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It's been the HUGE talent gap between Michigan and most of the Big11Ten that has vaulted Lloyd's record. Yes, recruiting is a big part of coaching and Carr gets credit. However, one wonders if a deaf, blind monkey could recruit top15 classes at Michigan. It appears Lloyd the Neanderthal can. (Yes, that is the nickname my friends and I use for Lloyd.) He is thawed out from a different era.

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Five years ago, you could have said the same thing about Florida State, Florida, Tennessee, or Nebraska. Yet those programs have winning percentages of .661, .703, .656, and .609 over that period while Michigan enjoys a winning percentage of .746 over the same five years. Lloyd Carr's obviously doing something very right.

And I'm cherry-picking a lot less than you'd think with those selections. Going into 2002, the premier programs in college football along with the five teams I listed were Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Miami. USC and Texas hadn't fully risen to prominence yet so they wouldn't be a fair comparison. Of those 7 other programs, Michigan clearly outperformed 4, was outperformed by 2 and played about even with the other one (Miami). If Lloyd Carr's as bad of a game coach as you make him out to be, he must be a ridiculously good recruiter to even be able to compete.

I guess part of it's how you view the role of the head coach. The way I see it, the primary responsibilities of a head coach are to recruit good talent and to be the public face of the program. Anything else is a bonus. Yes, you'll occasionally get an Urban Meyer or a Steve Spurrier that has great scheme ideas, but for the most part, play-calling and schemes are the coordinators' responsibilities.

With the overall success that Michigan's had, it seems obvious that Lloyd Carr's done something right to the point that his results have been better than those of the majority of coaches at elite programs. If his weakness (conservative schemes) is so easily fixable with a couple of new assistants, it seems like that's a much more practical solution than just throwing him out on his head.