Faculty image Lloyd Carr Head Football Coach Athletic Department
Biography/Memoir

Regents’ Resolution, February `14, 2008, page 227

Regent Taylor read the following resolution: 

Regents' Resolution 

The Regents of the University of Michigan extend warm and heartfelt congratulations to Lloyd Carr upon his retirement as head coach of the Michigan football team. 

Coach Carr joined the University of Michigan staff in 1980. He served 15 years as an assistant coach under Bo Schembechler and Gary Moeller before being appointed head coach in 1995. During his 13 years as head coach, Coach Carr's teams compiled an impressive 122-40 win loss record and won five Big Ten championships. After his undefeated 1997 team brought the University its first national championship in 49 years, Coach Carr was named national coach of the year by six different organizations in 1998. 

Coach Carr is also an exemplary leader and University citizen off the field. An active supporter of women's athletics, he has endowed a full scholarship that is presented annually to a female student-athlete. The annual Women's Football Academy and "Carr's Wash for Kids," community events initiated by Coach Carr, have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the Comprehensive Cancer Center and Mott Children's Hospital. Coach Carr and his wife, Laurie, also serve as co-chairs of the "Champions for Children" campaign, which to date has raised $50 million for the new C.S. Mott Children's and Women's Hospital.

Shortly before leading the Wolverines to a thrilling victory in the final game of his career at the Capital One Bowl on January 1, 2008, Coach Carr was named the 2007 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year. This award honors a coach who is successful not only on the field, but who also emphasizes that winning isn't everything, and that the game of football is more important for building character and shaping lives than winning trophies and setting records. It is difficult to imagine a more deserving recipient of this prestigious honor than Coach Carr, a former teacher, who has shown his players through words and deeds the importance of learning, philanthropy, and community service. Coach Carr exemplifies the principle: Extraordinary performance comes only to individuals who are devoted to something larger than themselves. 

The Regents wish Lloyd Carr, a Michigan Man of the highest order, all the best as he and Laurie embark on this new phase of their lives. 

There was a standing ovation as Coach Carr came to the podium to accept the resolution. 

Coach Carr thanked the Board, recalling that he had received a previous resolution ten years ago, in 1998, after his team won the 1997 national championship. He expressed appreciation to the Regents and President Coleman for never having put pressure on him during the intervening ten years, noting that "it isn't that way everywhere." He thanked everyone for all the support they had provided during his tenure. 

Another round of applause followed. 

Regent White thanked Coach Carr and emphasized how much he has meant to the University of Michigan as a role model, coach, and educator who has always realized the importance of making the student athlete a better person. She also commented on the example and precedent set by his and Laurie's philanthropy. Regent White also thanked Laurie Carr, who was in the audience, for her role in supporting Coach Carr and in pursuing philanthropic and other projects in her own right.

 

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