Lloyd Carr earns spot on list of top 90s coaches in CFB

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In the 1990s, Michigan football had a lot of talent, but due to often not reaching expectations, it was often dubbed 'mediocre Michigan.' The Wolverines had an average record of 9.3-2.6-0.3, having two seasons with no losses (one being the 12-0 national championship year of 1997, and the other a 9-0-3 year in 1992), and also had a four-year stretch where they lost four games. The first half of the 1990s featured Gary Moeller looking to establish himself after the long, storied tenure of Bo Schembechler, but after his controversial ousting, Lloyd Carr moved up from defensive coordinator to the head spot, and after two four-loss seasons, he brought the Wolverines to the mountaintop.

The Athletic put together a list of the top college football coaches of the 1990s, and Carr made the cut at No. 11, ranked ahead of some luminaries such as Lou Holtz, Jon Cooper, Frank Beamer, and Mack Brown.

11. Lloyd Carr (Michigan)

One thing that shouldn’t be overlooked in Carr’s work as Michigan’s coach in the second half of the decade is the fact that he had to navigate the messy finish to Gary Moeller’s tenure. It didn’t take long before Carr proved that he, not Moeller, would have been the better choice to succeed Bo Schembechler. Carr’s third team in 1997 went unbeaten and got a share of the national title with a dominant, Woodson-led defense. If only Michigan and co-champ Nebraska could have met on the field. In 1999, Carr might have had another title had he gone solely with senior Tom Brady at quarterback.

Ranked ahead of Carr were former Colorado coach Bill McCartney, former Alabama coach Gene Stallings, former Miami and Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson, former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer, former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez, former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne, former Florida coach Steve Spurrier, former Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, and former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Lloyd Carr earns spot on list of top 90s coaches in CFB

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