Eastern Michigan

OK, so who the hell is this guy?

Indeed 46 years later, "Beau Who?" might be once again an appropriate headline for the 2015 head football coach of the University of Michigan.  At least I think so.

I submit to you that any new head football coach search for Michigan must include youth, energy and proven record of success.  Beau Baldwin is one of the most successful college football coaches in the country right now.

Title: Head Coach

Team: Eastern Washington

Conference: Big Sky

Record: 56-22 at EWU, 66-25 career

Played QB at Central Washington 1991-1993

Coaching Career:

1994–2002      Central Washington (QB Coach)
2003–2006      Eastern Washington (OC & QB Coach)
2007                  Central Washington (HC)
2008–present  Eastern Washington (HC)

Influencers:   John Zamberlin, Paul Wulff, Greg Olson (OC for Oakland Raiders & QB coach of Drew Brees while at Purdue)

QBs Coached: Jon Kitna, Mike Reilly, Bo Levi Mitchell, Erik Meyer (Walter Payton Award winner), Vernon Adams

Upsets:

Defeated No. 25 Oregon State (Mike Riley) in Corvallis, August 2013 (EWU as FCS school).

Scared the shit out of Washington 52-59 in Seattle, September 6, 2014.

Offensive Philsophy:

“The idea is to tempo people and to get on people and to stay on people. But the whole philosophy of that no-huddle is to keep the defense off balance. And from there it’s nice to be able to spread people out and that’s always been my philosophy,” he added. “But you have to be balanced. You have to have the threat of both and I think that goes for any sport. To be a championship-caliber offense, you have to be balanced.”

Negatives

-No Mid-West ties

-No FBS head coaching experience, just NCAA division II and FCS/Division I.

-Unfamiliar with the B1G

-Too west-centric. Completely unknown in the mid-west

- He doesn't have a wandering eye. Loves EWU. Loves the brand of football at the division II/I level. Says he's very happy where he's at.

Positives

- Strong, proven quarterback coaching skills and experience. High performance, numerous accolades won by QB players.

- Creative offensive coordinator, seasoned

- Strong HC performance over 7 years: 66 wins, 5 tournament appearances, 1 championship game. Never had a losing season. 3 time Big Sky coach of the year.

- Players love him.

- Strong confidence, determination, drive to make EWU nationally relevant program

Bio:

http://goeags.com/sports/m-footbl/coaches/baldwin_beau00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beau_Baldwin

Articles:

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sports/bobcats/football/article_65d0069e-408b-11e4-a373-ef3776eea141.html

Those who have watched the coach say he always seems so confident, so calm and so sure Eastern will slay any Goliath who gets in its way. Despite their No. 4 ranking in the FCS poll, that’s really what the Eagles were that evening in Corvallis, Ore. — a David with a coach named Beau Baldwin who calmly stalks sidelines with a disguised fearlessness he infuses into every coach and player he surrounds himself with.

“I think they just buy into that mindset, that attitude,” Baldwin said. “You have to live it, that’s what I’ll say. It’s one thing to say it in a team meeting, but as long as they see that you truly believe it then there’s no reason not to believe it. That’s when great things happen.”

Added Mario Brown, a fifth-year running back Baldwin recruited from Oakland, Calif., “It definitely carries over to the team. We’re a representation of who he is.”

For long-time MGoBlog readers who'd like a trip down memory lane and into the realm of hearsay and speculation (not to mention a fun distraction from yesterday's events), there's an interesting article on EMU in the DetNews today:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131109/SPORTS0203/311090058/Eagles-...

Of note:

EMU regent Jim Stapleton did not agree with the firing, saying English needed six years to succeed. He said English had one of the best coaching staffs in the MAC, men who won titles elsewhere.

“They did not get dumb overnight,” he said.

* * * * *

He also blamed former players for creating a negative vibe around the program.

“A lot of those guys fought against his hiring,” Stapleton said. “(English) had internal battles all the time. There was a culture of former players who did not want to see him succeed. … They never liked him.”

* * * * *

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

EMU's marching band has apparently added the Huron logo onto their uniforms.  

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120907/SCHOOLS/209070376

    Inside the box score - Game 2, was bumped to Diary Status and front-paged linked twice last week, so I think I'm OK with making this a regular feature. [Ed-M: Yes! Yes you are!] I know that the folks just like having a handy link for the box score, so let's get that out of the way first, and then we'll follow with my commentary:

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/091711aaa.html

    The BIG story coming into this game was Eastern Michigan averaging 331 yards per game rushing, and how could our rebuilding defense match up with that? During the first quarter, I was starting to believe that Mike Hart was the second coming of Fred Jackson. After that, our defense calmed down, and I found out that Mike is actually an offensive quality control coach. So how did we do against the greatest rushing attack in Ypsilanti? The EMU Fighting Emus tallied 10 rushing first downs, 207 yards rushing, and 4.5 yards per carry. 67 yards came from the 4th best QB in the state of Michigan, Alex Gillette. I was impressed with his running, but EMU could never get the passing game going. I'm a little worried about what this says about our chances against Scheelhaase. Could we be looking at another shootout?

     Time to get inside the box score:

* First downs: UofM 24, EMU 12. Now that's more like it.

* Average yards per rush: UofM 7.5, EMU 4.5. That's a healthy serving of MANBALL right there.

* Net yards per punt: EMU 40.2, UofM 29.7. Mr. Hagerup, we eagerly await your return. Please obey your curfew and get your homework done. Thank you.

* Net yards per Kickoff: EMU 51, UofM 38. Giving up a first down's worth of field position with every special teams play is not special.

* Vincent Smith had 118 yards rushing. If there is a baby seal nearby, you can bet that Vincent has a club ready. He's looking better and better.

* Denard was 7-18 passing. Let's hope that was just a result of the injured arm they referenced on the B1G Network telecast. I'm not seeing 70%. I'll take 60%. <50% has me worried.

* FG attempts: UofM 1 for 1! I realize it was just 21 yards, but let's let the young man get his confidence up a little before throwing him out there for a game-winning 50 yarder into the wind.

* 23 players showed up in the defensive stats, lead by another linebacker. With all of the running EMU did,  that's to be expected, but doesn't that feel great to see 2 weeks in a row?

And finally in our official's names section of the post,

* The linesman was "R. Studd." I wonder if he's related to Big John.

Your thoughts?

So I had the chance to watch the game from the field today.  It was my first time watching a game at the Big House from the field and I'll have to say that it was pretty awesome.  This is actually my third game of photographing from the field and I'll have to say that it a little tougher than I expected.  It was alot more crowded on the field at the Big House than it is at Rynearson (duh) so it was a little tougher to be where I wanted.  All in all, I had a blast though.

Anyway, these are my pre-game pictures.  I have to go meet a friend, so I will post the game pics later.  Enjoy.

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.com/2011/09/eastern-michigan-vs-university-of.html 

So anyways, thanks to another blog (http://easterneagles.wordpress.com/ ), I have found myself in posession of a press pass for the EMU games.  So I've been given a chance to take some better sports pictures than what I can get from the stands.  Anyways, here are some pics from the last two EMU games.

EMU vs. Howard:

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.com/2011/09/howard-vs-eastern-michigan-game.html 

EMU vs. Alabama State:

http://michiganexposures.blogspot.com/2011/09/alabama-state-hornets-vs-eastern_11.html 

But the cool part is that I will have a press pass for the game on Saturday, so I will be on the sidelines at the Big House.  I can't wait for this opportunity.