Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 39

INSIDE: COUfGE BASKETBALL, PAGES 2E, 3E BOXING Section jLindell Holmes vows not to Sports World, Page 2 NBANHL, Page 4 Scoreboard, Page 6 Scores: 1-976-1313, Sports: 222-6660 take a bath against ex-Kronk mate Frank Tate. Page 7E. Wednesday, Jan. 3, 1990 Detroit 4frce Stress Miami national champ; Irish No, 2 I ALBOM the Final Pons Day after is first day of the rest of Bo's life Hurricanes No. 1 in arrogance, too NEW ORLEANS Some people feel about Notre Dame, I guess, the way I feel about the Universi EWPORT BEACH, Calif.

The car rolled I VII toward the hotel exit. Bo Schembechler, I squinting in the morning sun, pointed a I I finger at it, like a traffic cop, and it quickly I came to a halt. Holtz unhappy, but not bitter by Jack Saylor Free Press Sports Writer MIAMI Lou Holtz walked into a crowded hotel ballroom at 10 a.m. Tuesday and was informed that the Miami Hurricanes had been anointed college football's national champions by the Associated Press. The Notre Dame coach looked as though he had thrown away a winning lottery ticket.

"You can justify why Miami won, but what you can't justify is why we didn't," said the usually upbeat Holtz, suddenly morose, speaking softly and choosing his words carefully. "We played the toughest schedule, we won the most games, we were No. 1 every week but one and came back to beat No. 1 decisively. "I feel exceptionally bad for our athletes." See Notre Dame, Page 5E AP TEAM REC PTS LST 1.

Miami, Fla. (39)11-1-0 1,474 2 2. N. Dame (19) 12-1-0 1,452 4 3. Florida State (2)10-2-0 1,384 5 4.

Colorado 11-1-0 1,320 1 5. Tennessee 11-1-0 1,228 8 6. Auburn 10-2-0 1,161 9 7. Michigan 10-2-0 1,091 3 8. Southern Cal 9-2-1 1,067 12 9.

Alabama 10-2-0 1,029 7 10. Illinois 10-2-0 1,019 11 11. Nebraska 10-2-0 860 6 12. Clemson 10-2-0 820 14 13. Arkansas 10-2-0 807 10 14.

Houston 9-2-0 748 13 15; Penn State 8-3-1 633 18 16. Michigan St. 8-4-0 507 22 17. Pittsburgh 8-3-1 478 23 18. Virginia 10-3-0 455 15 19.

Texas Tech 9-3-0 451 24 20. Texas 8-4-0 330 16 21. West Virginia 8-3-1 260 17 22. Brigham Young10-3-0 231 19 23. Washington 8-4-0 200 24.

Ohio State 8-4-0 154 21 25. Arizona 8-4-0 77 (First-place votes in parentheses) UPI TEAM REC PTS LST 1. Miami (36) 11-1-0 707 2 2. Florida State (7)10-2-0 661 5 3. Notre Dame (6)12-1-0 660 4 4.

Colorado 11-1-0 626 1 5. Tennessee 11-1-0 499 8 6. Auburn 10-2-0 415 10 7. Alabama 10-2-0 378 7 8. Michigan 10-2-0 373 3 9.

Southern Cal 9-2-1 351 12 10. Illinois 10-2-0 313 11 11. Clemson 10-2-0 240 13 12. Nebraska 10-2-0 214 6 13. Arkansas 10-2-0 182 9 14.

Penn State 8-3-1 85 18 15. Virginia 10-3-0 37 14 16. Texas Tech 9-3-0 35 19 16. Michigan St. 8-4-0 35 18.

Brigham Young 10-3-0 17 16 19. Pittsburgh 8-3-1 16 20. Washington 8-4-0 8 Other polls: Miami, Notre Dame and Florida State 1-2-3 in New York Times and USA TodayCNN polls. U-M No. 8 in both; MSU tied for No.

19 in the Times poll and was No. 17 in USA TodayCNN. ty of Miami. I don't like the University of Miami. Really, it is just the school's football team I don't like.

I think the team has too many arrogant players. I think they have too little class. It makes me angry when they sack a quarterback, then stand over the fallen opponent, both Charlie Vincent arms raised heavenward in conquering self-adulation. It makes me angry when they celebrate a touchdown with a choreographed See Charlie Vincent, Page 5E 1 3 i yy i I -y i r- if jf 4 7. If "What?" asked senior lineman Mike Teeter, the driver, rolling down his window.

"Am I doing something wrong, coach?" Bo grinned. "Hey," he said, "I'm not your coach anymore, Mike. I'm just your friend." Teeter smiled and slowly drove away. What is that expression? The first day of the rest of your life? For the occasion, Bo Schembechler wore a blue warm-up suit and a white T-shirt. No Michigan insignias.

No whistles. Football-wise, he was a civilian now. He dug his hands in his pockets and tried act casual. Not that he had stopped thinking about football. The Rose Bowl disaster was still fresh in his mind.

He had come back to the hotel Monday night and immediately popped in the film of the game. He fast-forwarded to the controversial play, the holding penalty on a fourth quarter fake-punt, and watched it over and over. Even when his wife, Millie, persuaded him to watch a movie on TV "Lassiter," starring Tom Selleck he kept the little projector near him. On commercials, he watched the play again. "Still a ridiculous call," he insisted Tuesday morning.

"That call will go down in history along with The Phantom Touchdown by Charles White and all the others. It should never have been made. The man they say was held wound up making the tackle 30 yards downfield. He shook his head. Never mind that ABC-TV showed a close-up replay of Bobby Abrams.

Never mind that the TV announcers said "Oh, he was definitely holding." The coach had seen it. He had made up his mind. "I slept better knowing I was right, too." Bo. You are a piece of work. Saturday's hero will mosey on What will Saturdays be like without him? What will Michigan be like without him? And make no mistake, he will be gone.

There is no way Bo will keep the athletic director's job, it's not him, he was never a paper pusher, and he knows his legend would shadow his successor and friend, Gary Moeller. "People only listened me because I was Coach Bo, not Athletic Director Bo," he admitted Tuesday. He'll quit the AD job, I'm guessing, within a week or two. And he'll have something else already lined up. That's Bo's way.

While he denies any plans, I suspect the Tigers which means friend and Bo-fanatic Tom Monaghan will hire him to succeed Jim Campbell as president. Why? It makes sense. Bo wants to work. Bo wants to stay in sports. He just needs, at age 60, to take it a little easier.

"I gotta get in shape, I gotta lose 20 pounds," he said, laughing, tugging on his sweatsuit. "I gotta lead a reasonable life. I've never done that, you know." No. He was always flying to Milwaukee or Denver or Ft. Lauderdale looking for that one extra recruit who could help the team.

He was always rushing to another meeting or another charity event, stuffing a sandwich in his mouth as he ran. He was always taking five calls, six meetings, seven rolls of film, eight play sheets, nine stacks of mail. Now, on the first day of the rest of his life, he looked 100 pounds lighter. Funny how much that whistle weighs, isn't it? "What will you do today?" he was asked. "Welllll," he said, like a old cowboy, "I'm gonna go back and see this girl, Millie, see?" "You know her?" He shuffled his feet, dug his hands in his pockets, and gave that mile-long grin.

"I slept with her last night," he said. The crowd cracked up. Good or bad, people react to Bo You know the first thing Bo did in 1963, the day he became a head coach at Miami of Ohio? He moved into the players' dorm. Ground floor. Left his door open at night.

The message was clear: "I am part of your lives. For better or worse. I am your coachV' And Monday night, 27 years later, he was still part of their lives. So much so that Alex Marshall, a big, hulking linebacker, was sobbing like a baby after the game. "I want to apologize to Bo Schembechler for the way we played he deserved to go out better than this Alex, you were crying for the man.

What could be better than that? This is the magic of Schembechler, he makes you feel something toward him, anger, frustration, usually affection. He is not just the coach on the football field, he is the coach with his family, his friends, with people he meets on the street. He barks, he slaps, he laughs, he takes charge. You half expect him to enter a department store, blow a whistle, and say "Clothes shoppers over here! Appliances over there!" And people would do it. He is, in one word, magnetic.

And he is history. Our loss. Millie's gain. He leaves behind a team that should contend for the Big Ten title next year and a landscape full of former assistants who would each like, one day, to be as good as he. You want to know what Bo's final words were to his team after Monday's Rose Bowl? "Men, I'm sorry I couldn't win it for you I love you all "Nnw opt Hrpssed!" 9K 1 I i MANNY CRISOSTOMODetroit Free Press "If I were still the coach, right now I would be thinking, 'Which kid should I be Bo Schembechler said of his recruiting habits in his final press conference as coach Tuesday.

"Now Moeller is doing that. He doesn't need my help. He knows what to do." 1-7 i Moeller: Subdued on first day By Steve kornacki Free Press Spoils Writer Newport beach, Calif. Gary Moeller wasn't quite sure what to say to the media on his first day as Michigan football coach. He wasn't phony enough to attempt to cultivate an And he didn't feel self-important enough to pontificate.

"I would like to say good morning," Moeller said at the start of Tuesday's press conference. "But it's not very good. You feel worse the next day because reality sets in." Michigan's 17-10 loss to Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl was a cloud on an otherwise sunny morning. Moeller was replacing Bo Schembechler as head coach after a loss. "Bo's strong person," Moeller said.

"He does not need any pats on the back. But, arghhh, you don't feel good having him lose that one." About the only times Moeller displayed enthusiasm were when the future became the topic. "The exciting thing to me is bringing younger guys along," he said, eyes flashing. Yet, reporters wanted to KWow about his first day in charge. i MANNY CRISOSTOMODetroit Free Press New U-M coach Gary Moeller was enthusiastic during his first press conference only when talking about the future of his team.

convention. But I feel we're behind as a staff, and we're not going to get out there for that. We can use the time to get organized. I'm going to visit a couple of the kids who have already visited us on the way home." Moeller won't begin planning for 1990 until Feb. 14 the day high school seniors may sign national letters of intent.

He will be occupied with recruiting until then. "If I were still the coach," Schembechler said, "right now I would be thinking, 'Which kid should I be Now Moeller is doing that. I le doesn't need my help. He See Wolverines, Pae 5E "I haven't really thought about it that way," Moeller said. "I'm still second-guessing myself, like everyone else.

But you can't control that and have to move onto more important things, like recruiting. "There's a moratorium on recruiting beginning. Sunday, during the time of the (American Football Coaches Association) If! Like I saidUI's a pieoiwrf work..