Lloyd Carr Lloyd H . Carr ( born July 30 , 1945 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head coach at the University of Michigan from 1995 through the 2007 season . Under Carr , the Wolverines compiled a record of 122 – 40 and won or shared five Big Ten Conference titles ( 1997 , 1998 , 2000 , 2003 , and 2004 ) . Carr ' s 1997 team was declared the national champion by the Associated Press . His record coaching against top ten - ranked opponents was 19 – 8 . Carr was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2011 . Youth and education . Born in Hawkins County , Tennessee , Carr moved with his family to Riverview , Michigan when he was ten years old . Carr ' s picture is still shown in the Riverview Community High School gym lobby , where he quarterbacked the Pirates to a 1962 State Championship . A talented athlete , Carr played college football and college baseball for three seasons at the University of Missouri , and one season at Northern Michigan University ( NMU ) while earning his M . A . in education administration . He was a star quarterback at NMU and led the Wildcats to an undefeated season in 1967 . Carr had originally played under Dan Devine at Missouri , following fellow Riverview graduates Woody Widenhofer and Bill McCartney . Carr transferred to Northern Michigan when the man who chiefly recruited him to Missouri , Rollie Dotsch , was named head coach . Carr received an honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan shortly after retiring . He also received an honorary degree from Albion College in 2008 . Early coaching career . Carr ' s coaching career began as an assistant at Nativity High School in Detroit , Michigan ( 1968 – 69 ) and at Belleville High School ( 1970 – 73 ) . He became head coach at John Glenn High School in Westland , Michigan in 1973 and earned Regional Class A Coach of the Year honors in 1975 following an 8 – 1 season . Carr ' s collegiate coaching career started with two seasons as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University ( 1976 – 77 ) under head coach Ed Chlebek , followed by two seasons as an assistant coach at Illinois ( 1978 – 79 ) under head coach Gary Moeller . He was briefly the defensive backs coach at West Virginia in the summer of 1980 under head coach Don Nehlen , before departing for Michigan in the fall under head coach Bo Schembechler . At Michigan , he was reunited with Moeller , who was returning as an assistant coach . Carr was the team ' s defensive secondary coach for his first seven seasons and then defensive coordinator from 1987 until 1994 . He also held the title of assistant head coach from 1990 to 1994 . Head coach at Michigan . Carr was named Michigan ' s interim head coach on May 13 , 1995 , following the resignation of Gary Moeller nine days earlier due to off - the - field trouble . Though athletic director Joe Roberson initially declared that Carr was not a candidate in the search for Moeller ' s permanent replacement , Roberson reversed his earlier position and gave Carr the job permanently on November 13 , 1995 after Carr posted an 8 – 2 record through his first ten games as head coach . His very first game as head coach , at home against Virginia in late August 1995 , was at the time Michigan ' s largest ever comeback win , from 17 – 0 down . Carr has acknowledged that had Michigan lost that game , he might not have been given the permanent coaching job . In 1997 , Carr ' s team defeated Ohio State , 20 – 14 , making him the third Michigan coach to defeat Ohio State in each of his first three games , following Fielding H . Yost and Fritz Crisler . The Wolverines concluded that season with a win over Washington State in the Rose Bowl , after which Michigan was named national champions by the Associated Press . They were also awarded the MacArthur Trophy by the National Football Foundation and the Grantland Rice Award by the Football Writers Association of America , given annually to the nation ' s most outstanding football team . For his efforts Carr received the Paul " Bear " Bryant Award and the Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award . During the 2003 season , Carr joined Yost , Bennie Oosterbaan and Schembechler as the only coaches in school history to serve for more than 100 career games . The Wolverines won consecutive Big Ten Conference championships in 2003 and 2004 , earning the school ' s 18th and 19th appearances in the Rose Bowl . In 2005 , Carr recorded his 100th career victory , against Iowa . He ranks third in school history in career victories , behind only Schembechler ( 194 ) and Yost ( 165 ) . At a Sunday team meeting , on November 18 , 2007 , after the completion of the 2007 regular season , Carr told his team that he was retiring after Michigan ' s bowl game , and he made his official public announcement at a press conference on Monday , November 19 , 2007 . On the eve of his final game versus the defending national champion Florida in the Capital One Bowl , Carr was awarded the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award . On January 1 , 2008 , then - unranked Michigan beat ninth - ranked Florida , 41 – 35 , in the Capital One Bowl , allowing Carr to record a win in his final game as Michigan ' s head coach . The Gators were led by head coach Urban Meyer and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow . In the celebration that followed , Carr was carried off the field by his Michigan players . In the final AP Poll released after the game , Michigan was ranked # 18 . Legacy . Carr was among the winningest active football coaches in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision ( formerly Division I - A ) . His teams won five Big Ten titles and the 1997 national championship after beating Washington State in the Rose Bowl . In addition , Michigan was ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 for all but nine of its games under Carr ( all occurring in 1998 , 2005 , and 2007 ) . Only once during his tenure did Michigan end its season unranked ( 2005 ) . Carr became the first Wolverine coach to win four straight bowl games , beating Auburn , 31 – 28 , in the 2001 Citrus Bowl , after leading Michigan to victories in the 1998 Rose Bowl , 1999 Citrus Bowl , and the 2000 Orange Bowl . Carr was also lauded for his high ethical standards and avoidance of any substantive NCAA violations during his tenure . His integrity was widely lauded as one of his defining characteristics , and a major part of his legacy . Carr posted a . 500 or better record against two of Michigan ' s three top rivals , going 5 – 4 against Notre Dame and 10 – 3 against Michigan State . Carr also recorded a 9 – 2 record against Penn State . However , some will remember the struggles he had at the end of his career , most notably that he lost six of his last seven games to Ohio State . In his final season , # 5 Michigan lost its home opener to Football Championship Subdivision member Appalachian State in one of college football ' s largest upsets . Also , Michigan lost five of its six bowl games between the 2001 – 2006 seasons . And largely due to an ongoing problem with losing road openers ( Carr ' s Wolverines dropped six in a row at one point ) , he only had his program in the late - season hunt for the BCS Championship Game once ( in 2006 ) and never reached the game although 11 other college football programs have since its inception in 1998 . Activities off the field . In addition to his work on the football field , Carr is involved with the University and the community . He has been active in support of women ’ s athletics , endowing a women ’ s sports scholarship that is presented annually to a female student - athlete at UM . Carr has served as the chairperson for the WJR / Special Olympics Golf Outing . He and his wife , Laurie , were also co - chairs of the 2002 Washtenaw County United Way Campaign . Carr serves on the NCAA Rules Committee and is a member of the American Board of Trustees . Since 2004 , an annual summer " Carr ' s Wash for Kids " has been held with the proceeds benefiting C . S . Mott Children ' s Hospital . Coach Carr has probably been the most visible celebrity raising money for the new Mott hospital building , discussing it often on Michigan Replay and sporting a bracelet showing his support for the hospital for several years . Carr also hosts the Hall - of - Fame Football Camp in his hometown of Riverview , Michigan . In 2008 the city renamed the former Pennsalt Park " Lloyd Carr Park " in his honor . He was an assistant athletic director at Michigan through 2010 after he retired as head football coach . Carr is also cohost , with WXYZ - TV sports director Tom Leyden , of the Detroit ABC affiliate ' s college football pregame show , " Big Ten Ticket , " which focuses primarily on the Wolverines , the Michigan State Spartans and other Big Ten football teams . Player accomplishments . In the Carr era , several Michigan players won national and conference awards :