Schembechler to Quit as Coach After Rose Bowl : College football: The winningest active big-time coach is expected to announce his decision to his Wolverine players today.

Bo Schembechler, big-time college football’s winningest active coach, will step down for medical reasons after Michigan plays USC in the Rose Bowl, sources said today.

Schembechler, 60, will turn the Wolverines’ program over to assistant Gary Moeller.

Schembechler will remain as Michigan’s athletic director, a post that was added to his title in 1988 after Don Canham reached the mandatory retirement age of 70, said the sources, who requested anonymity.

Schembechler was out of his office early today. He was to meet with his players in the afternoon. A news conference was scheduled for 5 p.m. EST.

Schembechler told a university sociology class Monday that he would never sit in the coach’s office of the $12.5-million Center of Champions. The building, to be completed next autumn, will house the football program.

He also told the students that Moeller would be the next coach.

Heart attacks in 1970 and 1987 resulted in open-heart surgery, and Schembechler’s physicians have urged him to slow down ever since. The decision was made easier because the Michigan football program is riding the crest of two consecutive Big Ten championships.

It also was becoming necessary because Associate Athletic Director Jack Weidenbach, who has been in charge of daily operations of the department while Schembechler tended to football duties, is nearing retirement age.

Sources close to Schembechler said he decided to make the announcement now because he wants prospective recruits to know who the coach will be.

Schembechler leads all coaches in NCAA Division I-A with a record of 234-64-8 after 21 years at Michigan and six at Miami of Ohio. He is fifth on the all-time list and needs only four more victories to match his mentor at Ohio State, Woody Hayes. Schembechler is the winningest coach in Michigan history at 194-47-5.

Schembechler never has had a losing season. Fifteen of his 21 Michigan teams have been ranked in the top 10 nationally. The 1985 team finished No. 2 after beating Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl.

The only honor that has eluded Schembechler is the mythical national championship. The Wolverines began the 1989 season ranked No. 1 but lost their opening game to Notre Dame before reeling off 10 straight wins. They are ranked No. 3 and have only a slim chance of slipping past Colorado and Miami in the final Associated Press poll after the bowl games.

“If you think that my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another think coming,” Schembechler said a few days before beating Ohio State in the final regular-season game this season. “I have never played a game for the national title. Our goals always have been to win the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. If we do that, then we consider it a successful season.”

The New Year’s Day game against USC will be Schembechler’s 10th Rose Bowl and third in the last four years. The Wolverines (10-1) earned their second consecutive Big Ten title this season and 13th in Schembechler’s career.

Moeller, 48, has been an assistant to Schembechler for 18 years. He rejoined the Wolverines’ staff in 1980 after three years as coach at Illinois, where he was released after compiling a 6-24-3 record.