EMU Athletics in a Death Spiral?

Submitted by stephenrjking on

 

EMU faculty and students urge school to drop out of D-I football. Bet we'll be seeing a lot more of this. https://t.co/1K7OmYinL4

— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) April 25, 2016

So at least some students and faculty are suggesting that a good way to contribute to solving budget problems at EMU is to drop from D-1 to D-2 (skipping 1-AA entirely). 

This would obviously be a pretty big change for the athletic department. And they have sports that aren't disasters. But, of course, football drives the train, and EMU's football program has been a flaming garbage pile for 30 years. 

I can attest that the D-2 program here in Duluth, UMD (D-1 in hockey only, obviously) gets as much or more attention in a town with no major teams of its own than EMU does in A2 or Ypsi. They, at least, have a fanbase and a consistent radio broadcast and even a local tv broadcast of home games. 

So perhaps it's time. But maybe there are alternate options. Dropping football would certainly be a big step, without gutting the rest of the department, right?

FauxMo

April 25th, 2016 at 3:33 PM ^

I never went to EMU, but I taught classes there for many years. I can honestly say I couldn't find the football stadium without a map. Nor do I ever recall having anyone that even looked like a football player in a class, and I must have come into contact with 2000-3000 students in my time there. My point is...it's almost like the football program doesn't exist now anyway!

James Burrill Angell

April 25th, 2016 at 3:50 PM ^

They need to drop down to Division II or III and try to become a regional power like Grand Valley. They've been too bad, for too long at too much of a cost. Its the right thing to move down. The article mentions the idea of joining th Horizon League for the other sports and just moving football down a division. That seems to make sense.

Brodie

April 25th, 2016 at 7:28 PM ^

I don't think that would work for a few reasons:

A. Grand Valley is a relatively good school (far better than EMU and arguably 5th best in the state after UM, MSU, Tech and WSU) that has become a residential campus. EMU is a commuter school and likely not anybody's first choice of colleges. 

 

B. Michigan is incredibly rich in D2 schools, with two of the schools I mentioned above plus traditional powers in GVSU and SVSU. Eastern would be out of the frying pan and into a much smaller frying pan where competition for D2 level athletes is just as fierce. They're best off in 1-AA, reflecting their status while also making them a unique option as the lone Michigan school in that division. 

Squader

April 25th, 2016 at 11:03 PM ^

Agreed with you that EMU should go 1-AA. But have to point out that based on pretty much every ranking out there, WMU and CMU are both significantly better than GVSU as universities.

In the longer run, when the P5 break off into their own thing, I'd expect the three major directional schools (sorry Northern) to be reunited in whatever bottom half of 1-A/top half of I-AA division emerges.

 

Brodie

April 25th, 2016 at 11:34 PM ^

Are they? They're less selective for one thing.

 

Average ACT scores for incoming freshmen (25th, 50th and 75th percentiles):

 

GVSU - 21, 24, 26

Western - 21, 23, 25

Central - 20, 22, 24

Eastern - 19, 22, 25

Wayne State - 19, 22, 26 (but Wayne has a full suite of grad programs to save it)

MSU - 23, 26, 28

Michigan - 28, 30, 32

Michigan Tech - 24, 27, 29

and our cousins down the road in Dearborn - 20, 24, 27

 

 

FauxMo

April 26th, 2016 at 11:40 AM ^

It's a sad misconception that the gap between the "best" and "worst" schools in terms of the quality/intelligence of the students is huge. Having taught at both EMU and UM, I can tell you that the best at EMU could easily excel at UM. The main difference is the variance - the worst at EMU probably don't belong in college, while the worst at UM are smart enough to be there, but lack real motivation and only got in because they could afford test prep, went to top high schools, came from $$$$, etc.

93Grad

April 25th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^

as do a number of non-Power 5 conferences.  That is just the reality of modern day college football.  I wouldn't be surprised to see some schools dropping football altogether, given the Title 9 implications.  

OwenGoBlue

April 25th, 2016 at 5:50 PM ^

Or just not spend an insane amount of money on facilities, etc. The spending in the MAC as a whole is absurd and they're basically right where they've always been as a conference - I don't understand why they can't just keep the facilities they have until totally outmoded and competitively remain roughly the same. Probably the same situation for most of the non-P5.

LSAClassOf2000

April 25th, 2016 at 4:04 PM ^

They might even have a board like this with a thread that has a post in it, although that post must be quite old by now and possibly moderated by the mod, who is also the poster. 

To the point though, if I read the numbers on finances right from USA Today's database, Eastern's athletic department has the highest % subsidy in the MAC, filling a gap of over $20 million, and I have to think a big portion of it is football. They would do much better financially by scaling it down to Division II levels at least. They shouldn't feel compelled to do this to themselves year after year, in my opinion. 

Mr Miggle

April 25th, 2016 at 5:15 PM ^

I believe they wrote a rule to expel any school that drops football. They're clearly worried that other schools would follow the first one to do so.

That's assuming EMU's administration is inclined to act. They've pushed back against faculty and even some AD sentiment for dropping D-1 football in the past.

Winchester Wolverine

April 25th, 2016 at 3:06 PM ^

I am the shithouse poet
As if you did not know it
I came here to sit and think
But, aslas, all I've done
Is shit and stink
And the janitor's work is all in vain
For the shithouse poet striks again

And yeah, EMU sucks.

Goggles Paisano

April 25th, 2016 at 3:07 PM ^

My freshman year was almost 30 years ago.  The football team just came off a California Raisin Bowl victory in '87 and the basketball team would soon make the Sweet 16.  Since it has been downhill.  I never really cared much about EMU athletics even though I was a student.  I was born a rabid Michigan fan and it was my observation that there were more far Michigan fans at EMU than EMU fans.  Tough to gain traction there with it being such a commuter school and the fact that the greatest university in the world is just a few miles up the road.  

Hill Street Blue

April 25th, 2016 at 10:24 PM ^

Came on the heels of a campaign led by Dr. Porter to save the school from being kicked out of the MAC in '83-'84 for low football attendance. That rescue effort seemed to breath life into the football and basketball programs. EMU saw record applications during this time and its academic exclusivity ratings soared.

Then the school dropped its Huron name and its been all downhill since: multiple presidents, lower apps, cruddy exclusivity, no athletic banners. Just like the Pistons sucked in teal, EMU seems destined to remain seperated from success too until it restores its original moniker.

readyourguard

April 25th, 2016 at 3:11 PM ^

With all the athletes in the surrounding area, a schedule that usually includes some P5 teams, and proximity to Detroit, I don't understand how they can continue to suck so badly for so long. Hire a young energetic coach who knows Detroit and start getting some kids to go there. They still have a good teaching program, Nursing, Music, and Criminal Justice. There's no excuse. Quit sucking.

gwkrlghl

April 25th, 2016 at 3:16 PM ^

Drop football and stay D1. As noted, they are competitive in some stuff and being D1 is a recruiting tool for the university. I'd say try to be a basketball (and maybe hockey or lax) school

M-Dog

April 25th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^

I feel bad about this because it is partly our (Michigan's) fault.

Any D1 program needs support from the surrounding community to thrive.  You can't do it with just students and faculty.  

But next-door Michigan sucks all of the D1 sports oxygen out of the room.  There is nothing left for EMU.

If there was no University of Michigan in the Ann Arbor/Ypsi area, EMU would do fine.  But it can't survive sports-wise in the long heavy shadow of UM.

 

Wolverine Devotee

April 25th, 2016 at 3:31 PM ^

I get your point but it's not Michigan's fault that Ypsi is close to Ann Arbor.

If EMU was winning championships, this wouldn't be a topic. But EMU has been terrible for a long time. Their last MAC title was almost 30 years ago.




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Brodie

April 25th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^

I hear this logic all the time and think it's kind of bullshit, to be honest. It's not like EMU is UM-Dearborn and all the students get Michigan tickets. There's really no good reason why most EMU students should care more about Michigan sports, at least not any more so than CMU or WMU or GVSU students, etc. In fact, you can see people wearing Ohio State stuff at basically every MAC game on a given Saturday, why doesn't it impact them to the same degree? 

Eastern's problem is that nobody who goes there really wants to be there. I work in an office with grads from every school in the state. On Fridays in the fall, when we're encouraged to wear our alma mater's gear, EMU alumni are more or less the only people who don't take part. It was a place they were required to be for a few hours a day. Cheering for EMU sports teams is like cheering for your company's intramural softball team. 

SalvatoreQuattro

April 25th, 2016 at 7:48 PM ^

and that is where they get most of their students from. They also draw from northeastern Ohio. Being so close to UM in a major media market means that most kids will grow up UM or if not UM, MSU and OSU.

Fan bases are driven in large by media attention and UM receives a huge chunk of it.I'm at a loss for why you think this is "bullshit."

Many people choose to go to EMU for education, nursing, business, and an assortment of other degree programs. 

Your last statement is most definitely bullshit. 

Brodie

April 25th, 2016 at 8:04 PM ^

Which media market is driving people to become engaged Central Michigan fans? Do you suspect that the media in Saginaw and Flint cover CMU football to a greater degree than UM or MSU football? Do you think kids who end up at Western come in sans attachments to MSU or UM or Notre Dame? 

I'm honestly baffled by the idea that anyone thinks "Michigan exists" is a better argument for EMU's lack of student engagement in athletics than the fact that it is a commuter school with zero identity whereas the other schools I mentioned are primarily residential campuses. Is it not obvious to you that living somewhere inherently builds a stronger identity than driving there a couple of times a week from Canton?

As for EMU being a school people choose to go to, that may well be. And I say this with the utmost respect, as someone who knows plenty of highly intelligent Eastern grads, but they're most likely choosing it because of cost or convenience not because of any great love for the school or the place or even because of the quality of programs on offer (USNWR would rank it as the second worst school in Metro Detroit, ahead of Marygrove). 

Picktown GoBlue

April 25th, 2016 at 9:45 PM ^

Memphis, Univerisity of Utah, and New Mexico are on the list of top commuter schools, but EMU isn't.  Their cutoff for "top" is 87% and per the numbers on Wikipedia, EMU is about 79% commuter.  Basketball schools on the list include Wichita State, UNLV, and Weber State.  Nearby schools include Wayne State, UM-Flint, and UMD.

As a D III alumnus, I would applaud a move to a lower division to be more fiscally responsible. 

Squader

April 25th, 2016 at 11:24 PM ^

You're right that geography matters. I grew up in Kalamazoo and local sports coverage there was Western first, UM/MSU second, ND not on the radar. In middle school, when Western made the basketball tournament and upset Clemson in the first round (1998?), they actually paused class and turned it on for the fourth quarter in my school - with a PA announcement and everything, not just my teacher being a big Bronco fan or something. I can't imagine them doing that for UM or MSU.

Sure, there were lots of people around who had those secondary allegiences, but Kalamazoo itself is definitely oriented around WMU. Eastern has it much worse from what I can see, as everyone just perceives Ypsi to be kind of this second-class adjunct of Ann Arbor.

Perkis-Size Me

April 25th, 2016 at 3:22 PM ^

If they stay in FBS, the man who finds a way to turn EMU football around should be considered one of the all time greats. There is probably no school in FBS that is harder to win at right now than EMU.

Saban winning 4 titles at Alabama is remarkable, but Alabama's program and culture is built to be a perennial champion. It already has all the resources in place to make those kinds of accomplishments.

EMU has a history and culture of being nothing but losers. And not just any losers, but big friggin' losers. You're not just turning around a team. You're turning around an identity and culture. How many of their teams have even made it to bowl games in the past 30 years?

It's no wonder that no one wants to go there.




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Tater

April 25th, 2016 at 3:25 PM ^

"I don't understand how they can continue to suck so badly for so long."

Ypsi is basically a cesspool.  If there was a way to have recruits visit but never actually see Ypsi, it may make a difference.  But really, EMU may be the worst place in the country to try and recruit.  Any player with other optioins is usually going to go somewhere else.  That leaves EMU with players who basically had nowhere else to get a scholly.  

My solution: annex the area between Washtenaw and Huron River Drive as "East Ann Arbor." Cross St, could serve as "Downtown East Ann Arbor."  Then, EMU could be in "East Ann Arbor." It might not hurt to extend the south boundary to Packard.

Problem solved.