Schembechler was 11-9-1 against the Buckeyes. From 1969-78 he opposed Hayes in what’s known as “The 10-Year War,” and Michigan was 5-4-1 during that stretch.

“It was a very personal rivalry,” Earle Bruce, who succeeded Hayes as coach, once said. “And for the first and only time, it was as much about the coaches as it was about the game.

“Bo and Woody were very close, because Bo played for Woody at Miami of Ohio, then coached with him at Ohio State. But their friendship was put on hold when Bo took the Michigan job, because it was the protege against mentor.”

Thirteen of Schembechler’s Michigan teams won or shared the Big Ten championship. Fifteen finished in The Associated Press Top 10, with the 1985 team finishing No. 2.

Seventeen of Schembechler’s 21 Michigan teams earned bowl berths, but despite a .796 regular-season winning percentage, his bowl record was a disappointing 5-12, including 2-8 in the Rose Bowl.

The mythical national championship eluded Schembechler, but he said that never bothered him.

“If you think my career has been a failure because I have never won a national title, you have another think coming,” Schembechler said a few weeks before coaching his final game.

His last game as Wolverines coach was a 17-10 loss to Southern California in the 1990 Rose Bowl. One week later, Schembechler, who also had served as Michigan athletic director since July 1988, was hired as president of the Detroit Tigers.

MSNBC'S DAVID SHUSTER HONORS BO It's difficult to put into words just how much Bo Schembechler meant to all of us in the Michigan family. Bo was a perfect ambassador for what the University of Michigan stands for: loyalty, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Earlier this fall, I was back in Ann Arbor for a football weekend and saw Bo walking out of Michigan stadium. I approached him and we chatted briefly. I told Bo about graduating in December of '89 (just before Bo's final game as coach.) and my declaration at the time, " if Bo is leaving, I'm leaving too." Bo smiled and said something to the effect of, "I've never left and you haven't either." Indeed. Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes made the Michigan/Ohio State battle the biggest rivalry in football. And for that reason, perhaps it is fitting that Bo passed away the day before Saturday's historic game. Bo and Woody are together again... and now they can watch the game together. Rest in peace, Bo Schembechler.

Schembechler’s signature moment as athletic director probably came in March 1989, when basketball coach Bill Frieder accepted a job at Arizona State on the eve of the NCAA tournament.

An angry Schembechler declared, “A Michigan man will coach Michigan, not an Arizona State man.” He named assistant Steve Fisher as interim coach, and the Wolverines went on to win the national championship.

Schembechler’s tenure as Tigers president from 1990-92 was less rewarding.

He was blamed for firing beloved broadcaster Ernie Harwell after the 1991 season, but WJR general manager Jim Long later said he was the one who did not want Harwell back. Schembechler hired extra coaches for every farm team, upgraded all the facilities and introduced football-style strength and conditioning programs. But those moves bore little fruit at the big-league level.

The Tigers’ last winning season was in 1993 until they advanced to the World Series this year.

Schembechler was an intense disciplinarian, and his gruff persona belied devotion to his players, during and after their playing days.

“He preached the team from day one, and it’s still being taught now,” offensive guard Reggie McKenzie, who played for Schembechler from 1969-71, said when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Schembechler was born April 1, 1929, in Barberton, Ohio. He graduated in 1951 from Miami of Ohio and earned a master’s degree in 1952 at Ohio State.

Slideshow   The Week in Sports Pictures A kayaker flips out, a racehorse eyes the Triple Crown and more. more photos

After serving in the Army, Schembechler held assistant coaching jobs at Presbyterian College in 1954 and Bowling Green in 1955, then joined Ara Parseghian’s staff at Northwestern in 1958 before returning to Ohio State as an assistant to Hayes.

Schembechler became head coach at Miami of Ohio in 1963, winning two Mid-American Conference titles in six seasons. In 1969, he took over a Michigan program that had endured losing seasons in six of the previous 11 years.

Schembechler was inducted into the Miami University Hall of Fame in 1972, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor in 1992, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993.

Bo and Millie Schembechler, his second wife, had one son, Glenn III. Schembechler and his third wife, Cathy, married in 1993.

“We truly lost a great man, husband, coach and mentor,” former Michigan running back Billy Taylor, who played on Schembechler’s first team in 1969, said from his car outside Schembechler Hall. “People like Bo come around once in a lifetime.”