Why is Schembechler considered a "great coach"?

Why is Bo considered a great coach?
His record appears to be impressive until one
realizes that it was built on the schedule of "Big 2, Little 8".

The truth of the matter is, he was pretty awful when it mattered.

This is his legacy:
1969: Michigan wins the Big 10 but then loses the Rose Bowl to USC 10-3
1970: Michigan is 9-0 heading into Ohio State but comes up short 20-9
1971: Michigan is 11-0 and facing heavy underdog Stanford in the Rose Bowl: 13-12 Stanford
1972: 10-0 heading into OSU: 14-11 Buckeyes
1973: 10-0 and Michigan has Ohio State at home: 10-10 tie and the conference athletic directors vote to send the Buckeyes to the Rose Bowl
1974: 10-0 heading into Columbus: 12-10 Buckeyes
1975: 8-0-2 and have OSU at home: 21-14 OSU. But good news, the Big 10 now allows other Big 10 teams to go to a bowl. 14-6 Oklahoma over Michigan in the Orange Bowl
1976: Inexplicable 16-14 loss to Purdue, but Michigan finally gets by Ohio State and goes to the Rose Bowl. Oh goody: 14-6 USC
1977: Another dumb conference loss, this one 16-0 to Minnesota. But they beat the Buckeyes and they're back in the Rose Bowl and a huge favorite over 7-4 Washington, so finally Michigan's going to win the Rose Bowl. Oops: 27-20 Washington
1978: This time the conference gag is against MSU but the Wolves beat the Bucks again and are back in the Rose Bowl. Same song, 18th verse: 17-10 USC
1979: Michigan has Devine's worst team in Ann Arbor and the Wolves have already tuned up on Northwestern and it's ND's opener. No matter, Bob Crable blocks a game-winning FG attempt and ND wins 12-10. 8-3 Michigan finally gets an easy bowl opponent, UNC in the Gator Bowl. Thanks for playing Bo: 17-15 UNC.
1980: Finally Michigan wins a Rose Bowl (over Washington). But a 51-yard FG by Harry Oliver beats UM in ND stadium. The next week the stunned Wolves also lose to South Carolina, removing them from NC consideration.
1981: Bo finally beats ND (Faust's 5-6 team) and beats UCLA in a bowl game. The bad news? It's the Bluebonnet Bowl.
1982: Bo gets beat by Faust but still makes it to the Rose Bowl at 8-3 and plays UCLA. UCLA wins of course, 24-14.
1983: Good news: ND's off the schedule for Bo. Bad news, they have to play Washington again and lose 27-25. 9-2 Michigan gets invited to the Sugar Bowl where they lose to Auburn 9-7. Bo has now managed to lose 3 of the then-Big 4 bowls.
1984: Michigan flops around to a 6-5 record and then makes history as the weakest opponent ever in a bowl game for a national championship team as BYU gets by them 24-17 to claim the NC even though BYU would've been a 2-touchdown underdog to either Oklahoma or Nebraska.
1985: A conference loss to Iowa and a tie with Illinois keeps UM out of the Rose Bowl and NC consideration. UM does beat Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.
1986: Familiar scene. Game-winning TD is ruled out of bounds agianst a rival. UM somehow loses to Minnesota in Ann Arbor but still makes it to the Rose Bowl where the Wolves lose 22-15 to ASU. ASU is now the 5th Pac 8 or 10 team to beat Bo's teams in the Rose Bowl.
1987: Holtz drills UM 26-7 in Ann Arbor. Michigan suffers 3 more losses to go 8-4.
1988: Gillette's miss allows ND to win 19-17 setting up ND's 12-0 season. UM does finally manage to win the Rose Bowl over USC. ND defeats both participants in the Rose Bowl during the regular season.
1989: Rocket runs back two kickoffs and Michigan loses 24-19. Michigan plays well and wins the next 10 before losing the Rose Bowl to USC. ND beats both participants in the Rose Bowl, again.

Not to mention: ZERO National Championships.

And thus concludes Bo's career.

Why is he called great?

 

SportsJournalists.com, don't feed the trolls.

 

Beat me to the punch.

 

Oz,

Disprove that he was not a good coach.

Do you make it a habit to submit stories/columns without factual data?

 

He wasn't a great coach. He was a very good coach who couldn't win the big one. That's the difference between very good and great.

 

He's a throwback to an era when coaches walked on water, an era that Woody Hayes' punch hastened the end of. So for those of a generation, he was an icon. If this were not 1 vs. 2 week, there might not have been as much hoopla. Much of his career was not impeded by the 85-scholarship limit or travel-time limits. So an all-time great? Perhaps not, but still an excellent career.

 

Good points Dooley.

I'm puzzled though, at seeing the word "great" used with him. I think your 1 v. 2 explanation covered it.

Thanks

 

You are a mother fucking moron. Go suck Granny Holtz's cock.

In case you were wondering, Bo Schembechler's lifetime W/L percentage was .775. Ara Parseghian's was .741. And Bo Schembechler never pussied his way into a national championship.

(Oh, I know about the trolls, but sometimes it's fun to bring the sledgehammer down. )

 

Win pct. without a title ultimately doesn't mean much.

Again, very good, but not great.

 

So Bobby Ross and Danny Ford are "great" coaches. Ho-kay.

 

Very valid point. Same with Paterno.
People fail to realize that nearly 50% of his wins are versus
Maryland, Temple, Rutgers, Syracuse, and Cincinnatti.

Paterno gets points for longevity, but that's about it.

Anyone who saw him today realized that he has not been part of the coaching acumen at State Penn in quite some time. Why he still gets credit for wins despite not having anything to do with coaching (other than figurehead) is beyond me.

 

Not every coach who wins a title is great, for sure, just like not every QB who wins a SB is great, but the inability to win a championship can't be ignored and is often what separates the otherwise good from great.