Lloyd Carr expecting 'a very successful' season for the University of Michigan football team

Lloyd Carr hasn’t lost his dry wit in retirement.

Asked how many games he expects his old team to win this year during a fan question-and-answer session Thursday at the annual Motor City Bowl golf outing, the former Michigan coach deadpanned, “Thirteen.”

When the laughs and “Go Blue” chants died down, Carr explained that he truly is optimistic for the season - “I’m like everybody else, I’m hoping and expecting a very successful, exciting season,” he said - but reiterated his desire to remain in the shadows as second-year coach Rich Rodriguez builds his program.

“One of the decisions I made when I retired as the coach was that I was not going to be a guy that stuck my nose into the new coach’s job because there’s enough pressure on the coach at Michigan as there is in any sport,” Carr said. “And to have the former coach going to practice and commenting on all the questions that would be asked, just in my mind was not in the best interest of Michigan football. And my love is for Michigan. I want the best for our university and for our football program.”

In an interview with AnnArbor.com earlier in the evening, Carr said he’s enjoying a busy retirement - he’s golfed Royal Troon and climbed the Great Wall of China in the past 18 months - but talked only briefly about football. He said he and Rodriguez have a “very positive” relationship and said he’s anxious to see “what transpires at the quarterback position” this fall.

Michigan went 3-9 last year and got the worst quarterback play in the Big Ten. True freshmen Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson are battling for the starting job this year, with holdover Nick Sheridan also potentially in the mix.

Carr, who won the Big Ten in 2004 with true freshman Chad Henne under center, said there will be a learning curve if Forcier or Robinson wins the job. “It takes time when you have a dramatic change like we’ve had,” Carr said. “And I think it takes time in any transition for the coaches and the players to get to know each other and to know the expectations of each other. But I think that this season is going to be an exciting season. Everything I hear from the players is positive. “There’s always things that, within a program, things don’t move fast enough for people. But I think the one thing that we are all together in is that we’re all cheering like hell for this team and we support this team and this program and we want them to be successful.”

Dave Birkett covers the University of Michigan football team for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at davidbirkett@annarbor.com or 734-623-2552.