Michigan’s Bo Will Bow Out : College football: Schembechler will retire as coach after the Rose Bowl, turning job over to assistant Gary Moeller.

Bo Schembechler, the most successful active college football coach in the country, said Wednesday that he will retire after his Michigan Wolverines play USC in the Rose Bowl game Jan. 1. Schembechler will turn the program over to his assistant, Gary Moeller.

“The toughest thing I ever had to do is to give up my football team,” said Schembechler, who has twice undergone open-heart surgery.

“I want it understood that I’m in good shape physically. There’s nothing wrong with my health. The primary reason for me stepping down at this time is that I don’t want to run my luck too far.”

Schembechler, 60, has been Michigan’s coach for 21 years. Heart attacks in 1970 and 1987 resulted in open-heart surgery, and Schembechler’s physicians have long urged him to slow down.

Schembechler led third-ranked Michigan to a 10-1 record this season and a second consecutive trip to the Rose Bowl. Michigan also became the first Big Ten team to have won consecutive titles since the Wolverines did it in 1965 and 1966.

Michigan has won five Big Ten titles and has a record of 194-47-5 under Schembechler, who never had a losing season. Including a stint at Miami of Ohio, he has 238 victories, fifth on the all-time list.

“Let’s face it, I hung on as long as I could,” he said, shedding tears as he spoke. “I’m satisfied with what I did. I’m happy with what I did. Now, how many guys can finish a career and say that?”

Schembechler, who leaves coaching without ever having won a national championship, will remain as athletic director, a post he took on in 1988 when Don Canham retired.

He said he was uncertain, however, how long he would stay on in that capacity, suggesting concern that his name and presence might overshadow his successor.

“I’m not sure that it’s in the best interest of Michigan or the program or myself or Gary Moeller for me to be hanging around,” he said. “It might be pretty difficult for me to sit in the athletic director’s chair. I’d want to go to practice, and I don’t think I should do that.”

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

Schembechler said he decided to make the announcement now because he wanted prospective recruits to know that Moeller, 48, would be their coach.

Ohio State Coach John Cooper, who has opposed Schembechler in one of college football’s fiercest rivalries, said he had discussed Schembechler’s retirement before the Ohio State-Michigan game last month.

“I sort of encouraged him when we talked before the game,” Cooper said. “I said, ‘Bo, what else do you have left to accomplish? You’re in the Hall of Fame, you’re a legend. You might as well go out on top.

“I had a feeling after visiting with him before the game that he might consider stepping down. That was the tone of the general conversation we had, that it might be time to take one or the other (coach or athletic director) job. That he might kick back and relax a little bit. I’m glad he did.”

But compassion and understanding have their limits. Cooper said he won’t hesitate to use Schembechler’s retirement as a tool in recruiting players torn between attending Michigan and Ohio State.

“Regardless of who they get, if it’s Gary Moeller, he’s not Bo Schembechler. He may be someday, but he’s not right now. There can’t be many guys like him, who have the respect he has. I think a lot of high school football players thinking about Michigan might have second thoughts.”

USC Coach Larry Smith, who once worked as an assistant under Schembechler.

“It’s a shock,” Smith said. “All of a sudden, Bo is out of the game. Anyone who has coached with or played for Bo thought that he’d coach forever. College football is losing a great contributor.”

This year’s Rose Bowl will be Schembechler’s 10th and third in the last four years.

Under Schembechler, Michigan’s program became one of the best in the nation. The Wolverines have played to 91 consecutive home crowds of more than 100,000.

Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz, whose team beat Michigan in an early season showdown of the nation’s top-rated teams, was saddened by Schembechler’s announcement.

“He’s not only one of the great coaches today but one of the greatest of all time. I’m going to miss Bo. I’m going to feel like an old man now,” Holtz said. “He personifies everything you would want in a football coach.”

Moeller, 48, has served as an assistant to Schembechler for 18 years in two terms. He rejoined the Wolverines in 1980 after three years as head coach at Illinois, where he was fired after compiling a 6-24-3 record.

SCHEMBECHLER’SCOACHING RECORD

YEAR SCHOOL W L T 1963 Miami (Ohio) 5 3 2 1964 Miami (Ohio) 6 3 1 1965 Miami (Ohio) 7 3 0 1966 Miami (Ohio) 9 1 0 1967 Miami (Ohio) 6 4 0 1968 Miami (Ohio) 7 3 0 1969 Michigan 8 3 0 1970 Michigan 9 1 0 1971 Michigan 11 1 0 1972 Michigan 10 1 0 1973 Michigan 10 0 1 1974 Michigan 10 1 0 1975 Michigan 8 2 2 1976 Michigan 10 2 0 1977 Michigan 10 2 0 1978 Michigan 10 2 0 1979 Michigan 8 4 0 1980 Michigan 10 2 0 1981 Michigan 9 3 0 1982 Michigan 8 4 0 1983 Michigan 9 3 0 1984 Michigan 6 6 0 1985 Michigan 10 1 1 1986 Michigan 11 2 0 1987 Michigan 8 4 0 1988 Michigan 9 2 1 1989 Michigan 10 1 0 Totals 234 64 8

BOWL RECORD (5-11-0)

YEAR BOWL RESULT 1970 Rose USC 10, Mich. 3 1972 Rose Stanford 13, Mich. 12 1976 Orange Okla. 14, Mich. 6 1977 Rose USC 14, Mich. 6 1978 Rose Wash. 27, Mich. 20 1979 Rose USC 17, Mich. 10 1979 Gator N. Car. 17, Mich. 15 1981 Rose Mich. 23, Wash. 6 1981 Bluebonnet Mich. 33, UCLA 14 1983 Rose UCLA 24, Mich. 14 1984 Sugar Auburn 9, Mich. 7 1984 Holiday BYU 24, Mich. 17 1986 Fiesta Mich. 27, Neb. 23 1987 Rose Ariz. St. 22, Mich. 15 1988 Hall of Fame Mich. 28, Ala. 24 1989 Rose Mich. 22, USC 14