How Bo Assured McCartney Wouldn't Become Another Biggie Munn at MSU

McCartney left Michigan to become head coach at Colorado, winning a national championship in 1990. He died recently and is recalled in a chapter from 'Go Blue! Michigan's Greatest Football Stories'

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography/Bentley Historical Library

Bill McCartney (right) on the sidelines with Bo Schembechler in the early 1980’s. Both became Hall of Fame coaches, and were among college football’s greatest personalities.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – When Bill McCartney passed away Jan. 10 at his home in Boulder, Colo., after a long illness, it brought back memories of the great Colorado head coach and former Michigan assistant coach under Bo Schembechler.

To provide an inside glimpse of McCartney, who was as great a person as he was a coach, we’re bringing back this chapter from something I wrote in 2013 for Triumph Books in Chicago, “Go Blue! Michigan’s Greatest Football Stories.” The foreword for that was written by Lloyd Carr, who came to Michigan largely because of McCartney. You should also enjoy learning that Carr replaced Jack Harbaugh in 1980 and nearly went to Michigan State with George Perles in 1983 in the notes below this chapter.

Bill McCartney and Biggie Munn

Bo Schembechler looked into Bill McCartney’s eyes back in 1980 and saw a vision of Biggie Munn. Munn had coached the offensive line at Michigan under Fritz Crisler for eight seasons, and after World War II, Munn left and turned Michigan State into a national champion.

“I was asked if I was interested in the Michigan State job that Muddy Waters ended up getting,” McCartney told me a few days before bringing his Colorado team to Ann Arbor in 1994. “I said, ‘Sure.’ A Detroit sports columnist then wrote about how Michigan State ought to go after me. Bo said they shouldn’t, though, and I was happy to be where I was.”

Bo forced laughter when the episode was recalled.

“Maybe I did that,” he said. “Whatever I did, I did. For me, it would’ve been like Biggie Munn leaving Fritz Crisler and turning around Michigan State.”

McCartney heeded Bo’s wishes and coached two more seasons in Ann Arbor before taking over Colorado in 1982. And when he returned with the No. 7 Buffaloes to face the No. 4 Wolverines in the Big House, Bo served as the game’s radio analyst on WJR-AM. He helped call a game between his most prized pupils. And it would end up being Gary Moeller’s final season at Michigan.

“It won’t be weird,” Bo told me at the time. “It’ll be interesting to me, knowing the two staffs and how they make their moves. I’d love to see Bill win, but I hope we wax ’em.”

It was classic Bo—holding out a bouquet before pulling it back in because competition outweighed compliments. McCartney survived a 7–25–1 record his first three seasons to win the school’s first national championship in 1990. He was another Biggie Munn, all right. The Wolverines were thankful they could applaud his success from a distance. But now he was coming to town with a team that had just steamrolled defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin, 55–17.

McCartney said he was “excited to go back” to his roots with so many family and friends in attendance. But he was even more excited when the unbelievable 64-yard Hail Mary pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook pulled out a 27–26 win.

Boulder had become home to McCartney, then 54, who was a football, basketball, and baseball star at Riverview High, not far from the Detroit River in what is known as the Downriver Area. He coached at Detroit Holy Redeemer and Dearborn Divine Child after graduating from Missouri.

However, there were always rumors that he would return to Michigan to replace Bo.

“But I always felt the job should be Gary’s,” McCartney said. “He didn’t get a fair chance at Illinois, and I felt he was a better coach than me. I learned from him when I coached linebackers and he was defensive coordinator. I knew it was his job and never slightly pretended to be a candidate.”

Bo naming Moeller at the same 1989 press conference in which he announced his retirement from coaching allowed no time for speculation.

Moeller and McCartney met on a beach in the February before they met as head coaches. They were attending a Nike convention in Hawaii but didn’t talk about the game that was seven months away.

“Bill likes to walk and I like to jog, so the speeds were similar,” Moeller said with some self-deprecating humor. “We had a good talk. We were good friends but not close friends.

“Every time you play a friend, though, it’s special. You want to beat them because you respect them.”

Both came to Bo as young men only to become their own men. Moeller was more daring with strategy; McCartney changed offensive philosophies often enough to make Bo’s head spin. Their roots were the same, though, and based on Bo’s relentless work ethic and team building.

“I learned a lot from Bo,” McCartney said. “I’m not a fast learner, and it took me 8½ years to absorb. But the greatest lesson was a commitment to excellence.”

McCartney’s own touch was a commitment to Jesus Christ. He pledged the Colorado program to a verse in the Bible’s book of Romans: “If the part of the dough offered as first-fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

Westbrook, one of the main heroes of that shocking 1994 win, stressed that McCartney did not overstep his bounds with his teammates.

“Coach does not preach to us unless we go in with it,” Westbrook told me in a Detroit Free Press article during the week leading up to that game. “He lets you know it’s there, and I respect him for that. He takes criticism so well and doesn’t let others change him.”

Dedicating his team to Christ did not keep it from encountering the problems many other major college programs have encountered. And in 1989, Sports Illustrated ran a “What Price Glory?” story that featured arrest-lineup photos of several of at least two dozen Buffaloes arrested between 1986 and 1989.

“I just bathed it in prayer,” McCartney said. “I’ve made mistakes, but I always trusted the Lord to direct this program.”

What many didn’t realize was that Chuck Heater, then his Colorado secondary coach, was the one who invited McCartney to a meeting of Christian players at Michigan when Heater was a running back and McCartney was a new assistant on the staff.

“He committed himself to Christ then and began his walk with Him,” Heater said, “and it’s been an incredible walk.”

After that season, McCartney felt led to focus on his Promise Keepers men’s Christian fellowship group. He left coaching for good and has remained involved in various ministries. The Promise Keepers rallies packed stadiums as surely as his football teams. Bo was proud of all the qualities and beliefs McCartney stood for.

“Bill’s got great resolve,” Bo said then, “and I love him.”

McCartney recalled the moment they parted. “Bo was the last person I saw in Ann Arbor after I cleaned out my desk,” McCartney said. “He was speaking in Aspen to the Domino’s Pizza board members, and we flew together to Denver.

“It was my full chance to say good-bye, to say thank you. We shook hands in the airport, and he went to his gate [for a flight to Aspen]. I went on to this job.”

At Colorado, he won a national championship—something his mentor never quite accomplished. And he developed a Big Eight powerhouse. But he only coached against Michigan one time—rather than the annual battle he would have waged with the Wolverines as the coach at Michigan State.

That could have been “Take Two” of a Bo and Woody sort of rivalry. However, McCartney would not become Munn. The family would not be broken.

(Notes: Lloyd Carr, who replaced Moeller as Michigan’s head coach after that 1994 season, grew up in Riverview with McCartney, who was influential in getting Carr an interview for a staff opening in Ann Arbor in 1980. They were athletic stars at Riverview High and Carr followed McCartney to play at Missouri for Dan Devine before transferring to Northern Michigan as a senior. Carr became the defensive secondary coach and defensive coordinator at Michigan before becoming a Hall of Fame head coach, winning the 1997 national championship with the Wolverines.

However, interestingly, MSU coach George Perles offered Carr his defensive coordinator post when coming to East Lansing in 1983. Carr stayed at Michigan after Bo assured that he would become defensive coordinator someday. That position came to him in 1987 after seven seasons as defensive backs coach. The coaching trail becomes that much more interesting when you realize that the coach Carr replaced in 1980 was Jack Harbaugh, who had left to become Stanford’s defensive coordinator.)

Bill McCartney and Biggie Munn

Bo Schembechler looked into Bill McCartney’s eyes back in 1980 and saw a vision of Biggie Munn. Munn had coached the offensive line at Michigan under Fritz Crisler for eight seasons, and after World War II, Munn left and turned Michigan State into a national champion.

“I was asked if I was interested in the Michigan State job that Muddy Waters ended up getting,” McCartney told me a few days before bringing his Colorado team to Ann Arbor in 1994. “I said, ‘Sure.’ A Detroit sports columnist then wrote about how Michigan State ought to go after me. Bo said they shouldn’t, though, and I was happy to be where I was.”

Bo forced laughter when the episode was recalled.

“Maybe I did that,” he said. “Whatever I did, I did. For me, it would’ve been like Biggie Munn leaving Fritz Crisler and turning around Michigan State.”

McCartney heeded Bo’s wishes and coached two more seasons in Ann Arbor before taking over Colorado in 1982. And when he returned with the No. 7 Buffaloes to face the No. 4 Wolverines in the Big House, Bo served as the game’s radio analyst on WJR-AM. He helped call a game between his most prized pupils. And it would end up being Gary Moeller’s final season at Michigan.

“It won’t be weird,” Bo told me at the time. “It’ll be interesting to me, knowing the two staffs and how they make their moves. I’d love to see Bill win, but I hope we wax ’em.”

It was classic Bo—holding out a bouquet before pulling it back in because competition outweighed compliments. McCartney survived a 7–25–1 record his first three seasons to win the school’s first national championship in 1990. He was another Biggie Munn, all right. The Wolverines were thankful they could applaud his success from a distance. But now he was coming to town with a team that had just steamrolled defending Big Ten champion Wisconsin, 55–17.

McCartney said he was “excited to go back” to his roots with so many family and friends in attendance. But he was even more excited when the unbelievable 64-yard Hail Mary pass from Kordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook pulled out a 27–26 win.

Boulder had become home to McCartney, then 54, who was a football, basketball, and baseball star at Riverview High, not far from the Detroit River in what is known as the Downriver Area. He coached at Detroit Holy Redeemer and Dearborn Divine Child after graduating from Missouri.

However, there were always rumors that he would return to Michigan to replace Bo.

“But I always felt the job should be Gary’s,” McCartney said. “He didn’t get a fair chance at Illinois, and I felt he was a better coach than me. I learned from him when I coached linebackers and he was defensive coordinator. I knew it was his job and never slightly pretended to be a candidate.”

Bo naming Moeller at the same 1989 press conference in which he announced his retirement from coaching allowed no time for speculation.

Moeller and McCartney met on a beach in the February before they met as head coaches. They were attending a Nike convention in Hawaii but didn’t talk about the game that was seven months away.

“Bill likes to walk and I like to jog, so the speeds were similar,” Moeller said with some self-deprecating humor. “We had a good talk. We were good friends but not close friends.

“Every time you play a friend, though, it’s special. You want to beat them because you respect them.”

Both came to Bo as young men only to become their own men. Moeller was more daring with strategy; McCartney changed offensive philosophies often enough to make Bo’s head spin. Their roots were the same, though, and based on Bo’s relentless work ethic and team building.

“I learned a lot from Bo,” McCartney said. “I’m not a fast learner, and it took me 8½ years to absorb. But the greatest lesson was a commitment to excellence.”

McCartney’s own touch was a commitment to Jesus Christ. He pledged the Colorado program to a verse in the Bible’s book of Romans: “If the part of the dough offered as first-fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.”

Westbrook, one of the main heroes of that shocking 1994 win, stressed that McCartney did not overstep his bounds with his teammates.

“Coach does not preach to us unless we go in with it,” Westbrook told me in a Detroit Free Press article during the week leading up to that game. “He lets you know it’s there, and I respect him for that. He takes criticism so well and doesn’t let others change him.”

Dedicating his team to Christ did not keep it from encountering the problems many other major college programs have encountered. And in 1989, Sports Illustrated ran a “What Price Glory?” story that featured arrest-lineup photos of several of at least two dozen Buffaloes arrested between 1986 and 1989.

“I just bathed it in prayer,” McCartney said. “I’ve made mistakes, but I always trusted the Lord to direct this program.”

What many didn’t realize was that Chuck Heater, then his Colorado secondary coach, was the one who invited McCartney to a meeting of Christian players at Michigan when Heater was a running back and McCartney was a new assistant on the staff.

“He committed himself to Christ then and began his walk with Him,” Heater said, “and it’s been an incredible walk.”

After that season, McCartney felt led to focus on his Promise Keepers men’s Christian fellowship group. He left coaching for good and has remained involved in various ministries. The Promise Keepers rallies packed stadiums as surely as his football teams. Bo was proud of all the qualities and beliefs McCartney stood for.

“Bill’s got great resolve,” Bo said then, “and I love him.”

McCartney recalled the moment they parted. “Bo was the last person I saw in Ann Arbor after I cleaned out my desk,” McCartney said. “He was speaking in Aspen to the Domino’s Pizza board members, and we flew together to Denver.

“It was my full chance to say good-bye, to say thank you. We shook hands in the airport, and he went to his gate [for a flight to Aspen]. I went on to this job.”

At Colorado, he won a national championship—something his mentor never quite accomplished. And he developed a Big Eight power house. But he only coached against Michigan one time—rather than the annual battle he would have waged with the Wolverines as the coach at Michigan State.

That could have been “Take Two” of a Bo and Woody sort of rivalry. However, McCartney would not become Munn. The family would not be broken.

(Notes: Lloyd Carr, who replaced Moeller as Michigan’s head coach after that 1994 season, grew up in Riverview with McCartney, who was influential in getting Carr an interview for a staff opening in Ann Arbor in 1980. They were athletic stars at Riverview High and Carr followed McCartney to play at Missouri for Dan Devine before transferring to Northern Michigan as a senior. Carr became the defensive secondary coach and defensive coordinator at Michigan before becoming a Hall of Fame head coach, winning the 1997 national championship with the Wolverines.

It’s also worth considering that MSU coach George Perles offered Carr his defensive coordinator post when coming to East Lansing in 1983. Carr stayed at Michigan after Bo assured that he would become defensive coordinator someday. That position came to him in 1987 after seven seasons as defensive backs coach. The coaching trail becomes that much more interesting when you realize that the coach Carr replaced in 1980 was Jack Harbaugh, who had left to become Stanford’s defensive coordinator.)

Photo Courtesy of University of Michigan Photography/Bentley Historical Library

Bill McCartney, coaching during a game at Michigan Stadium in the early 1980’s, is surrounded by Wolverines that include future All-America offensive guard Stefan Humphries and standout linebacker Tom Hassel.