Michigan Is Low-Key During Its L.A. Arrival

Stan Hahn, Rose Bowl chairman, remembers when the Big Ten football champion used to arrive by train.

“We used to greet them at the train station,” said Hahn, 78. “We’d go out to San Bernardino and get on the train and ride in with them. The good part was that it was in Pasadena.

“After they started flying out here, we used to go out onto the airport runway with all of our cars and the players would walk down the steps and the Rose Queen would be there to meet them.”

Times have changed, and maybe not for the better.

Michigan’s football team, which will meet USC in the 75th Rose Bowl game on Jan. 2, made a distinctly low-key arrival at Los Angeles International Airport Monday. With airport security officials edgy because of an earlier bomb scare, Rose Bowl officials weren’t allowed onto the Tarmac for the traditional greeting.

Instead, they waited in the baggage claim area while Michigan’s charter flight landed.

It was a media event, designed for television.

As soon as Coach Bo Schembechler walked into the airport, he was blinded by TV camera lights. Action. The Rose Queen presented the Wolverine coach with roses and a football.

The new Bo, mellowed after heart surgery last year, smiled his way through a brief press conference.

“I’m just happy to be here because when I was lying in that hospital bed, I wasn’t sure I would be able to coach again,” Schembechler said. “I take better care of myself. I used to stay up all night working. Now I go to bed.”

Michigan also has a new role in the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines, who have come to Pasadena has favorites in past years, are underdogs against the Trojans.

“I like being the underdog,” Schembechler said. “I think it’s probably proper that we should be the underdog, but we’ll see.”

Schembechler also smiled when asked how he has managed to lose 7 of 8 Rose Bowl games.

“I want you people to understand that in the decade of the ‘80s we’ve won half of our bowl games,” Schembechler said. “So we know how to prepare for these games.”

Schembechler has altered his approach to the Rose Bowl. In the tradition of the late Woody Hayes, who once sequestered his Ohio State team in a monastery on New Year’s Eve, Schembechler used to say the Rose Bowl had too many distractions.

Now, he seems to enjoy or at least tolerate the non-football activities.

Immediately after their arrival, Michigan’s players were sent off to dinner in Beverly Hills.

“I figure they’re probably filled up from (Christmas dinner) and won’t want to eat as much,” Schembechler said. “And tomorrow at practice I have a chance to run it off them.”

They will visit Disneyland Wednesday, and their team headquarters will be in Newport Beach.

What’s going to be most exciting event on the agenda during Rose Bowl week for these tourists from Ann Arbor, Mich.?

“All of it is going to be fun, but the main purpose of the trip is the Rose Bowl,” said John Kolesar, senior flanker. “This is my last hurrah. I didn’t get to play when we were here in 1986 because I had a broken collarbone.”

Michigan Notes

Michael Taylor, who started at quarterback for Michigan until he suffered a broken collarbone against Minnesota on Nov. 5, has started working out again. “That doesn’t mean he’ll be ready to start the (Rose Bowl), but it’s conceivable that if we needed him he could go in there and play,” Coach Bo Schembechler said. . . . Three Wolverines will miss the Rose Bowl due to injuries: linebacker J.J. Grant (knee), fullback Chris Horn (knee) and tailback Allen Jefferson (leg). Grant started Michigan’s first 9 games before he got hurt, while Horn and Jefferson are reserves. . . . “I’ve never lost on Jan. 2,” Schembechler said. “By gosh, write that. Maybe that extra day will make a lot of difference.” . . . The Wolverines will practice daily at Orange Coast College beginning today. The workouts are closed to the public.