‘That’s what Mo could do’: Gary Moeller, ex-Michigan football, Detroit Lions coach, dies at 81

Gary Moeller lived in the Dicken neighborhood in Ann Arbor when he coached the Wolverines, one mile west of the Big House.

So too, did Steve Kornacki, longtime sports reporter for the Free Press who covered the Wolverines in the 1980s and 90s.

Kornacki lived up the street from Moeller’s “castle” and recalled a day he was bicycling in the neighborhood with his children, when “Mo” who was outside working on his yard, stopped them.

EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES: Jim Harbaugh, others pay tribute to former U-M, Lions coach Gary Moeller

“He said ‘come on in (my wife) Ann’s got some lemonade in the fridge,” Kornacki recalled. “‘Let’s all sit down and talk.’

“He treated my sons like he was recruiting them for Michigan. He told them stories, couldn’t have been nicer.”

It’s why the chapter on Moeller in Kornacki’s book “Go Blue! The Greatest Stories in Michigan Football History,” is titled ‘Just Like a Good Neighbor.”

Moeller, the former Michigan football coach who later served as interim coach with the Detroit Lions, died on Monday at the age of 81.

Moeller was a longtime assistant coach under Bo Schembechler and replaced the legendary coach in 1990 upon Schembechler’s retirement.

In five seasons at U-M, Moeller was 44-13-3 and won three Big Ten championship and the 1993 Rose Bowl over Washington. Moeller’s teams finished in the top 20 in the national polls each of his five seasons.

“Gary Moeller was a great family man, great friend, great coach and a man of integrity and high character,” former coach Lloyd Carr, who followed him from 1995-2007, said in a released statement. “I admired him, I respected him and I loved him.”

He was the head coach in 1991, when Desmond Howard won U-M’s second Heisman Trophy and was the lead recruiter in the push for Howard to commit to the Wolverines from Cleveland St. Joseph High School.

He also played a key role in getting Dearborn Heights Robichaud star Tyrone Wheatley to join U-M.

“That’s what Mo could do,” said Kornacki. “He had an eye for talent.”

On Fridays, the two would talk about Ann Arbor Pioneer High School football, where Kornacki’s son played tight end and linebacker for the Pioneers.

Moeller’s son, Andy, played football there as well before he became a linebacker and captain for Michigan from 1983-86.

“He asked me what number my son was and I told him, ’49’,” Kornacki said. “And he smiled right away and said, ‘that was Andy’s number, too.'”

The two got to know one another, but Kornacki always knew he still had a job to do.

“At times I’d have to criticize something but it wasn’t personal,” he said. “But Bo (Schembechler), Lloyd (Carr) and Mo, if you did your homework and weren’t a cheap-shot artist, they’d respect your opinion.”

That includes when the incident happened in early May 1995.

That’s when Moeller was forced to resign as head coach after he was arrested for assaulting a police officer and disorderly conduct at a restaurant in Southfield.

“It was horribly embarrassing for he and his wife, Ann, who is a dear lady,” Kornacki said. “I know what Gary did that caused him to lose his job was wrong, and he does too, but I don’t believe it was a serious enough thing to cost his job.

“Not for a man who had been a model employee for a quarter century and never embarrassed the school for a day.”

Kornacki contests the decision was made because of how Moeller got the job. He’d followed Schembechler from Miami Ohio to Michigan and spent the majority of two decades with him.

When Schembechler retired in 1989, he was still athletic director, and hand-picked Moeller. No search committee. No interviews. No nothing.

“James J. Duderstadt resented Bo’s power,” Kornacki said. “He saw an opening to get back at him and I think he took it.”

After leaving U-M, Moeller was hired onto the Cincinnati Bengals staff and after two years joined the Lions as assistant head coach and linebackers coach under Bobby Ross.

When Ross resigned midway through the 2000 season, Moeller was promoted to interim head coach and led the Lions to a 4-3 record, narrowly missing the postseason.

He was offered and accepted a contract extension from the Ford Family, but new Lions general manager Matt Millen let him go in 2001.

Moeller finished his coaching career as defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2001 and linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears for 2002-03.

An Ohio State grad and football letter winner, Moeller began his coaching career in Ohio high schools in 1963. He played for Woody Hayes and Kornacki said Moeller explained why he would befriend as many people as he could, even in his position of power.

“Woody always told us was pay it forward,” Kornacki recalled Moeller saying. “If you see a kid you can help, you pay it forward.”

He joined Schembechler at Miami (Ohio) in 1967 and followed along to Ann Arbor in 1969, first as defensive ends coach and eventually defensive coordinator, beginning in 1973.

Moeller was hired as head coach at Illinois in 1977 and was there for three seasons before returning to U-M in 1980, first as quarterbacks coach until 1982, when he became defensive coordinator again. He was offensive coordinator for Schembechler’s final three seasons (1987-89).

One of the final QBs under his direct tutelage was now-Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“The football world lost a great man in Gary Moeller,” Harbaugh said in a statement released by the school. “Coach Moeller cared for his players and his teams and was devoted to the University of Michigan. He gave a lot to the game of football, excelling as both an offensive and defensive coordinator and head coach in the college and NFL ranks.”

“We have lost a wonderful family man. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Ann, as well as their daughters Susan, Amy and Molly, and my former teammate and fellow captain Andy.”

In those final years under Schembechler, Michigan ran the wishbone offense in the red zone, despite Schembechler saying it was the hardest to learn. By the early 1990s, when Moeller was in charge, they were running slants and fades with Howard and Derrick Alexander.

“That change was all Mo,” said Kornacki. “He may be the greatest coach that Michigan’s had in football, he just didn’t have the time to stick around and show it.

“For him it was about more than football. He was more than a coach. It was family.”

A visitation for Moeller will be Friday at the Chiles-Laman Funeral Home in Lima, Ohio, followed by a private family funeral on Saturday.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on twitter at @realtonygarcia.