But if he didn't get one final triumph, if he didn't get a moment of redemption it's okay, because Lloyd Carr was not a coach in need of redemption. How quickly we forget what all we've seen and what all he's done. One year ago we were all abuzz over a #1 vs. #2 showdown that had been settled by 3 points and which had determined a spot in the national title game. It was the kind of game that made Bo Schembechler a legend, the losses included. Lloyd Carr had answered his ardent detractors, and if they did not scale back their claims it was only because they were not listening.

In 13 years at Michigan, Lloyd Carr maintained the stature of the Michigan program, delivering his fair share of wins and maybe more than his share of big wins. He brought us a national title, our first since 1948, disappointing critics across the country who could no longer taunt Michigan over our long national title drought. And he did it without a single losing season, without ever missing a bowl game, without ever finishing in the bottom half of the Big 10 and without compromising class and integrity.

If the last 7 years of his tenure did not live up to the promise of his first 7 it's a disappointment, but it is not his legacy. A coach's legacy is his body of work, not just his departing note. His legacy is 121-40, not 63-24. His legacy is 6-7 vs OSU and 5 bowl wins, not 0-4 and 0-3. His legacy is a national title and Braylon Edwards and Charles Woodson and Tom Brady, not 14-3 with 91 yards of offense.

Carr may have been boring. If ESPN ever makes a movie about Braylon Edwards, they'll replace Lloyd Carr with a "composite character" based more on Bo Schembechler because Carr doesn't fill out a screen (or a column or a 60 second TV segment) as well as Bo did. He gave us no fascinating personality to write about so we made one up. Not content to let Michigan Football be the story, the way Lloyd Carr always wanted it to be, we created and peddled a fictitious and unflattering image of Lloyd Carr that made for better material.

And not content to complain about bad offensive line play, conservative game plans and poor player development, a disgraceful element of the college football world chose to extend their complaints to the man himself. They blurred the lines between the coach and the coaching, as if it would be impossible for a good man, a smart man and a man loyal to the Michigan football program to lose 5 games in one year. We have message board posters, bloggers and newspaper columnists who warned that Carr was a devious, selfish man, the kid of man who would retire in August and force Bill Martin to hire Jim Herrmann. We heard he would time his retirement announcement to eliminate Les Miles as a candidate. We heard the ridiculous assertion that Carr shipped out assistants whose competence threatened the ascendency of his handpicked successor. 

Instead, we got Lloyd Carr at his press conference demonstrating the class he has always demonstrated, and flashing the wry humor that was always there for those who choose to listen. He extended an olive branch to Les Miles. He offered his support to his successor, but no pressure. He didn't complain and he didn't fight. He simply gave his reasons and stepped away. 

Lloyd Carr was not forced out. Lloyd Carr did not retire because we lost to Ohio State. Bill Martin did not approach Lloyd Carr and suggest he move on. Lloyd Carr stepped away because he longer wanted to do this, no matter what ESPN's uninformed talking heads may suggest. And with no real evidence to back up their assertion, ESPN pushed that angle on its own, rolling video clips of the losses to Appalachian State and Ohio State on screen as Carr discussed retirement, as if to drive home the fabricated angle that those losses cost Carr his job.

Don't expect apologies. Don't expect any of the message board character assassins to publicly say "Whoa, I was wrong about Lloyd. He didn't do any of those awful things I said he would do." Don't expect ESPN talking heads to comment on the network's badly produced coverage of the rumors and the final event. Don't expect anyone to step back and say they weren't fair to Lloyd Carr. And it won't matter, because Lloyd Carr is also not a coach in need of an apology. The people who really care about the Michigan football program understand what he has done and how he has done it, and that is what matters. He was given an oportunity to do what he loved to do, and for 13 years he did it well and was well rewarded by the people and in the ways that matter most. There is no apology necessary and no redemption required. Just a thank you.