The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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38 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2016 FOOTBALL PREVIEW "They won 11 games, but they lost the last two to two great teams. That's what I hate — the way it ended for those kids." There was, of course, an even more sober- ing reality waiting. The game might have taken some Michigan minds off from the far greater loss for a few hours, but a new dy- namic came into play for Michigan football. No Bo. The Wolverines stood a play away from a Big Ten championship in 2006, and maybe more. They haven't won one since. That development involves chance, poor decisions and a temporary veering away from all that Schembechler brought to mod- ern Michigan football in the first place, some whisper. They're hopeful it's returning under Harbaugh. But there's no question how much the man whose statue Harbaugh now passes every day on his way into Schembechler Hall is missed by those he influenced. "I loved him," Thornbladh said. "I miss him today, but you realize in life that al- though people aren't here physically, they don't ever leave you. I have a dialogue with Bo all the time. He's always prompting me to do better and always to do the right thing, be involved, give effort. All those things he taught. "And to be committed to Michigan. I think he wanted all of us to be stewards, to be sure young people in the program and the pro- gram are doing well, and that great traditions are upheld." "When you lose a man like that, it leaves a void that's very hard to fill," Falk pointed out. "That's what happened. Bo was instru- mental in getting a lot of things for Michigan football that people don't even know. "That's what you lose sometimes. It's taken its toll." Morris lost some of his feeling for The Game, he admitted. "You lose someone that close to you, who was the epitome of that rivalry, it's going to lose something," he said. "I still think Michigan-Ohio State is a great game, but it lost its luster for me. It's hard to watch that game now and not think about Bo Schembechler. "The shadow just got bigger when Bo Schembechler died. It just got bigger … be- cause of the type of person he was." Integrity Above All The type of person he was still informs the thinking of the man running the show now. Harbaugh likes quoting the Schembechler dictum: "If you cheat, you've already lost." It's not just a platitude for the new boss, any more than it was for the old one. Carr, and all those around Schembechler during his more than two decades at the helm for the Wolverines, saw integrity play out on a day-to-day basis. Schembechler's father, "Shem," once found himself in line to succeed a retired fire chief in Barberton, Ohio. He wound up los- ing out to someone who harbored a copy of a civil service exam in advance, after Shem refused a copy of it himself. "That had a hell of an impact on me," Schembechler once said. His coaches know how deeply Schem- bechler kept to a self-imposed honor code. "In recruiting, you'd always run into situ- ations as assistants, and sometimes the head coach, too, where you know that something is wrong," Carr said. "Somebody out there is violating the NCAA rules. Maybe the high school coach tells you. "I can remember one where a high school coach called him on a great player, right at the end. His question was, 'Bo, how are you going to take care of this kid?' "Whether it was in a staff meeting, and one of our coaches was saying, 'Bo, there's something going on there' … "He'd say, 'Room. Board. Books. Tu- ition.'" "But Bo, we can get this kid. This kid's a difference maker. "'Room. Board. Books. Tuition.'" Carr smiled at the memory. To Schem- bechler, playing it straight trumped even the crystal crown of the sport he competed at so intensely. Carr recalled Schembechler speaking to high school coaches at a clinic, late in Carr's career. "He told the high school coaches: 'I've taken a lot of abuse for not winning a na- tional championship," recalled Carr. "'I want to tell you coaches out there, if I'd have been willing to skirt the rules, I could have won a national championship. But I'll tell you — it isn't worth it. "'And you're going to have things that you For Schembechler (pictured with Dan Dierdorf, an All-American lineman for him), there was no compromising with the rules, even if it meant never attaining that elusive national champion- ship. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN