Michigan coaching icon Bo Schembechler dies

November 23, 2006

Renowned University of Michigan college football coach Bo Schembechler, died Friday at the age of 77.

Schembechler collapsed at the studios of WXYZ-TV after taping a TV show on the eve of the Wolverines' No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with perennial rival Ohio State. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he died at 11:42 a.m. "The electrical part of the heart was working fine but the mechanical part was not working," said Dr. Shukri David, the head of cardiology at Providence Hospital. "The heart was sending signals to the heart muscle to contract. The muscle was not responding."

Schembechler had a heart attack on the eve of his first Rose Bowl in 1970 and another one in 1987. He had two quadruple heart-bypass operations, and doctors implanted a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat after he became ill during a taping at WXYZ on Oct. 20.

"This is a tremendous shock and an irreplaceable loss," University of Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman said at a news conference at Providence Hospital in Southfield, where the coach died.

The seven-time Big Ten coach of the year compiled a 194-48-5 record at Michigan from 1969-89. Schembechler's record in 26 years of coaching was 234-65-8.