Sad news today for the Michigan Wolverines football community as past head coach Gary Moeller died at the age of 81. Coach Moeller succeeded legendary coach Bo Schembechler and preceded Lloyd Carr. His five seasons were full of many victories and Moeller was one of the contributing parts of what made Michigan football what it is today.
Coach Moeller’s Career before Michigan
Believe it or not, Moeller was a captain at Michigan’s archrival, Ohio State. He was a star linebacker under Woody Hayes, yet another legendary coach. Following his playing career at Ohio State, Moeller crossed paths with Bo Schembechler while they coached together at Miami Ohio. After a two-year stint there, Moeller followed Schembechler to Michigan where they coached together for the next eight seasons.
In 1977, Coach Moeller got his first career head coaching gig at Illinois, where he coached for three season and really struggled going 6-24-3. Moeller then returned to coach at Michigan where he assisted Schembechler in various positions. It wasn’t until 1990 when Moeller became the head coach at Michigan.
Moeller’s Historic Michigan Coaching Career
In five short seasons, Gary Moeller made his mark in Michigan football history. Michigan and Coach Moeller went 44-13-3 in the five seasons and won three Big Ten Titles. Adding onto that, Moeller had an impressive 4-1 record in Bowl Games and was a two-time Big Ten coach of the Year. Not only did he win championships, but Moeller set the Big Ten Conference record with 19 consecutive conference wins between 1990-1992. Moeller resigned from Michigan in 1995 to which Lloyd Carr then took over.
Life After Michigan
Moeller bounced around the NFL until 2003 where he served on various teams as an assistant coach as well as a brief role of head coach. Coach Moeller was an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Chicago Bears. Moeller took over mid-season as head coach for the Detroit Lions and led Detroit to a 4-3 record the last seven games.
The Legacy
Coach Moeller found himself in a difficult spot when he took over the Michigan program. Michigan had years of success with Bo Schembechler and there was a lot of pressure on Moeller to succeed. Moeller stepped up to the challenged and continued to coach Michigan teams to victory. He kept Michigan on the map and helped make the 1990’s one of Michigan’s best decades ever of football.
Coach Harbaugh, who was teammates at Michigan with Moeller’s son Andy, and Coach Carr had some thoughtful words about Gary Moeller. Their statements as well as a complete write up of Moellers life can be found here.