Michigan's Coaching Job Not All That Anymore? Don't You Believe It

The press conference was held in a conservative little room, with the principals leaning forward on a sofa, a smattering of microphones on stands, propped up on the coffee table. A far cry from the made-for-TV events of today. They bunched together on the couch: the athletic director, and the new coach. Doubtless that the press folks were rolling their eyes, now charged with learning how to spell a new, lonnng name. The first name was easy enough: Bo. But Schembechler? A nightmare, for the writers and the headline guys—unless they chose to get on a first-name basis with the new coach, and right quick. One of the local papers in Detroit eschewed the last name entirely, upon learning who would coach the football players at tradition-rich University of Michigan. BO WHO? That was the headline, when Michigan reached into the Mid-American Conference and hired Glenn E. “Bo” Schembechler from Miami of Ohio to run their football program. Bo was 40 years old, and soon it was revealed that his...