Happy Ending

Michigan Wolverines former head coach Lloyd Carr finished is coaching career at Michigan with a victory against the Florida Gators, 41-35.

The game ended with Carr being carried on the field, and Michigan players pouring water on him for their last goodbyes. Carr said it's meaningful, because he enjoyed his last game with the players.

"It's extremely meaningful on a personal level," Carr said. "But the reason it's meaningful is because I can be in that locker room with the guys that did it. Our coaches put together a great game plan, our players executed. Of course, we were big so-called underdogs.

"To come up with that kind of effort and to find a way to win means that we have some memories that we're all going to be able to celebrate for years to come."

Carr worked hard at Michigan, and never took a break. There's lots of problems to worry about, and Carr believes its time for someone else to fix them.

"I think it's time to let somebody else worry about all those issues," said Carr. "It is consuming. There is never a day when you aren't at work. Whether you're on vacation, or wherever you are it is 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

Michigan hired former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez to replace Carr. Carr likes the idea, and says everyone is excited. "I think it's a great hire," Carr said. "He's a young guy with great passion and enthusiasm. I think everybody that loves this place is excited."

Five years worth of effort has been put into Michigan's football program, and there's been some unhappy times. "They have put four or five years into this program and certainly for this team we have had some obstacles and some difficult times, but there is outstanding leadership in that senior class," Carr said. "For me, I'll just be one of them, one of the guys that will participate in his last game at Michigan. So we are all looking forward to it."

Carr brought interest to 2007 Heisman Trophy Winner Tim Tebow in high school, and Carr tried hard to recruit Tebow. "We tried very hard to recruit Tim to Michigan," Carr said. "He has had an incredible season and is a guy that in the past 25 years ... has done some things that no other quarterback has done.

"He is all the things that you look for. He is very tough, he is very smart, gets them into the right plays and is an exciting player to watch."

Tebow wasn't happy about losing against Michigan, and says it takes lots of positivity out of the season. "You definitely don't want to end the season on a losing note, so it definitely does take a little bit of the positive out of," Tebow said. Tebow was 17-33, 154 yards, 3 touchdowns against Michigan.

Gators head coach Mike Myers had confidence to win, but his team couldn't produce. "The deflater is when you go ahead and score on the fake punt and that drive and then boom, boom, boom, right down the field and they score," Meyer said. "You have to answer score for score. I really thought we'd have a chance to come back and win that thing, but we didn't get it going."

Many Michigan players were happy, because Carr leaves Michigan a winner. "We couldn't ask for anything else," Mike Hart said. "We were all happy for him. Any time we get a victory, we're always happy. But we knew it was his last game, the seniors' last game, and when we leave on top like that, it's awesome. Obviously it was emotional after the game. It's sad but happy. It was my last game in a Wolverines jersey and his last game coaching. We all had mixed emotions." Hart finished with 2 touchdowns, 129 yards, and 32 rushes.

Michigan quarterback Chad Henne had 373 yards passing, and three touchdowns. He said after the game, it was amazing because Carr deserves this victory. "It was an amazing feeling for us to send him out the right way," said Henne, which was 25-39 with completed passes. "He deserves so much and we really played our hearts out and put everything out on the field and let him go out the right way."

Carr loves Michigan, and enjoys the environment. "What they did in this game and this environment, well, I love them to death," Carr said.

Those were his final words.