An interesting slice of Big Ten history. Those who read these pages know that it was legendary athletic direction Don Canham who hired Bo Schembechler in 1968.
Did you know Canham’s first choice was actually Joe Paterno who was just in his third season at Penn State? At the time of the U-M job search, the ’68 Nittany Lions were undefeated and heading into a big Orange Bowl game against #6 Kansas. The successful season was getting a lot of eyeballs in the press so naturally, Paterno’s name was getting around. But it turns out Canham already had a long relationship with JoePa from his track days.
Of Paterno didn’t take the job – leaving it to U-M’s next choice who worked out just fine for Michigan. Paterno used to joke that Canham used to send him a thank you note each year for turning down the job:
For more context from the man himself, from a Michigan Daily interview with Canham from 2004:
TMD [The Michigan Daily]: With those problems in mind, how were you able to turn the football program around?
DC [Don Canham]: I was lucky because I had been on the (University of
Michigan) staff for 17 or 18 years. I knew what the problems were and I had no doubt it my mind that we could do it. I knew I was going to hire a coach — I thought I was going to hire (Penn State coach Joe) Paterno, to tell you the truth because he was a friend of mine when I was a track coach. Paterno was the only guy I offered the job to. I saw Schembechler on TV the other day saying that I offered it to everybody in the country before I came to him, but that’s not true. I talked to everybody in the country, but the only guy I offered it to was Paterno.
TMD: Why’d you end up choosing Bo?
DC: He had the background, head coaching experience, knowledge of the Big Ten — he had worked at Northwestern and Ohio (State) and was a winner. His personality just struck me right away. I hired him 15 minutes after we began to talk. That was the turning point in my career as athletic director. That’s because he started winning right away, we didn’t have to wait four or five years — the reason was that (Schembechler’s predecessor) Bump Elliot had left him a lot of good material.Michigan Daily – Published October 7, 2004
TMD: Going back to Paterno, what happened that kept him from coming to Michigan?
DC: I met Paterno, I think, on Dec. 5 in Pittsburgh. I was on my way to New York to go to the Hall of Fame dinner and Joe met me at a hotel. He’d only been coach (at Penn State) for three years, so he was just another great young coach in those days. Paterno was not as well known as some of the other guys that I was talking to. I’ve known Joe for 40 years and I like him very much personally — (at the time), he was going through his first bowl game that he’d ever gone to. He said, “Don, let me think about it, I’ll call you in three days” — so I went to New York and when I was talking to people, Bo’s name kept coming up. Three days later, Joe called me and said, “Don, I can’t make a decision until after the bowl,” and I told him I couldn’t wait until January to hire a football coach for Michigan. The next week, I hired Schembechler. He’s the one that impressed me the most at that time.
Paterno ended up winning that bowl game (the Orange Bowl) and finished 11-0. Despite the perfect record, in the final polls, they finished behind Woody and his undefeated Ohio State team that hung 50 on Bump Elliott’s crew in The Game. Thankfully Canham’s new coach had plans for Dr. Strangehayes in 1969.
