Bowling Green's Loeffler Learned to Coach at Michigan After Career-Ending Shoulder Injury

Highly-recruited quarterback from Schembechler's hometown became the wind beneath the wings of quarterback greats Griese, Brady. His Falcons visit Ann Arbor Saturday night.

Mallory Hiser Photo Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler addresses his team before practice.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Scott Loeffler is coming home Saturday night, and will be coaching Bowling Green in the Big House.

Loeffler was the leading candidate to eventually replace Todd Collins as Michigan’s quarterback until a shoulder injury ended his career 30 years ago. He stayed to help the coaching staff and future NFL quarterbacks Scott Dreisbach, Brian Griese and Tom Brady – who remain close friends.

He found his calling as a coach.

The Falcons hired him as head coach in 2019 after he spent three seasons as the deputy head coach for offense, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Boston College.

He has a couple very familiar former Wolverine players on his staff in co-defensive coordinator Steve Morrison and passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Erik Campbell, who also served on Michigan coaching staffs.

“There's a lot of guys on our staff that had the opportunity to go to Michigan and the way that we look at it is we're super grateful for giving us an opportunity to earn a degree,” Loeffler said at his Monday press conference. “Super grateful to go to play a game that we love. Tremendously grateful for all the relationships that we have from that place.

“I say this all the time, I learned this from [former Wolverine head coach] Gary Moeller the first week I was in in camp, he said, ‘You'll never be able to repay Michigan back from what Michigan's going to do for you.’ And that's the message that we try to teach our players here.”

Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler didn’t coach Loeffler, but loomed large in the quarterback from Barberton, Ohio picking Michigan. Loeffler also noted that Jack Harbaugh, father of Wolverine coach Jim Harbaugh, was a player and assistant coach at Bowling Green. He’s currently an associate head coach at Michigan while his son serves a three-game suspension.

“Coach Schembechler is from my hometown,” Loeffler said. “It's probably the biggest reason that I went to Michigan. Believe it or not, all my life I was a Buckeye and Coach Schembechler was really the reason why I probably went there and then obviously Coach Moeller recruiting me. Lloyd Carr, who I consider a father figure without a doubt, and the ties that you know Coach Schembechler had to [former Bowling Green coach] Doyt Perry, I think is really cool.

“You look at the Harbaugh family. Jack was here, Jack and [wife] Jackie, I believe met here. Jim and John [Baltimore Ravens head coach] lived some of their youth here, went to St. Aloysius. My roommate in college is the defensive line coach there, Mike Elston, who is a great man and great memories. Mike Hart and Ron Bellamy, I coached. They are their running back and receiver coaches [respectively]. Dave Ablauf, who is the media guy. Phil Johnson, who's now the head trainer. Phil Bromley, still the video guy. So, there's a lot of people that are still there whenever I was fortunate to be in those doors. So, it's a special place.”

The Falcons (1-1) have never played a team ranked higher than No. 2 Michigan.

“They're great,” said Loeffler. “…There's not a position on the field that you see that has weakness. I think they're way better than they were last year. I think they're physical. I think they run to the ball really well. They're violent, super athletic. I think [quarterback] J.J. [McCarthy] is outstanding. The offensive line reminds me of the five that we had in 1999. That all went in the first round.”

The Wolverine O-line in 1999. when Loeffler was the quarterbacks coach, consisted of first-rounders Steve Hutchinson (Seahawks guard) and Jeff Backus (Lions tackle) and second-rounders Maurice Williams (Jaguars tackle) and Bennie Joppru (Texans tight end) as well as guard Jonathan Goodwin (fifth round to Jets) and Tony Pape (seventh round to Dolphins).

How will Loeffler – whose team beat Eastern Illinois, 38-15, and lost at Liberty, 34-24, “compete” with these Wolverines?

“They were very good football team and very well coached,” he said, “and the thing that's most impressive is how they play. They play hard and we got to go in there and play our best football. We've got to be creative. There's a there's some mismatch problems that we're going to have, and we've got to be able to adapt and adjust to all their strengths and do what we do well, try to eliminate a couple things that they do excellent and go give ourselves a chance to go compete.”
 

Bowling Green was 6-7 in 2022, earning a berth in the Quick Lane Bowl. And in 2021 the 4-8 Falcons beat Minnesota, 14-10. Loeffler’s overall record of 14-30 included a significant rebuild period, and he’s now looking to push the team past .500.

Can he do that?

We shall see. But here’s a look at how Loeffler got where he is from a chapter in a book I authored for Triumph Books of Chicago in 2013 with a foreword by Carr:

From “Go Blue! Michigan’s Greatest Football Stories”

Quarterback Scot Loeffler never threw a pass or took a snap in a game at Michigan, and yet he had a significant impact on the teams he was part of from 1993–96 and beyond.

Loeffler was voted the No. 9 prospect on the Detroit Free Press Best of the Midwest team selected by major college recruiting coordinators, and Wolverines head coach Lloyd Carr said Loeffler might have had more talent than any of the accomplished quarterbacks who were his teammates. But a shoulder injury ended his career prematurely, and he took to helping the team from behind the scenes.

Brian Griese and Tom Brady, who remain close friends years later, benefited from Loeffler’s support and instruction as a teammate and coach. He also later served as the Wolverines’ quarterbacks coach, tutoring Chad Henne, John Navarre, Drew Henson, and Brady.

And when Urban Meyer hired Loeffler as his quarterbacks coach at Florida, Tim Tebow led the NCAA in passing efficiency in that 2009 season.

“Scot had a great impact on all of those quarterbacks,” said former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, who oversaw Loeffler as both a player and coach. “First, it was as a student assistant. Then he was a graduate assistant before becoming the quarterbacks coach. Not only was he close to Tom and Brian, but he started working with them when they were peers.

“Scot was so smart and knows the position so well. But it was important that he had the relationships with these guys first. When Scot got hurt, Brian became the guy in that class. And Scot played through Brian in the years ahead. He looked at it like Brian Griese was playing for him. He was close with Brian and Tom Brady. And they are still close today. Scot was like brothers to those guys, and all the work Scot put into helping them helped make them the players they became.”

Griese came to Michigan as a walk-on from Christopher Columbus High in Miami, and Loeffler was an All-American at Barberton (Ohio) High, alma mater of legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. Loeffler was a big quarterback—6'4" and 200 pounds—with a big arm, and he was considered the premier quarterback in a football-rich state.

Many elite athletes would have found it too painful to remain that close to something they could not touch themselves, but Loeffler defined what a true teammate is by giving everything he had to offer and putting aside the need for personal glory.

DeBord instituted some subtle changes in the offense when Griese left after winning the 1997 national championship in order to tailor the offense to Brady.

“Most fans didn’t notice a thing changing when the offense went from Griese to Brady, but there were changes,” DeBord said. “Brian was very accurate and got rid of the ball quickly. He could do things on the perimeter, and we tried to control the ball more with Brian. Because of Brady’s lack of ability to get out of the pocket, we threw the ball downfield more with Tom. And Tom had a great pocket presence, too.

“It was really a tremendous honor to coach all of those guys. Michigan is so special, and sometimes people do not realize it until they are gone.”

DeBord took Loeffler with him as the quarterbacks coach when he became the Central Michigan head coach in 2000, but Loeffler returned to Ann Arbor two years later to join Carr’s staff as a full-time assistant and quarterbacks coach. After Carr retired, Loeffler spent a year coaching quarterbacks for the Detroit Lions in 2008 and then spent two years with the Gators.

Loeffler was the offensive coordinator at Temple in 2011, Auburn in 2012, and joined Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer as his offensive coordinator for the 2013 season. In the 1993 Michigan football media guide, Loeffler listed his intent to attend law school and become an attorney. But by giving of himself and feeling the satisfaction of making others better, Loeffler found his true calling. And in doing so, Loeffler became the wind beneath the wings of some pretty high-flying quarterbacks.

Steve Morrison, 1994 Michigan co-captain and linebacker, is Bowling Green’s co-defensive coordinator.

Erik Campbell, a starting cornerback and free safety at Michigan, 1984-87, is Bowling Green’s passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. He also spent one season as a Wolverines receiver and was a member of coaching staffs at his alma mater.