The University of Michigan’s relationship with its late legendary football coach Bo Schembechler has become so strained, it raises a troubling question:At one time, such a question would have been unthinkable in Ann Arbor, but no more. As more details emerge on what Schembechler knew of the behavior of team doctor Robert Anderson, the more fractured the university community becomes. Anderson, who died in 2008, is accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of student-athletes and others under the guise of medical care at the university, where he served as the football program’s team doctor. Several former players and others have come forward in recent weeks to describe what amounts to a double dose of betrayal: The abuse they suffered from Anderson and the indifference they encountered from Schembechler and other university officials when they reported it. They insist Schembechler knew because they remember telling him, in some cases, repeatedly. Schembechler’s defenders say that can’t be right. The Bo they knew was a strict disciplinarian who loved his players and would never tolerate abuse of them. They don’t defend Anderson, but they insist indifference in the face of criminal assaults was incompatible with the iconic coach’s character. In a letter the Detroit Free Press obtained Friday, more than 100 former players, coaches and staff members under Schembechler said: “Our experiences tell us that the Bo Schembechler we knew would never have tolerated any abuse or mistreatment of his players, his staff, or any other individual. We believe firmly, that if he were aware of such behavior, Coach Schembechler would have acted immediately to put a stop to it and would have made sure anyone responsible for it would have been removed from the University of Michigan football program.”The image of Schembechler is as much a part of the school as its famous block M. The school’s football building bears his name and a bronze statue of the former coach stands outside. Schembechler quotes like “The team, the team, the team” and “Those who stay will be champions” are visible on campus, in some cases etched in stone. Now the university faces a reconsideration of Schembechler’s legacy, an exercise that seems more likely to divide rather than unite. Alumni and others old enough to remember Schembechler on the sidelines have firm opinions of him and his place at the school. But even graduate students enrolled at the university today weren’t alive when Schembechler coached his last game on New Year’s Day 1990. When Schembechler died in 2006, most current students were between 3 and 7 years old. Calder Lewis, editor-in-chief of The Michigan Daily, the school’s student newspaper, said the debate over Schembechler’s place at the university has gone over the heads of a lot of current students.“Schembechler is a name that you always hear as a student at U-M, but he’s kind of just like this mythic figure off in the distance,” Lewis said.
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