FanHouse BoSchembechler

Former West Virginia and College Football Hall of Fame coach, Don Nehlen is recovering from triple bypass surgery.

Nehlen's son-in-law, former NFL quarterback Jeff Hostetler, said Nehlen underwent surgery Tuesday following routine testing and that his recovery was going well.

Nehlen always has been and always will be a very important figure to me. Besides being the coach at my school, he also spent a great deal of time recruiting kids from my high school not named John Radcliff. He was also the guest speaker at our football banquet my senior year. Nehlen was and is a kind man that is as real talking to you one on one as he is being interviewed in front of a national audience. Sadly, he's what we consider a throw back these days.

As much as any coach from the early years of the Big East conference, Don Nehlen was an influential force in it's formation. He lobbied hard for the inclusion of a Virginia Tech program that didn't have a winning season in Frank Beamer's first six seasons. Unlike most, he could see that it was a program just waiting to explode if it could get into a major conference. Beamer and company didn't disappoint. Often at Nehlen's expense.

He had the same kind of vision about West Virginia. Before coming to Morgantown, Nehlen was an assistant under Bo Schembechler at Michigan. And although Schembechler thought a lot of Nehlen, he was less that willing to encourage his assistant to take the Mountaineer job.

At some point in all our lives, someone tells us not to do something because it won't end up the way we want it to. And of course we do it anyway just to prove them wrong. And West Virginia isn't such a bad place to be anymore because of it.

I never intended this piece to sound like a eulogy, and I hope it doesn't come across that way. But the man did incredible things building up the West Virginia program, and I can't not salute his accomplishments when I speak about him. He built the foundation that Rich Rodriguez was able to take to a national level. But no matter where the Mountaineers go from here, it's all because of Don Nehlen and his vision. Get well soon coach!

The Justin Boren transfer saga continues to get weird. Did we say weird? We mean weirder.

Boren, as you'll probably recall, announced his decision to transfer from the Michigan football program on Tuesday. He tendered his letter of resignation or whatever to the media the next day, and it contained all sorts of ominous, nonspecific statements against the program's best interests, including the following excerpts:

I regret leaving behind my friends and teammates, but I need to stand up for what I know is right.

Michigan football was a family, built on mutual respect and support for each other from Coach Carr on down. We knew it took the entire family, a team effort, and we all worked together. I have great trouble accepting that those family values have eroded in just a few months.

I saw Rich Rodriguez throw Jimmy Hoffa into an active volcano in 1975.

If you want to get technical, the last excerpt may not actually exist in Boren's statement, but his decision to cite "family values" certainly leaves plenty of suspicion in a reader's mind. Sunday Morning Quarterback speculates further, and it reads like the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of South Park. SMQ also notes that this situation may be more closely related to the extreme duress of the no-huddle spread offense Rodriguez is implementing and the two offensive linemen who have already left, but let's not get bogged down on facts here folks.

Of course, the "fun" doesn't stop there.

As the University of Michigan begins it's search for Lloyd Carr's replacement by interviewing current coordinators Ron English and Mike DeBord, one possible candidate has taken his name off the list.

Former Michigan quarterback, and current Stanford head coach, Jim Harbaugh wants everybody to know he isn't interested in the job.

"As far as the opening they have, the Michigan people will do a great job in selecting someone to carry on that tradition," Harbaugh said. "It's not going to be me. I am happy where I am."

It's pretty nice of Jim to let us all know he doesn't want the job, especially when you consider he was probably never going to get it anyway. He's only in his first year at Stanford, and even though the Cardinal upset USC this season, Harbaugh hasn't really done anything in Palo Alto to catapult himself up the list of possible replacements.

There is also the fact that Carr and the school aren't exactly thrilled with Harbaugh right now anyway. After the comments he made earlier this season about the school's academic standards (even though they're true for the most part), Bo Schembechler probably has a better chance of rising from the dead to take the program over, than Harbaugh does of getting the position.

Besides, every interview the school makes is just to kill time until Les Miles finally leaves LSU.

If those rumors circulating around right now about Lloyd Carr's retirement at the end of this season are true, then Saturday afternoon will be the last time Lloyd gets to experience the joy of losing to Ohio State.

Once Carr does retire, I'm sure he'll be asking himself, "I wonder if I'll ever be on a coin?"

It's something I'm sure Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler asked themselves a million times, and now their dreams are finally coming true, for the two legendary coaches will have an impact on the game from beyond the grave.

A commemorative coin featuring legendary Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler and iconic Ohio State coach Woody Hayes will be used in the pregame coin flip at Michigan Stadium.

Aside from honoring the two coaches who helped make this rivalry what it is today, it will also commemorate the one-year anniversary of Bo Schembechler's death. Schembechler passed away a day before the big game last season.

I've no idea if Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr will ever be on a commemorative coin together, just that if they are one day, the coin will always land on Tressel.

Earlier today my FanHouse colleague, and unabashed Notre Dame hater, Brian Cook, published a post with assorted facts about Notre Dame. Seeing as how I'm a Notre Dame fan, nothing he told me was news to me. I know we suck this year. I know we haven't won a bowl game since I was 13 years old. I'm a fan, I watch the damn team instead of focusing all my time watching the teams I hate. It's an odd approach to supporting your team, I know, but it's just the way I is.

Still, I couldn't sit idly by and let Cook get away with it, so without further ado, here are some random facts about Michigan.

• They lost at home to Appalachian State this season, a D2 team, and thereby destroyed all underserved hype about a national championship.
• Michigan is currently ranked 96th in the nation in passing yards per game at 178.5 yards per game. Putting them behind such powerhouses as Middle Tennessee St, UTEP, Temple, and Idaho. Hell, they're only fourth in the state of Michigan behind MSU, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan.
• At 2-2 the Wolverines have the same record as Eastern Michigan, a team that won only one game last season.
• Michigan wide receiver LaTerryal Savoy will show you his penis for a dollar.
• Mike Hart's favorite movie is Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
• Michigan hasn't beaten Ohio State since 2003.
• Michigan produced the boringest President ever in Gerald Ford, as he just edges out Chester A. Arthur.
• An anagram for Michigan is Ham Icing, which probably helps explain the appearance of the University's co-eds.
• Chad Henne records every episode of Grey's Anatomy, and watches it with the entire offensive line before every game.
• Lloyd Carr funds Al-Qaeda.
• On his deathbed, Bo Schembechler admitted to having a lifelong crush on Woody Hayes.

Now I can't prove that all of these are true, but you can't prove they aren't either! Feel free to add your own Assorted Facts in the comments.

After the first two weeks of the season, one could argue that the LSU Tigers are the best team in the country, and the Michigan Wolverines might be the worst. It may not be fair to say that about Michigan, but when you lose your first two games of the season at home to Appalachian State and Oregon, it's hard to defend yourself.

Obviously with Michigan's disastrous start, Lloyd Carr's job is in jeopardy. There was some question as to whether or not this was Carr's last season with the Wolverines, and his team's play thus far may answer for him.

So, since this season is obviously lost Michigan should probably turn it's attention to Carr's replacement for next season, and the name that keeps coming up is LSU's Les Miles.

After all, Miles began his football career at Michigan. He played on Michigan's offensive line back in the 70's, had his first coaching job at Michigan, and has said that Bo Schembechler is his biggest idol aside from his father.

The man loves the University of Michigan, but will he coach there? Miles isn't saying at the moment.

"I've not given a lot of thought to it because, frankly, it's something that is not imminent," Miles said. "And I don't really want to talk about it. I don't like that talk. I've received no calls because I've put the word out, 'leave me alone.' "

Sorry, Les, but they won't be leaving this alone.

I'm sure this is nothing more than a reaction to the stress that surrounds devising a gameplan to counter the attack of the mighty Appalachian State, but it's become apparent that Michigan coach Lloyd Carr may be starting his final season as coach of the Wolverines on Saturday.

Carr sat down with Bob Wojnowski earlier this week, and the topic came up. Carr's answer leads you to believe he's thought about it quite a bit.

"Bo [Schembechler] and I had a lot of long talks about this job, about the good and the bad, the hard parts and the fun parts," Carr said during a frank, 45-minute conversation in his Schembechler Hall office. "I know for sure what it takes to do the job. And I think one of the most important things a leader can do is know when it's time to let somebody else lead. That's the right thing to do. Because it's a hard job.

"I think you have to be honest with yourself," he said. "I know I'm gonna miss the game, the players, the coaches and the relationships. There's nothing that could ever replace that.

"But when I look at the measure of a program, I look at how it is when you leave. Here we are 17 years after Bo quit, and I think anybody who's fair would say this is a great program. I want to be satisfied that when I leave, I know I worked as hard as I could 'til the very last day. If I can do that, this program will be in great shape, and the transition will be smooth."

This will be Carr's 13th season as head coach in Ann Arbor, and his 28th season at the school. He's 62 years old, and he's had issues with his health the last few seasons. It's not crazy to think that he may hand in his whistle at the end of this season.

Of course, if he loses to Ohio State again, and the Wolverines fall short of their goal to win a national championship, that may be enough motivation to get him back on the sidelines in 2008. Of course, if he loses to Ohio State again, the University of Michigan might make Carr's decision on when to retire a lot easier by making it for him.

Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is expected to step down this week. His departure is yet another symbol of the passing of one of college football's greatest generations, the great coaches who presided over the game from 1960 or so until the mid to late 1970's. Broyles coached the Razorbacks from 1958 to 1976 helping them win a championship and competing nationally in a great era against powers like Alabama, USC, Notre Dame and Michigan.

Another giant of his time has left us in the mortal sense: Bo Schembechler. Schembechler coached Michigan from 1969 to 1989 becoming the face of the program until his death just before the Michigan/Ohio State game last year.

The only giants of that era still with us are Broyles, former Texas coach Darrell Royal (1957-1976) and former Notre Dame coach Ara Paraseghian (1964-1974).

Among the magnificent but dead is Alabama's Bear Bryant (1958-1982) who retired at the end of the 1982 season and promptly checked out of mortal existence. Ohio State's Woody Hayes (1951-1978) hung around until his death in 1987. Nebraska's Bob Devaney (1962-1972) checked out in 1997 and USC's comedic John McKay (1960-1975) lasted a little longer, passing away in 2001.

All those giants left the coaching ranks long ago, but each stewarded elite programs for a decade or more. To this day most of them remain the standard for which current coaches aspire to at each of their programs. Schembechler's death and Broyles' departure signal the end of their collective direct involvement in the college game.

As that great generation fades further into memory we must now also begin to take stock of the succeeding generation of coaches. I'm talking about guys like Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Tom Osborne, John Robinson, Vince Dooley, Don James, Hayden Fry, Pat Dye, Lou Holtz, Lavell Edwards and Barry Switzer here.

They are the ones who were the game's caretakes from the mid to late 1970's until the late 1980's, an era of great transition and upheaval due to parity measures such as scholarship limits, the completion of racial integration and the rapid and dramatic death of plodding, run-heavy conventional offenses such as USC's "Student Body Right/Student Body Left" approach.

We'll save that analysis for another day, another time. Until then it's one final embrace of perhaps college football's "greatest generation" of coaches. Thanks for the memories, fellas.