Carr Asked about Carty’s column

In today’s weekly press conference Coach Carr was asked to react to Jim Carty’s column which ran in today’s Ann Arbor News. The piece basically states that Carr should gracefully step aside at the end of this season and that the game has passed him by. Carr said he hadn’t read the piece and therefore couldn’t comment.

On his blog Carty was asked if he expected any backlash from the school or from Carr himself. Here’s JC’s comment:

It’s never any fun when you have to write critical things about people, especially when the guy involved is a good person. I do think the piece was more nuanced than the headline, but we’re in a sound bite world.

As far as fearing backlash … my experience has been that Lloyd Carr respects the right to have an opinion he disagrees with as long as it avoids personal shots and avoids treating his players badly.

We’ll have to see how this plays out but I think Carty is probably right about no backlash. And if Carr starts blackballing every reporter that is calling for him to be fired or step down at this point it’ll get pretty weird.

The people who are defending Carr (who have mostly head for the hills) will focus on the man, the clean program he runs, how the players love him, and how good he is for the community. I cringed when I hear these arguments because I know it is the death rattle for any coaching career. The most vocal folks – the bloggers, the message board junkies, the talk show callers – have always overrated when it comes to Michigan football. A big win (such as Notre Dame last year) and you’ll hear nothing but praise for the team and the coach. A loss and it’s same old Carr…should have been fired long ago. All in all however, I think you’ve had 2 camps over the past 3-4 years…those looking for a change & those that want to see Carr end his career on his terms.

Saturday’s game changed everything. As Mountaineer players danced the tarantella on the coveted M at midfield I think that was the breaking point for me. I’d say a majority of the folks that defended Carr or at least quietly supported him have jumped to the other side. Appreciate he runs it clean (death rattle) and appreciate his ties to Bo (rattle) and really love his work for Mott hospital (rattle, rattle). It’s not just me. The Michigan Daily has a poll out right now asking if Carr should be fired. 75% say ‘Yes’, and keep in mind this is most likely current students saying this. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s anything that will change people’s minds about Carr even if he can turn this season around. It’s time.