The Lloyd Carr retirement watch just got interesting…
Many Michigan football fans (including yours truly) have speculated that 61 year-old Lloyd Carr will retire after next season, his thirteenth as head coach. A small yet significant change in the language of Carr’s contract indicates Carr might already have decided that the 2007 season will be his last, and that he has informed the powers-that-be of his plans. His old contract contained a clause that entitled him to a $300,000 bonus if he remained head coach through July 1, 2007. An addendum Carr signed on December 21 amends this clause to guarantee him the bonus if he remains employed by the University “in any capacity” through July 1, 2008. The only reason Carr would want to make such a change is to square the July 1 clause with another clause under which he would become an associate athletic director upon retirement from coaching.
There are strategic reasons related to recruiting and succession why Carr and the athletic department may want to keep the decision under wraps until (at the earliest) the beginning of next season. But if the change means what I think it means, the athletic department will very soon face the most significant decision with respect to Michigan football since 1969. I hope they’re prepared.