When University Regent David Brandon, a former Michigan football player, sat down to dinner Thursday night with his former coach, he never imagined he would be seeing his friend during some of his last hours.

Brandon spent the evening having dinner with Bo Schembechler, his wife Cathy and Regent Andrea Fischer Newman.

Brandon, who played on three Big Ten championship teams in the early 1970s under Schembechler, said that during the dinner he and his former coach reminisced about their glory days.

"We laughed a lot last night as we were reflecting," Brandon said. "I told him that between the time that practices started and ended, I was sure that every player on the team hated him, and he got a big smile on his face."

But Brandon was quick to point out that those feelings never left the practice field.

"By the time practice was over for five minutes, he would come up to you and put his arm around you and tell you he appreciated you," Brandon said. "Then you'd realize, geez, we're really lucky, we're out here playing for a legend."

Schembechler was in good spirits, but Brandon said it was clear his health was fragile.

"He clearly was still recovering from the episode that he had a couple of weeks ago," Brandon said. "He indicated to me that he was a little frustrated because he wasn't getting his strength back as fast as he wanted to. Mentally, he was the same Bo I met 36 years ago."