Certainly no one can take away what Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr has done in his coaching career. He has won a co-national championship, has never had a losing season and turned around a program that lost five games in ’05. But after watching Carr lose to Jim Tressel for the third straight year, one has to question whether or not he’s turning into the John Cooper of this rivalry.
Cooper won a share of three Big Ten titles while coaching at OSU, but will mostly be remembered for his 2-10-1 record vs. UM. He was essentially run out of Ohio with crippling losses to Michigan in ’93, ’95 and ’96. Carr is now 1-5 lifetime against Tressel and it’s not far-fetched to think his doom may soon resemble Cooper’s.
The bottom line is that Tressel not only coaches a good team year in and year out, but also wins that big game. Carr seems to only have one of those virtues down pat these days.
