I think Lloyd Carr was a good solid coach, but hard for me to say he was great. Every season outside of 1997, did Michigan ever truly have a great season? Lots of solid seasons and occasional very good ones, but never once outside of 1997 did we finish in the top 4 and lose only 1 game or less. We always lost 2+ games and usually 3 or more games. Now granted that is awesome compared to the last 7 years, but never truly elite like OSU under Tressel and now Meyer, Oklahoma under Stoops, FSU, Florida and Nebraska in the 1990s and USC under Carroll form 2002-2008 or Alabama under Saban from 2008 to present.
Some would say Lloyd Carr was mediocre and always did less with more outside of 1997 and 2006. Some say he is great because of his consistency. I cannot take away what he did, but I cannot downgrade him to mediocre, nor can I say he is great. So in my mind he was good, but not great.
For a young fan only 31 years old only exposed to Michigan football from 1993 season to present, the 1997 is the only season I can look back at and think Michigan was truly elite. Now it was extra special that year, because qwe did in fact win an NC, but every other season, we seemed to always lose at least 1 game we should not have lost which prevented us from having that great 12-1 top 4 finish we so desired. And to me, that is significnatr even if no NC is involved, especially when mixed in with 1 NC in the coaches career.
Had Michigan not lost to Illinois in 1999, to Iowa and Oregon in 2003 and Notre Dame and Syracuse in 1998, I think Lloyd Carr would have been a great coach and the last 7 years as dreadfully painful as they have been would not have been as unbearable because Michigan would have been elite before where as they really were not outside of one special season.
I think what we need at Michigan is greatness. And I think we now have the coach who will bring it to us in Harbaugh. Do you expect Harbaugh to do better than Lloyd Carr. I do and think he will over the long run although nothing is ever for sure.
So how good was Lloyd Carr. Did he do more with less? Was he only good. Or not even that and just mediocre with all the talent he had. Or do you think he was a great coach who had bad luck that stopped us from having another NC contending season or did his coaching hold us back those years.
