Eastern Michigan Football

Author's Note: This is the first in a five-part series detailing coaches who deserve Coach of the Year Award consideration for the jobs they have done this season in turning around once-dismal programs.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles have been one of the worst football programs in the nation for quite some time.

They have had only one winning season in the last 20 years, a 6-5 finish in 1995 when the team was led by future NFL QB Charlie Batch.  In those 20 seasons, the Eagles had an overall record of 65-164-1.

This season is a different story, as Eastern Michigan currently sits at 6-4 and needs only one more win in order to become bowl-eligible (the Eagles need seven wins to become bowl-eligible this season because they played two FCS teams). 

With two MAC games remaining, getting that one win is a very real possibility.

The Eastern Michigan Eagles' success this season can be attributed to one man: Head Coach Ron English.

While several of the Eagles' key players may be upperclassmen, it is important to remember that they had done very little in previous years, making this season's success quite surprising.  So, Coach English deserves a ton of credit for getting the most out of these players.

QB Alex Gillett is enjoying a stellar season.

He has thrown for over 1,250 yards with 13 touchdowns and rushed for 654 yards and three touchdowns.  This is an enormous improvement over his previous two seasons as the starter; during those seasons he was statistically one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the country.

When a player experiences such an enormous growth in his level of play, the driving force behind it is almost always a great coach who is pushing his player to become great. 

It isn't just Gillett that English is getting the most out of: Eastern Michigan currently ranks 14th in the country in rushing yards per game, quite an impressive feat for a team that has had to face Michigan's and Penn State's defenses.

Before the season, Coach English went skydiving with the U.S. Army's Golden Knights in order to garner attention for both the Golden Knights and the EMU football team.  It looks like his daring move has worked in firing up his team as well.

Turning around a program that has losing ingrained in it is a nearly impossible task. 

Coach Ron English has done the nearly impossible this season, and for that he deserves consideration for Coach of the Year.

Ypsilanti, Michigan is 45 minutes west of Detroit, a dreary drive from downtown along I-94, a stretch of freeway that is as hard on the eyes as Rush Limbaugh in a Speedo.

You’d think you’d get rewarded for traveling such an unpleasant interstate, but when you exit the freeway toward Ypsi, you actually consider getting right back onto 94.

Ypsilanti is the town you pass through on your way to Ann Arbor, similar to how a root canal is something you have to endure before your toothache goes away.

Ypsi is a burg with sniffles and pain in its joints. The faucets in town should release NyQuil, not water. You can spend a weekend there and keep the change.

Its culture is a cross between down south country and the red light of Times Square. If they charged a toll to leave town, the city would make a mint.

Michigan Avenue is the dividing line; north of it is 1985 and south of it is 1967.

No one settles in Ypsilanti; they give up there.

But despite all this, the city does contain Eastern Michigan University, my alma mater (class of 1985). The home of one of the best teaching colleges in the state and a football program that should lose accreditation.

If anyone cared about EMU football, you’d have a real story on your hands. For what has gone on in Ypsilanti over the decades when it comes to football makes the Lions’ situation seem like a 24-hour virus.

At EMU, the season records every year look like ranges of numbers, not won/loss marks.

1-11. 0-12. 2-10.

When I arrived at Eastern as a freshman in 1981, the football team was in the throes of a losing streak that had passed adolescence and had entered the teens.

By the end of my freshman year, the (then) Hurons had lost 19 games in a row. During that season, the president of the student body delivered a petition to school president John Porter calling for the firing of head coach Mike Stock.

Porter passed on the suggestion.

The Huron losing streak reached 27 before they finally won a game on November 6, 1982—a 9-7 decision at home over Kent State, who was in the middle of their own 21-game losing streak.

EMU and KSU had quite a thing going on in those days.

EMU broke its 27-game streak by beating Kent, which was the Golden Flashes’ 11th loss in a row at the time. Kent’s last win before the streak began was against EMU.

Kent would go on to lose 10 more games in a row after the 1982 game in Ypsilanti, the losing streak reaching the aforementioned 21 games. Their next win wouldn’t be until November 5, 1983—over Eastern.

If it hadn’t been for each other, the losing streaks of EMU and Kent State in those days would have been even more outrageous.

It got so bad in Ypsilanti that the Mid-American Conference (MAC) looked at EMU’s football program and threatened to boot Eastern out of the conference.

They called it the “MAC Attack.”

We had some clever folks at EMU, eh?

It’s surreal even now as I recall the state of football at EMU circa 1982-84, when the program turned to desperate acts of marketing just to get fannies into the seats, thus meeting the MAC’s quota for attendance so the school could stay in the conference.

They brought in B-list acts like comedian Skip Stephenson and singer Lynn Anderson and even the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders to perform at halftime of games.

I remember the male fans booing the poor cheerleaders because instead of wearing their famous fringed halter tops and go-go boots, the girls came out in spandex bodysuits to combat the chilly weather.

Lynn Anderson was a joke, as she resorted to lip-synching—quite poorly I might add—her big hit, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.” She, too, was booed.

Football games at EMU back then were about 25 percent football and 75 percent circus.

But it worked; the school met the MAC’s attendance requirements and was allowed to remain in the conference.

Aside from a brief rise to power that occurred between 1986 and 1989, EMU’s football program has been among the worst in the country. Despite being closer to Detroit than its fellow MAC schools in Michigan like Western and Central, Eastern routinely gets its ass kicked in recruiting the PSL high schools.

CMU and WMU’s campuses are no nicer than Eastern’s, and the enrollment is about the same. But both of those schools have enjoyed more football success—by far—than Eastern has, and as an alumnus, I’m tired of it.

I’m tired of seeing EMU’s losses reach double figures every year while CMU and WMU can seem to field competitive teams almost routinely.

After the 2008 season, Eastern went looking for another head football coach—think Joe Dumars and the Pistons when it comes to frequency in this area—and hired Ron English, who was minding his own business as the defensive coordinator at Louisville University when EMU came calling.

English was known to the higher ups at EMU because of his time spent down the road in Ann Arbor, coordinating defenses for Lloyd Carr at the University of Michigan.

English seemed like a good hire. I applauded it, for whatever that’s worth to you.

English’s inaugural season in 2009 didn’t go so good. The (now) Eagles went 0-12. English had done something that I thought was impossible—he took over EMU’s sorry football program and managed to make it worse.

This year’s squad played its final game of the season Friday, at home.

Northern Illinois beat them, 71-3.

I don’t have the school’s football media guide handy, but I’m pretty sure that’s among the worst losses in EMU history.

Eastern finished the season 2-10. As usual.

And as if the Eagles needed something else to make recruiting Detroit high schools hard on themselves, English opened his mouth a few months ago and inserted a big football cleat into it.

Speaking to a reporter, English basically said that he didn’t think a man could properly coach kids raised by a single mother. It was his sloppy way of trumpeting the virtues of kids who come from dual-parent homes.

Guess which city’s football-playing kids have a low percentage of dual parents?

English managed to offend not only single mothers but also the PSL coaches who coach those mothers’ boys.

Eastern Michigan University’s football program has had one winning season in the past 21 years. In just about every one of those 20 losing years, they haven’t come close to .500.

It’s a school plopped in a depressing town that has the amenities of a motel on Eight Mile Road and the culture of yogurt. The least they can have is a winning football team for the people sentenced to live and go to school there.

More than once every 21 years, that is.

By my count, Saturday’s debacle in Nashville was the one-thousandth football game played by EMU/EMC/MSNC/MSNS. EMU's press releases appear to count two fewer games and one fewer season than I've counted; I suspect that for some reason they're leaving off the first season, 1891. I’ve planned some history posts for next summer when things are slow, but I thought this would be a good occasion to take a brief look at the history of EMU football. Parts of this are taken from the Wikipedia articles about EMU football, much of which I wrote.

Since their first season of football, in 1891, Eastern Michigan University has compiled an all-time record of 428-525-47, failing to field a team only in 1944. The team has achieved five undefeated seasons, in 1906, 1925, 1927, 1943 (holding opponents scoreless), and 1945 and eight perfectly bad seasons, in 1891, 1910, 1941, 1949, 1960, 1961, 1981, and 2009. The team has never ended a season ranked in any major poll and is among the worst NCAA Division I FBS schools both in all-time win percentage (42.8%) and in all-time scoring margin (-2059).

Many of EMU’s head coaches have had brief tenures with the program; 18 head coaches served for one season or less. Among the more notable head coaches at EMU have been Elton Rynearson (1917, 1919–1920, 1925–1948), Fred Trosko (1952–1964), Dan Boisture (1967–1973), Mike Stock (1978–1982), and Jim Harkema (1983–1992). Rynearson was the longest-serving and winningest coach, with a record of 114-58-15 over 26 seasons, while Vern Bennett (1894) posted the highest winning percentage, 71.4%. Tony Lombardi was the shortest-tenured coach, leading the team only for the final game of the 1999 season.
 
Michigan State Normal School first fielded a football team in 1891. Initially the team had no official nickname, being known variously as the “Normalites” or the “Men from Ypsi”. From 1892 to 1926, the team competed in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, winning conference championships in 1896 and 1925. (Although the MIAA didn’t recognize football as an official sport until 1894, MIAA teams competed against each other as early as 1891.)

The 1916 season was cut short after four games when Coach Elmer Mitchell and four players contracted smallpox; the last game was played October 28 against the University of Detroit. In the late 1920s, Coach Elton Rynearson led the team to what remain their most successful seasons, with perfect seasons in 1925 and 1927, and a record of 29-2 from 1925 through 1928.

In 1929, the Michigan State Normal College Men’s Union sponsored a contest to determine a nickname. A three-person committee chose “Hurons” from the contest entries; the runner-up name was “Pioneers”. The name Hurons was submitted by Gretchen Borst and George Hanner, both MSNC students. It is likely that Hanner got the idea from the Huron Hotel in downtown Ypsilanti, where he was employed.

From 1927 to 1930 Michigan State Normal College competed in the Michigan Collegiate Conference, where they won the championship every year. Rynearson coached the Hurons through 1948, and his 114 wins are more than double those of any other coach at the school. After 19 years as an independent team the school competed in the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1950 through 1961, during which time the school’s name changed from Michigan State Normal College to Eastern Michigan College and then to Eastern Michigan University, and following two more independent seasons the team competed in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in 1964 and 1965.

In 1972, Eastern Michigan joined the Mid-American Conference, in which they still compete. From the 1980 season through the 1982 season, the team lost a school-record 27 consecutive games, including a “perfectly bad season” in 1981. In the late 1980s, Coach Jim Harkema lead the team to four consecutive winning seasons, including Eastern’s only MAC championship in 1987, when the team went to the 1987 California Bowl and upset 17 1/2 point favorite San Jose State University for the only bowl game win in school history.

In October 1988, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights issued a report suggesting that all schools using Native American logos or imagery should drop them. An EMU committee considered the change and recommended three possible replacement nicknames, Eagles, Green Hornets, and Express, from which the Board of Regents voted to accept the nickname “Eagles”. The change became official on May 22, 1991. The controversy over the nickname continues to this day, as many former students and faculty were angered that a unique name like Hurons was replaced by a common name like Eagles, and many alumni have refused to donate money to the school until the name Hurons is restored. An official chapter of the EMU Alumni Association, the Huron Restoration Chapter, seeks to bring back the name and claims to have the support of Chief Leaford Bearskin of the Wyandot Tribe of Oklahoma and former Grand Chief Max Gros-Louis of the Huron-Wendat Nation of Quebec.

In 19 seasons since the change, the Eagles have managed only a single winning season, 1995, in which they went 6-5. In the Eagles era, the team has a 61-166-1 record, including a perfectly bad season (0-12) in 2009 and single win seasons in 1992 (1-10) and 2006 (1-11). They have had eight different coaches in that time, for an average coaching tenure less than 3 years, and two head coaches who stayed less than a season each (Jan Quarless coached the final seven games in 1992, and Tony Lombardi coached the final game in 1999).

After Mick McCabe’s Sunday Free Press column, and the attendant explosion of chatter Monday morning, things seem to have died down a bit. Ron English contacted Terry Foster and explained what he meant.

Perhaps just as importantly, AnnArbor.com gave the entire quote, in context:

At media day, English was asked about his incoming class of recruits. In a conversation that also talked about a lack of toughness exhibited by his team, which was 0-12 last season, English said:

“You know what the real focus was? We wanted to recruit football players that love football. I felt like we had a lot of guys who really didn’t love football. They maybe were playing football so that they could go to school or whatever, but not for the love of playing football.

“So when we went out, we wanted to do two things. We wanted players who love football, who have the physical ability to play football and then the other thing we wanted was guys that could be coached. We wanted guys that had a father in their background because if you don’t, the hard part is, some guy like me coming in and corrects you. So you’re working – that’s a whole another dynamic. A guy that’s raised by his mom – and please don’t take me wrong – but the reality is, you have to teach that guy how to be taught by a man. That’s part of it.”

As I admitted yesterday, my feelings on this went back and forth a bit. In the end, I don’t really have any problem with what English said, though I think he could have chosen his words more carefully, especially considering the already-difficult job he faces. He’s the head coach of a FBS program, and he needs to be aware that everything he says is facing a certain level of scrutiny, often by people who don’t want him to succeed. That said, I think if you read the entire quote, in its context, and then compare it to what McCabe wrote, you have to conclude that either McCabe is a moron, or he deliberately took English’s comment out of context. McCabe’s column is even more absurd when you consider English’s own upbringing:

His mother, who was divorced from his father at the time of English’s birth, died when her son was 18 months old. A legal battle followed and English was raised by his grandmother without his grandfather being present until the age of 13. English then was forced to turn to uncles and youth coaches for positive role models – a point he said he was trying to make during his comments in Detroit.

If anyone was “moronic and sexist” in this episode, it was surely McCabe, who seems to have deliberately taken English’s quote out of context, and then used his column to suggest that the presence of a father is irrelevant.

Today we’ll take a look at attendance figures. The NCAA makes this relatively easy by publishing a comprehensive list of attendance figures each year; the numbers for 1998 through 2009 are available here.

A few quick thoughts on this:

- In 2009, EMU had by far the lowest attendance of any FBS team, averaging 5,016 fans at 5 games, for a total of 25,080. The next-lowest attendance was FIU, averaging just over twice as many attendees as EMU. In addition to a whole bunch of FCS schools, this was lower than 25 Division II schools and one Division III school (St. John’s, in Minnesota).

- In 2008, EMU’s attendance ranked 101 out of 119 FBS schools (third highest in the MAC, behind only Central Michigan and Ball State), averaging 18,951 per game, behind 4 FCS schools. Kent State was lowest in FBS, followed by FIU.

- In 2007, EMU also had the lowest FBS attendance, with 7,448 per game, barely lagging behind FIU. This put them behind 50 FCS schools, 12 Division II schools, and one Division III school (St. John’s, in Minnesota).

- Teams obviously game these figures. EMU has admitted to doing this in the past, and has stated that they will do so this year if needed. The most striking example of this in 2009 was that Louisiana Tech had exactly 100,000 attendees for the season. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to state confidently that the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs did not, in fact, have exactly 100,000 attendees in 2009. (Although the attendance numbers reported by ESPN do match that, so maybe it’s just a freak of chance.) The key is that the school can report either actual attendance or tickets sold. So if the school can persuade fans to buy, say, 10 tickets at a time, those all count, even if they don’t get used.

- MAC teams averaged 15,317 attendees/tickets per home game, the lowest of 11 FBS conferences. MAC teams were the lowest in 2008 also, just behind the Sun Belt both years. The gap narrowed somewhat from 2008 to 2009 because, although attendance declined for teams in both conferences, Sun Belt attendance was down more.

- In 2009, five MAC teams (Bowling Green, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ball State, EMU) were below the 15,000 attendee/ticket average required to maintain FBS affiliation. In 2008, two MAC teams (Akron, Kent State) were below that number. In 2007, four MAC teams (Kent State, Buffalo, Ball State, Eastern Michigan) were below that number. Over the last three seasons, Kent State, Miami, Ball State, and Eastern Michigan have averaged fewer than 15,000 fans/tickets per game.

Eastern Michigan was again dead last in attendance at the FBS level, drawing 5,016 fans per game in 2009.

That means it filled Rynearson Stadium to 16.61 percent of capacity in its five home games.

It gets worse.

They opened with Army—a great road draw—and drew 14,499.

Yes, they averaged 2,645 in their last four home games—and those last four home games were in-conference games against their longtime rivals.

Let's not beat around the bush here.

Last year's schedule was especially brutal, and EMU has struggled to draw crowds without a brutal schedule. From 2004-2007, EMU averaged 9782 fans per game.

Something has to be done about this. No school should be playing FBS football and drawing effectively less than 3,000 of its own fans per game to in-conference games, as EMU did last year. That is a money pit.

As I wrote in a previous article, EMU's Rynearson Stadium is a big part of the problem , but it isn't all of the problem.

University President Susan Martin and the EMU board of regents need to get serious about getting the football program to an FBS subsistence level. That may or may not mean that heads need to roll.

Things have gone downhill for the football program under AD Derrick Gragg's leadership since his hire in 2006, but regardless of whether a change is required in personnel in the athletic department, changes are required in methodology.

EMU plays five home games a year now because the administration (or maybe just the athletic department) doesn't have a clue how to make football work there.

What is being tried is clearly not working. With that in mind, here are some scheduling guidelines—including one that should never, ever be broken—to get EMU football attendance off this road to oblivion. These rules—in conjunction with the stadium upgrades —would do a lot to fix the issue at EMU.

1. Do Not Compete Head-to-Head with the University of Michigan

Consider this more of a rule than a guideline.

EMU played three of its five home games last season the same day Michigan hosted teams 11 miles down the road.

They played a fourth the day all eyes in the state were focused on Michigan State for the Michigan-at-MSU game.

I don't understand how that kind of schedule could have been approved by an athletic director with firsthand knowledge of the realities of EMU's situation.

The guy has been in place for years. Does he not realize that if Michigan is pulling 100K+ football fans that day to a stadium 11 miles down the road that scheduling a home game for the same day is not a good idea?

EMU is a commuter school. Weekend games are problematic for that reason anyway. Why would anyone who has been there for years compound the situation by having them play every one of their home games on Saturdays? ("Fans like Saturday games" is not an acceptable answer.)

Part of the job of the athletic department is to recoup costs by selling tickets. You aren't going to do that going head-to-head with Michigan.

You shouldn't play a home game the same day Michigan plays a home game or the day they play at MSU.

If your opponent requires the game to be played at EMU that weekend, play the game on Thursday if at all possible so there is a full two-day gap.

If Michigan opens the season at home the first week of the year, there is nothing to prevent you from opening your season 2 days earlier.  That only guarantees you get the football starved fan to bump up what should be your season's highest draw.

2. Try to Play Five Home Games and a Neutral Site 'Home' Game Each Year

Try for two out-of-conference games that will draw well each year.

Six "home games" is really needed here for recruiting. If you cannot recruit, you cannot regularly win. If you can't win, your attendance will suffer.

While it is technically better to take a local (Rust Belt) body bag road game if you really only can scare up one good draw out-of-conference home game (for a total of 5 home games), the AD should consider it a personal defeat.

3. Try to schedule a pre-conference play Fifth Home Game Against Army, Navy, Air Force, Michigan State, Marshall, or Youngstown State

All of these schools would likely be pretty decent draws.

The military academies will consider playing anywhere and will pull a good 10,000 fans over your normal draw.

MSU has recently decided to play the 3 Michigan MAC schools in the future , and that dovetails into what I am suggesting. As EMU is in Michigan's backyard, playing EMU might hold some additional value for MSU. Time will tell.

Marshall has a tiny athletic budget for CUSA.  They would love to have very inexpensive travel before their in-conference play starts.  They are a good draw in the MAC region and despite their conference change still like playing MAC schools.

Youngstown State draws a little more than 15,000 a year and is close enough that they might travel some fans to an early season game at EMU (before the snow starts falling).

Try to schedule it between Week One and Week Five on a weekend when Michigan is out of town. You want it early enough in the year that EMU fans have not yet decided the team is another dog.

4. Try to Play Army, Navy, Air Force, Michigan State, Marshall, Cincinnati, Louisville, WMU, CMU, Toledo, or Bowling Green in Detroit each year

From 2004-2007, EMU played the "College Clash"—a game annually at Detroit's Ford Field.  Restore the "collegiate clash" and try to get it rebroadcast overnight on a Detroit TV station if that particular EMU game isn't already being broadcasted.

EMU stopped this after they played Northeastern—a private school from northern Chicago— and drew a paltry 10,000.

That wasn't a problem with the concept—that was a problem with the opponents. WMU only pulled a little more than 11,191 for their matchup with EMU in 2005, but WMU and CMU are two-and-a-half hours from Detroit. The Army game did all right, pulling 15,816 in 2006.

These numbers may sound really small, but I am sure they were within expectations for Ford Field management, if a bit on the low end, and are better than what EMU draws at home.

Playing a team in Detroit is a good idea if the costs are reasonable. Eastern Michigan should aspire to be the team of Eastern Michigan. Playing in Detroit makes Detroit kids more aware of EMU and more likely to attend there. A Detroit game does what college football is supposed to do—raise your profile to attract students to your school.

Playing the game at Ford Field—a pro stadium—opens the door to a variety of opponents who would never play EMU normally, as well as opening the door to EMU's large alumni base in the Detroit area to attend a game.

Schools like MSU, Cincy, Marshall, and Louisville might be quite agreeable to getting a foot in the door for Detroit area and Michigan recruiting. Ohio State might be very interested as well for the same reason, but the idea is not to get beaten 60-0.

If you can't get one of those teams for a 6th game, play one of your in-conference games there.  Toledo, or even occasionally Bowling Green, makes sense. Both schools have easy travel to Detroit and are closer to Detroit than the other two directional Michigan schools. (BG is about an hour and a half from Ford Field, and Toledo is about one hour away.) 

EMU grads probably have historically moved toward Detroit to find jobs. There is a significant EMU alumni base living there. Likely the same thing happens with BG and Toledo grads. There are probably enough grads from BG or Toledo living in Detroit to have that game draw a crowd in the low 20s. That is a lot better than what EMU is drawing.

Even if you lose a little money doing this, at the end of the day the boost you get in recruiting and building a Detroit fanbase will help EMU in the long run.  Some of those fans may drive to Rynearson from time to time.

5. Try to get your weakest in-conference home game pushed to the front of the schedule.

EMU is a bad team on the field and has been for quite a while. Odds are it will be a bad team for a few more years at least.

With that in mind, it makes a lot more sense to play a peer bad school early in the season when the fans haven't turned on the team than late in the year when the casual fans no longer care.

It would be ideal if EMU could play the matchup of the likely worst teams on their in-conference home schedule in week 3-4.

Ideally by week 5 EMU will have played a home opener (guideline 3), a road money game in week 2, the Collegiate Clash in Detroit in week 3 (guideline 4), the easiest home matchup in the MAC on week 4 (guideline 5), and a bodybag road gainst against a Big East or MWC opponent in week 5.

In that scenario, EMU will have 3 "home games" that should draw well before the EMU crowd can pronounce them a bad team.  The early season stacking will give their team a better chance of turning the corner.

I cannot guarantee that EMU doesn't have an FCS future, but these steps —in conjuction with the stadium seating reduction recommendations —will allow EMU to succeed if they are capable of succeeding at the FBS level.

In honor of fast-approaching Halloween, I am doing a series on problem stadiums that haunt programs at the FBS level. 

These recommendations were originally conceived in a thread I wrote a few years back at Collegesportsinfo.com, based on muti-year attendance averages vs. stadium capacities.  My opinions have been refined over the years using feedback from other sports fans.

For every FBS program, football should be the university's No. 1 or 1A revenue generating sport.  Potentially, football revenue and football-inspired alumni donations could pay for all of the other sports.  If you blow football, you will lose massive amounts of money on sports.

At the bottom end of the FBS, stadium troubles often cause a lot of issues.

I am going to start at the very bottom of the FBS attendance roll.

No. 1 Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan has long been the worst-attended program at the FBS Level, drawing less than 10,000 per game over multiple years.

Some have argued that as a strong reason for EMU to move to the FCS level.

My personal feelings on the matter are that changing affiliations should never be your first step.  Address the factors that haunt your program today and then evaluate the level at which you should play.

Some of the issues that figure into EMU's attendance issues cannot be changed. 

EMU is only seven miles away from the University of Michigan, which draws 110K per game.  Even though the Wolverines are not a pro team, they might as well be.  EMU is playing in what I have named a "Killzone."  They are competing against a football business that dominates the public's football entertainment dollars in their area, just like NFL teams do in NFL Killzones.

EMU is also a bit of a commuter school.  That hurts attendance as well.

These factors strongly suggest EMU will not draw a consistent 25,000 to Rynearson at any point in the next 20 years, no matter how competitive they are on the field.

But there is one glaring factor that can be fixed to help attendance.  Rynearson itself.

What is wrong with Rynearson?

One might look at Rynearson Stadium and say it is a pretty nice stadium that lacks the cobbled together feel of a lot of other MAC schools.  The seats are all along the sides of the field, which should really be ideal for drawing good attendance to a small FBS stadium.

So why does this stadium hurt them?

The placement of the field.  It absolutely kills them.

With the track there, there is nothing that can be done to fix the field placement.

The stadium was expanded twice and apparently done badly both times.  In 1974, the WFL's Detroit Wheels played at Rynearson, leading to an expansion of the stadium capacity to 22,227.   They drew horrifically at Rynearson .  In 1992, the stadium was expanded to satisfy the NCAA's then minimum capacity rules to its current capacity of 30,200.

Sadly, the leadership of EMU made the same error that a lot of small FBS programs make and built around the running track instead of taking out the running track.

Track draws a few hundred fans. FBS football draws tens of thousands of fans. 

The two sports have entirely different fan requirements and should ideally never be addressed by a shared resource.  That track should have been taken out and built around a soccer field or something.

A small FBS school can build a workable stadium with a track as long as the needs of the football program are not compromised.  After all, football is the main revenue generating sports at FBS schools.

It is fine to have a track around your football field if your stadium seating is on each sideline from goal line to goal line, but usually once you hit a capacity of about 20,000-25,000, any kind of cost effective expansion—the kind a MAC school might do—needs to go in the end zones.

The mistake that poorer Division IA universities often made in the 1970s to late 1990s was to retain the track and build the end zones around the track.  Doing this creates thousands of bad seats that fans do not want to sit in.  It in essence creates seats that will usually be empty, which in turn makes the stadium feel empty, further discouraging fans from attending.

This is the mistake that EMU made with the 1992 NCAA mandated expansion. That expansion turned what should be a wonderful tribute to a coaching legend into a disrespectful black eye.

It is high time for that to be rectified.

My Suggestions

I try to be as cost effective as I can with my suggestions. 

With this stadium, I'm going to start with an ideal recommendation and then follow up with what will probably be a more cost effective and politically palatable recommendation.

Option 1: Demolish Part of the Stadium Seating

While technically the best solution would be to rip out all of the seats south of the goal line—essentially almost all of sections 110-120—how much would that cost, and would the university go for it?  That is a lot of concrete.

It would probably reduce capacity by about 20 percent to somewhere around 24,000 seats.  That would immediately make the stadium feel less empty and would make the fans in the stadium feel better. 

It would dramatically increase the odds of an occasional sell out. The university would be smart to really push the tickets for the season opener after the demolition is complete.

Perhaps a good draw like Army would be willing to come in for the opener.  If EMU could pull from student loyalty and local Ypsilanti goodwill to sell out Game One after the stadium work, it could do a ton to change the fortunes of this program overnight.

(The potential of selling out games helps drive ticket sales on hot game tickets.  There is currently little chance of a sellout at EMU with a 30,200-seat Rynearson.)

The track could stay, as it doesn't dramatically hurt the fan experience in the seats between the goal lines.

24,000 is a very reasonable maximum attendance number for EMU in the near future.  If the NCAA ever does return to a 30K minimum stadium capacity rule—highly unlikely after all the programs that rule killed or hobbled the first time around—EMU could have temporary semi-circular end zone berms created to sit in front of the track behind the end zones.  You could throw the band back there.

This does require the university tacitly admitting the old administration blew the 1992 expansion.  Some universities—even some in the MAC—have effectively done so. 

It should be noted that potentially some ill-will could come the way of any administrator advocating tearing down multiple millions of dollars of concrete construction because it was not well thought out.  Care would need to be taken with word choices.  Blame the NCAA—not the previous administrations.

EMU has done much better at selling tickets the last couple of years, but I think this course of action would get EMU's attendance up 2000 overnight even over thos improved recent numbers and, if combined with the kind of scheduling and promotional efforts I suggested above, could get that average up to a MAC respectable 17,000 even in bad years.

Option 2: Rip Out the Track and Move the Turf South 30 Yards.

If there is an unacceptable level of push-back to the idea of dropping stadium capacity, another option would be taking out the stadium's track.  This would probably be a cheaper option.

This would allow the turf to be moved southwards, making the 6,000 or so bad seats into acceptable seats.  That said, I don't think EMU would get the bang for their buck that the first plan offers.

Unlike the first plan, the press box and the seating would be a bit cockeyed, which is generally a bad idea in football stadium design.

Eventually, EMU could do a dig down to move the front row seats closer to the field, but it is debatable that attendance numbers would ever reach that point with that layout.

On the positive side, Rynearson in that configuration would be a great home for an occasional Canadian Football League game or even a Detroit area-based CFL or MLS team.  30,000 seats is perfect for a CFL audience and workable for a MLS team.  The stadium in this configuration could hold the wider CFL and MLS turfs.  Perhaps that could generate some revenue.

EMU would still need to build a new track with a few bleachers around it.  Maybe for a season they could rent out a nearby high school track.

EMU needs to make changes.  For the benefit of future students, it is time for the student body and alumni to demand changes from their leadership and support the costs to implement those changes.

Articles in this series:

1) Fix your danged stadium already, Eastern Michigan University!

2) Fix your danged stadium already, Kent State University!

3) Fix your danged stadium already, Rice University!

Familiar face, new place.

That's what Michigan will be saying come Week Three when lowly Eastern Michigan comes into town with new head coach Ron English, former Michigan defensive coordinator.

English, of course, has a long history of being incapable of creating competitive defenses when playing the spread—a trend that should continue come September 19th.

Of the games Michigan will play this year, this game is one of the few games Michigan will hold a clear advantage.

Yeah it's quite obvious what you are thinking: Toledo! Toledo! Toledo!

Not so fast my friends! Don't expect a repeat of the Toledo debacle that was the 13-10 loss suffered in '08. That won't happen again, count on it.

Looking at the Eastern Michigan roster, they have a general lack of talent, which can be expected of a MAC school that went 3-9. One of those wins came over FCS (formerly 1-AA) laughing-stock Indiana State. Their other two victories (Bowling Green and Central Michigan) came by a combined seven points.

The positive for Eastern is that they return the majority of their starters on both sides of the ball and bring in a new quality head coach in Ron English.

Bad news: Michigan is just better.

As far as returners go for Eastern, the return senior signal-caller Andy Schmitt, who tossed the ball 417 times last year, completing 261 of his attempts (62.6 percent) for 2,648 yards and 15 touchdowns to eight interceptions.

Schmitt also accounted for 171 yards rushing on 57 carries (3.0 ypc) and five touchdowns. His yards and carries were good for third on the team while his touchdowns tied for second most.

Schmitt had a video game-like finish to his '08 campaign as he passed for 1,000 yards and eight touchdowns (with only one INT) on 108 of 156 passing...in his last two games!

In the backfield, the Eagles also return their key running backs with bruiser Terrence Blevins leading the way.

The 6'1", 238-pound Blevins paved the way last year leading the Eagles in carries (133), rushing yards (575), and rushing touchdowns (12) while having the team's longest rush of 61 yards, which resulted in a touchdown (versus Indiana State).

Behind him is junior Dwayne Priest, who added another 474 yards and five touchdowns of his own on his 99 carries during his sophomore outing.

Outside of these two rushers and Schmitt, no Eastern player tallied a rushing touchdown. As a whole, this is a weak unit and shouldn't be much of a task to shut down, even for the inexperienced Wolverine defense.

On the outside, Eastern returns leading receiver Jacory Stone who racked up 943 yards on 88 catches for three touchdowns.

Opposite of him, Michigan will likely see Tyrone Burke who didn't see the field much in '08. In the five games in which he accounted any stats, he managed only four receptions for 31 yards. He will have to come in and replace Tyler Jones who led the team in receiving touchdowns (six) in '08 while his 760 yards on 75 receptions ranked second on the team.

The Eagles do have a legit weapon at tight end with junior Josh LeDuc. In 2008, LeDuc made his presence known by hauling in 32 passes for 446 yards. Both those totals were ranked third on the team and his four touchdown receptions ranked second on the team.

If the Eagles are to have any success against the Michigan defense, LeDuc will have to play big and demand attention in order for the Eagle offense to get going.

Along the offensive line, Eastern will return all but one lineman from 2008. The only new face will come in at right tackle where Brandon Graham of Michigan will likely get to face new blood in projected starter Dan DeMaster; a matchup Graham will be licking his chops over, or so one would assume.

Defensively, things are about the same with six starters returning for the Eagles, which isn't saying much for a defense that finished 95th in the nation last year in total defense. They where also 109th in scoring defense and 103rd against the run.

The Eagle defensive line will have two new faces as defensive tackle Tyler Palsrok and defensive end Javon Resse will likely be called on to fill the voids. The two returning starters (DE Brandon Downs and DT Brad Ohrman) hope to anchor the line and put pressure on the young Tate Forcier—or whoever starts—and the talented Michigan backfield of Minor, Shaw, Brown, and Smith.

That looks unlikely, however.

In the linebacker unit, Eastern brings back WLB Andrew Hatchell (5'11", 221 lbs) and SLB Jermaine Jenkins (6'2", 207 lbs), whom are both rather "undersized" for the linebacker position and should make for easy work for guys like Brandon Minor or Mike Shaw.

Look for either sophomore Marcus English or junior Nate Paopao (should start with a name like that) to fill the void at the "Mike" position. Whoever wins will have to replace the teams leading tackler in 2008, Daniel Holtzclaw.

Back in the secondary, only cornerback Arrington Hicks and strong safety Ryan Downard return. The cornerback position will be lacking as the teams second leading tackler Jacob Wyatt has graduated.

Will the replacements on this defense be ready in time for their encounter with The young, talented Michigan offense? Time will tell, but the answer is doubtful.

On special teams, the Eagles will return both kicking specialists but will have to find replacements at all the return positions.

Matchups to Watch

LeDuc vs Michigan Defense:

LeDuc is Eastern's key player on offense for this game. Will he get the Michigan defense's respect? Or will he be silent and become a non-factor? For Eastern Michigan and Ron English, they better hope he is busy and grabs the attention of the Michigan defenders. Otherwise, it will be a long day for the Eagle offense.

Saying it now, LeDuc is the key to the EMU offense versus the Wolverines. With a weak running back unit, the Eagles will need somebody to take focus off the quarterback and wide receiver—LeDuc is that somebody.

Michigan running backs vs EMU front-seven:

Lack of talent, young, inexperienced, undersized. All this can be said about the Eagle front-seven. All that will hurt the Eagles as well when they face off against one of the best running back units in the nation.

Power back Brandon Minor should have a heyday as should Carlos Brown (assuming both are healthy). Sophomore Mike Shaw will also be one to watch as his blend of speed and power should make for a serious mismatch with the EMU front.

Anything less than 200+ yards rushing for Michigan would be a huge letdown.

Brandon Graham vs Dan DeMasters (potentially):

This is a disaster waiting to happen.

An inexperienced tackle is placed in a mismatch of the century against All-American candidate and one of the nation's top pass rushers Brandon Graham.

This kind of matchup should allow Michigan to provide consistent pressure on the EMU quarterback as Graham should constantly be providing a heavy rush. Graham should also draw double-teams, allowing defensive tackle Mike Martin to do his thing in the run-stopping department.

The EMU offense may be rendered futile if Graham has his way and the EMU offense should become stagnant on third-and-longs and the running game will suffer further if the Eagle offensive line has to direct attention off of Mike Martin.

If your the EMU quarterback, you might want to call in sick that day, if that were only possible...

What to Expect

Hmmmm, what to expect? Expect a blowout for one.

This game shouldn't even be close, even with the youth on Michigan's offense and defense. This is no Toledo, this is no Appalachian State, this will be an ugly game.

Michigan has the advantage in matchups and in talent and that's something that bodes well for the Wolverines.

Besides, they are playing Ron English for goodness sake. He couldn't defend the spread while he was at Michigan and don't expect that to start while he is at EMU. He is also brand new to the head coaching gig so you shouldn't expect any miracles so soon.