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Head Coaching Career 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 he 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.
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 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 Bowl by the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame 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 was named the National Coach of the Year.
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 also won consecutive Big Ten championships in 2003 and 2004, earning the school's 18th and 19th appearances in the Rose Bowl game. 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).
Wikinews has related news: American football coach Lloyd Carr retires from Michigan
At a Sunday team meeting, on November 18, 2007, after the completion of the 2007 regular season, Coach 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 University of Florida in the 2008 Capital One Bowl, Coach Carr was awarded the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award.
On January 1, 2008, then-unranked Michigan beat ninth-ranked Florida 41–35 in the 2008 Capital One Bowl to allow Coach Carr to record a win in his final game as Michigan's head coach. The defending national champion 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 after the game, Michigan ranked No. 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, on New Year's Day at the 2001 Florida Citrus Bowl, after leading Michigan to victories in the 1998 Rose Bowl, 1999 Florida 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. 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.