In Retrospect: Bump Elliott's Only Regret at Michigan

Chalmers "Bump" Elliott is best known to the Michigan faithful as the head football coach who succeeded the legendary Bennie Oosterbaan and preceded the legendary Bo Schembechler.

Despite being the only man in Michigan football history to win Rose Bowls as a player (1947) and head coach (1964) for the Wolverines, Bump's teams are better known today for the games they didn't win. 

Outside of the 1964 Rose Bowl, it's arguable that the best game Elliott's players played was the 1969 upset of No. 1-ranked Ohio State, which was considered one of the best teams in college football history. Schembechler led that team on the sidelines but never neglected to credit Elliott for bringing in and coaching up the young men who beat Ohio State that day.

As a World War II Marine who served in China, an All-American halfback at Michigan, and a Rose Bowl-winning head coach, Bump, 85, doesn't often have reason to reflect on missed opportunities.

The one regret that does linger a bit, Elliott said, is the feeling that his players aren't as well known as the Willie Hestons, the Tom Harmons, the Desmond Howards—players whose individual talents stood out because their teams were successful. Elliott's stars, including college football Hall of Famer Ron Johnson, don't often get the same recognition.

Elliott posted a 51-42-2 record in his 10 seasons at Michigan, including a 3-7 record against blood rival Ohio State.

But even when things went well, as in 1968, when Elliott led the Wolverines to a solid 8-2 record, Ohio State remained his bugaboo. Elliott's last game as a head coach was a 50-14 loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus.

"I just wish we'd won more games so those players would be better known," Bump said in a phone interview from his home in Iowa City. 

"All in all, we did finish above .500," he added. But .500 is never the standard for Michigan football. Still, Elliott said that his coaching days might be perceived differently if the Big Ten used the same rules then as it does now concerning postseason bowl eligibility.

When Elliott was coaching, the Big Ten had an exclusive pact with the Rose Bowl. Second best—and even teams that tied for the championship, as Michigan would learn in 1973—had to watch the bowl season from home.

Under today's rules, whereby six wins qualifies Big Ten teams for postseason competition, Elliott's 1961 team that went 6-3, the 1966 team that went 6-4, and the 1968 team that went 8-2 all could've competed in bowl games.

That rule wouldn't change until the 1975 season, in response to Michigan's snubbing in the Controversy of 1973.

After the 1968 season, which was capped off by a 50-14 loss to Ohio State, athletic director Don Canham asked Elliott to step aside from coaching to serve as associate athletic director. Lloyd Carr holds the same position today.

In came Bo Schembechler, who retired two decades later as the winningest coach in the football program's history, a title he still holds. 

But unlike Carr, who recently told AnnArbor.com that "Michigan is the only job " for him, Elliott left the athletic department after a year to succeed fellow Michigan man Forest Evashevski as the University of Iowa's athletic director. 

(Elliott told Bleacher Report that the Michigan connection to Evashevski had no bearing on getting the Iowa job).

He would hold that position for 21 years, a tenure marked by solid hires like Hayden Fry, "The King of Iowa," as football head coach, and the legendary Dan Gable to lead the wrestling team, a decision that brought many NCAA titles to Iowa City.  

The Iowa job served as a vindication of sorts. If Bump's reputation among the Michigan faithful is that of an excellent player whose coaching days never met expectations, in Iowa City Bump is regarded as the man who helped build a stronger-than-it-looks athletic department that regularly outmatches schools with more money and better name recognition.

These days Elliott maintains an avid interest in Iowa athletics, not only football and basketball, but wrestling as well.

Some of Bump's best days happened in Ann Arbor, but he's spent about half of his life in Iowa City, making the kinds of friendships one doesn't give up on so easily. Though Elliott visits Ann Arbor occasionally, Iowa City is home and has been for 40 years.

Though Elliott holds a special place in Iowa Hawkeye history, Elliott hopes the Michigan faithful remember his contributions—and his players: guys like Ron Johnson, J. Paul Raeder, Jim Mandich, and Tom Goss, among others.

"As a coach, a player, and a leader," Bump said, "I'd like to think that I carried on the Michigan tradition proudly."

James David Dickson writes human interest stories—but not sports—for AnnArbor.com.