might have to replace you with 'buckeyecommentary.com' on our site. I thought we'd amicably agreed to disagree on Lloyd Carr's net worth. ;-)
Real question: do you think Lloyd was a good coach? or a good manager? By manager I mean someone who was able to recruit and hire good players and good RB and QB coaches to make student-athletes like Woodson and Brady into genuinely great football players.
Having said that: it all pales behind GVSU's achievements. Go Lakers!!!
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.
A+M+M+J
Yup. Must be your computer. ;^)
ReplyDeleteRE: your real question... in a word, yes. When you look at Lloyd's total body of work, you'd be hard pressed to find another program with the numbers over a 13 year period. Remember, the great Bo Schembechler once went 6-6 on a season. I think Carr's worst was a 4 loss season.. kind of like this year.
Now all this is not to say I'm not glad to see him step away, because I am. It's time for Michigan... and the entire Big 10 for that matter, to join the rest of football in the 21st century. Nothing brought that point home more than watching all the SEC multi-overtime games this past weekend.
Speaking of which... I was tickled to see LSU lose. I think it makes the whold Les Miles transaction easy to work out.
And Grand Valley did win on Saturday. On to the regional final.