Mike Hart from EMU to WMU
January 20th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^
Sources tell us Eastern Michigan's Mike Hart is headed to Western Michigan to join PJ Fleck's staff as RBs coach
— FootballScoop Staff (@footballscoop) January 20, 2014
January 20th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 5:01 PM ^
Western and Central can actually attract some players and with the right coaches can compete for MAC championships and have the past 2 decades. EMU? Uhhh...
January 20th, 2014 at 5:30 PM ^
As an Eastern student, I take offense to that. I don't disagree, but I still take offense.
This comment now has more offense in it than the entire Ron English era.
/cantbeatemjoinem
January 20th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^
This despite outspending EMU. No MAC team does less with more than WMU.
January 20th, 2014 at 7:04 PM ^
year. In 2014 they are currently ranked 52 by Rivals and have 12 3* recruits in their class of 26, Normally there is some attrition to larger schools on signing day but no other MAC school has more than 3 3* recruits.
January 20th, 2014 at 8:34 PM ^
The new EMU coach will do better than you think.
January 20th, 2014 at 4:48 PM ^
That's a step up. Eastern seems like a depressing place for anyone involved with the football team.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:54 PM ^
It's sad. In some way I feel like it's our fault.
Being in the shadow of the University of Michigan sucks all of the CFB oxygen out of the air in the area. It's hard to have a CFB program thrive just off of the students on campus. You need some interest from the local community. If EMU was more isolated like Ohio U. it might get its own sunshine.
January 20th, 2014 at 9:24 PM ^
No, Eastern being a commuter school with no sense of identity is what does it. I know tons of kids who went to EMU and not a single one of them owns a single article of clothing repping the school... they're not proud of having gone there, it was just a place they spent some hours.
January 20th, 2014 at 10:38 PM ^
That's not such a bad thing. College ties are often used as an excuse for adults to languish in adolesence. People that treat it as a place to learn and move on rather than celebrate it are usually successful in life from what I have seen.
January 21st, 2014 at 2:48 AM ^
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it being that, I agree. I think the amount of pride fellow Michigan alums take in the school is absolutely moronic, personally (I'm thinking of the guy a few years back who said he'd vote against his own values if a MICHIGAN MAN were running for office).
But that's the real reason that Eastern football's in the state it's in. I've never understood the whole "shadow of Michigan" line on it... it's not like EMU students get student tix to Michigan games (UM-Dearborn kids do, but it actually helps school spirit on that campus). The truth is, most Western students live on campus and go to football games because that's the thing to do at college. Ditto Central to an even greater degree. At Eastern, most of the student body is at home or at work on Saturday. And that's awesome, no question, but it leads to a culture of disinterest... students who aren't engaged don't become alumni who demand wins, and athletes are going to pass on playing in front of a mostly empty stadium at a commuter school if given any other option.
January 21st, 2014 at 8:22 AM ^
The point M-Dog makes about the community is a good one, though. It may or may not be due to UM's shadow, but there certainly doesn't seem to be a groundswell of local community support for the football team. And while a lot of students commute, there are also plenty of students who live on campus as well. But, EMU has had, except for a few short lived exceptions, football teams that have not been good for at least 30 years. It's hard to build a following and pride when the team wins just a handful of games year in and out.
January 20th, 2014 at 4:51 PM ^
West side is the best side
January 20th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
Mike's climbing the ladder slowly from the bottom...
January 20th, 2014 at 5:00 PM ^
Row the boat, Mike. Row the boat.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:40 PM ^
He's going to be the rowing coach?!?
January 20th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
Word on the street is Lane Kiffin was brought in a month ago to "evaluate" the running backs at EMU. You know how things work out from there...
January 20th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
Oh c'mon and here I was hoping to not have to root against Hart's team anymore. Wish him and the running backs there much success. Hope the rest of the team just blows it for them. Fire Up Chips
January 20th, 2014 at 6:19 PM ^
'81 CMU grad/'83 Michigan grad here......FIRE UP CHIPS and GO BLUE!!!!
January 20th, 2014 at 5:06 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 5:13 PM ^
Good to hear, EMU is where football goes to die. Hopefully he can do well and ultimately end up coaching for Michigan one day
January 20th, 2014 at 5:14 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 6:28 PM ^
Timing is everything. It is not a coincidence that this just happened.
Congrats Mike! Headed in the right direction.
January 20th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^
Now I have stuck in my mind a picture of Mike staggering into a game like Shooter from Hoosiers....
January 20th, 2014 at 5:15 PM ^
Smart move. Not many escape from the black hole that is EMU football.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:18 PM ^
Western is soooo bad
January 20th, 2014 at 5:48 PM ^
Both were MAC West cellar dwellers at 1-7 in conference, but EMU beat Howard for 2-10 overall, compared to WMU's 1-11.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:20 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 5:22 PM ^
In NCAA14 Mike Hart starts as OC at CMU and is very succsesful, and goes on to be OC at MICHIGAN, he then proceeds to be HC at Kentucky where he wins the SEC 3 years in a row before coming back to be HC at Michigan and win 4 national championships in 5 years !
January 20th, 2014 at 5:24 PM ^
As I recall, the article which indicated that Hart was to stay in Ypsilanti was published just a shade over a week ago, so it would be interesting to know what happened between then and now. I wonder if we will get some insight into that in the coming days. I would be interested to know for one anyway.
January 21st, 2014 at 9:31 AM ^
Then again this is one of those "sources say" things. Lots of sources say lots of things. Hell, I believe sources had Wisenhunt going to the Lions. We saw how that worked out.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:38 PM ^
I actually see Western as promotion over Eastern, rather than a lateral move. Of all the directional Michigans, EMU is the least likely to attract decent talent. Some pretty decent players have come through Kalamzaoo, as well as a few decent coaches. Here's to WMU ("fight Broncos, fight!"), and also to Mike for climbing that ladder back to U of M one rung at a time!
January 20th, 2014 at 7:19 PM ^
for the Lions. CMU has Staley, Fisher, and Brown. Western has Schleffer, Jennings, and Delmas. The numbers are actually comparable.
January 20th, 2014 at 8:55 PM ^
You forgot Jason Babin. John Potter the kicker also started for the Redskins a few games.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:43 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 5:45 PM ^
My old coach Dan Nichol is the head football strength coach there...jealous.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:45 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 5:52 PM ^
Trust me, Western is a joke right now.
January 20th, 2014 at 5:56 PM ^
The key words there are "right now." WMU sometimes is good at football. EMU pretty much never is.
January 20th, 2014 at 6:53 PM ^
EMU's program should be demoted to D-2 status, and even then, I'm not sure that'd help. I think EMU has had one winning season in the past 20 years. They make Purdue look like Alabama. Yes, both programs struggled this year, but EMU has absolutely nothing to sell its program on. They don't have any football success right now, nor do they have a tradition of winning. Their facilities are undoubtedly subpar. Not to mention the school down the road in Ann Arbor dominates the whole area.
I honestly believe that a culture of losing has embedded itself within that program. People expect them to lose, whereas at WMU they should at least have a fighting chance. The man who is able to turn EMU around one day deserves a national holiday dedicated to him. It's got to be one of the hardest places in America to build a winning program.
January 20th, 2014 at 7:26 PM ^
Save for a few winning seasons in the 00's Western has been pretty awful at football. EMU i certainly worse, but not much. CMU is the only real MAC power in state WMU won their last MAC title in 1988,a year after EMU.
You should probably stop trumpeting WMU's grand tradition because it, like unicorns, does not exist.
January 20th, 2014 at 9:27 PM ^
Western just went 1-11
January 20th, 2014 at 9:27 PM ^
Western just went 1-11
January 20th, 2014 at 6:02 PM ^
I honestly don't see why EMU should even have a football team. If your program is never even competitive, why does it still exist?
January 20th, 2014 at 6:41 PM ^
January 20th, 2014 at 6:51 PM ^
They want to stay in the MAC That's why they keep their football at Division 1A. They are pretty competitive in the non-revenue sports. Hell, they are pretty competitive in basketball right now...