What else would you expect Carr to say (he is still a Michigan Man)?
KIRTHMON F. DOZIER/Detroit Free Press
Chat with Lloyd Carr Part 1: Ex-U-M coach 'very, very confident' Rich Rodriguez will do 'great'
Former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr joined Bill Simonson on "The Huge Show" on Sunday to talk about retirement life, his coaching career. Part 1 of the highlights:
On Rich Rodriguez and the future of Michigan football:
Rich and I have had a very good relationship he has made it clear that I am welcome anytime I want to come over. And what I have told him is that I?m there if he needs me but I was not over for any of the practices in the spring because I don?t want to be a presence there, so I can?t tell you much about spring practice.
But I think the position as the head football coach, when you understand the tradition with Fielding Yost and Fritz Crisler, Bo Schembechler, you?re looking for a special guy. When that opening came, everybody here from president (Mary Sue) Coleman down understood the significance of that choice. And I?m very, very confident that Rich has all the abilities to fill that position and do a great job as a head coach and I think he will do that.
On if it was a surprise that Rich was available to come to Michigan from West Virginia:
I think (athletic director Bill Martin) ? the spread offense, offensively the style of play was something that he liked. If you look at Rich?s record at West Virginia, and despite being a head football coach for fifteen years, he?s a young guy. He?s going to coach for a long time. He is in the forefront of offensive football and I think it made a lot of sense.
On retirement:
There is a little bit more time as far as your family and an opportunity to reacquaint with some people who are very close. Coaching is such an intense life. You come right off a bowl game, you recruit for five weeks, you get ready for spring ball, then you go spring recruit again. I?m looking forward to doing some things that I didn?t have a chance to do when I was coaching. Its also the kind of life that takes awhile to adjust to. What I miss the most is the relationship with the players, coaches and people in the program.
I?ve got quite a number of grandchildren, most of them are living here within the community or at least within an hour?s drive. I?m certainly going to be able to do some things and watch some soccer games and little league baseball games and do those things there wasn?t time for before. I look forward to that. I think every coach is a little bit different. I think the real difference is they get jobs when they?re very young. In my case, I was 50 when I became the head coach at Michigan so my children were grown but I was in the beginning of having some grandchildren. It?s the just the nature of college coaching. I have to do some things with my grandchildren I missed out on.
On deciding when to leave:
Entire article:
Chat with Lloyd Carr Part 1: Ex-U-M coach 'very, very confident' Rich Rodriguez will do 'great' | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Waiting opn Part 2.