Other candidates to replace Carr might include Kirk Ferentz of Iowa, where Michigan president Mary Sue Coleman was before coming to Ann Arbor, and major college coaches with Midwest ties such as Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, a native of Youngstown, Ohio.

An Iowa spokesman said Monday that Ferentz would not comment, and Stoops dismissed the thought after the Sooners’ practice Monday night.

“That’s so foolish,” Stoops said. “I’ve got nothing to do with that.”

Michigan athletic director Bill Martin said he has about 20 candidates in mind and would start his search Monday afternoon. Martin plans to form a search committee and to ask for Carr’s input.

“I want to get this done as soon as I can,” Martin said.

Among other things, Monday, Carr joked about speculation that coaching wore him out.

“I’m not tired,” he said with a smile. “I may look tired, but I still have a great passion for the game, for the players and for the competition. But I also know that there are some things that I don’t have anymore, and so it’s time.”

Carr had a 121-40 record for a .752 winning percentage, seventh among active coaches behind Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and ahead of South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier.

He is one of eight coaches in Big Ten history with at least five championships and he never finished lower than third in the conference.

Michigan has lost its last four bowl games, including three Rose Bowls, the longest postseason skid since Schembechler dropped seven straight in the 1970s.

“We haven’t won a bowl game around here in a while and that would be a great way to send coach Carr off,” receiver Greg Mathews said.

The Wolverines won four straight bowls for the first time in school history under Carr, starting with the win over Ryan Leaf-led Washington State in the 1998 Rose Bowl that gave the school its first national championship in 49 years.

“His legacy in football is unbelievable,” Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord said. “And he did it with integrity. There has never been an NCAA person come here to question anything about football.”

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