New coach PJ Fleck killing it over there. Will probably be a hot name in the offseason
#42 ranked recruiting class in the country (ahead of USC Nebraska WVU TCU etc
Rivals has them as the #25 class... one spot above Sparty. Obsvioulsy inflated this early because their class is almost full (compared to EMU and other MAC schools that have to wait and get kids who never get that B1G offer they've waited for). WMU is out-recruiting the rest of the conference this year.
4-star QB from Sturgis (that decommited from Wisconsin) is their lone 4-star, but, they have more 3-stars than I've seen in a MAC class
I've always thought Western could be a decent to good sports school. Pretty good academically and Kalamazoo is a pretty solid college town. You've seen them sustain their hockey team decently well, maybe they can get a little football MACtion going too
plenty of energy to the stadium and the team, which I expect is good for maybe 0.5 wins a year. Unfortunately, too many people (myself included) are primarily UM or MSU fans who will stay home to watch on TV rather than go to Waldo at the same time. The team and the town does do a good job with the MAC mid-week night games, though.
Hockey's a lot of fun here, too, and worth coming to for a change of pace. Not the same tradition as Yost, but plenty loud. CC, DU, Duluth and North Dakota all coming to town - looking forward to season tix arriving.
"they have more 3-stars than I've seen in a MAC class"
WMU is having a great recruiting year, but Toledo has had several years where they had as many or more three star recruits than this WMU class -- including 2010 where Toledo had 1 four star and 13 three star players.
I recently moved to the Battle Creek area but have frequented the area during football season to watch Harper Creek (my former HS) play. I'm somewhat shocked the kid from Sturgis is ranked that high. In the two games I've watched (one against Harper, the other against an 0-9 Battle Creek Central) the guy wasn't at all impressive. He was 5-27 for 63 yards against a horrible 0-9 BCC team. I couldn't find his stats for the Harper Creek game but he didn't look at all different from a typical HS QB other than his 6-3 frame.
Might take a while for the 2014 class to make a difference however. This years incoming class was rated #102 by Rivals. I will definately keep my eye on Western though and good luck to them.
so hopefully Western can be a bit more competitive in the MAC than they have been.
the totally baked Bronco. He makes Towelie look clean and sober.
That is one high horse.
I spend some time partying at WMU in the very early '70s and I don't I've ever seen people smoke as much pot as I saw in Kazoo back then.
Watching a game at Waldo was a bizarre experience compared to Michigan Stadium, but that might have been because of the baking.
Row? Can someone please explain the paddle stickers and "row the boat" theme? Seems a little bit excessive to represent it that much if it's just a yearly slogan like "All in"
before you are ready to climb the mountain.
...ashore, I believe.
of the glove logos
Great Uni's and great TEAM slogan! Every member must do their part to keep the boat headed down the river in the right direction! Love it!
A little tired of seeing players dance around displaying their new uni's as if they are auditioning for a hip hop video tho! But, do really like these!
Perfect! Nice pull!!!
We got hart, bitches.
This guy is going to have a rough time!
Miami (NTM) demands equal attention. I think this is, um, literally going to make your eyeballs bleed, trying to watch it for 3 hours. The best hope is, if you have a small screen, all those zigzag little lines on the helmet will be too small to pixelate on your monitor/TV and the helmet will just look "red." If you have an 82" plasma... well...
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/7/24/4554258/miami-ohio-redhawks-football-new-uniforms
All these changes... in my book, Rutger's chrome helmets -- still #2, behind the obv. #1, obv.
MAC quality video.
I like the skee-bop dance the players on each side do at the end
Coach Fleck and his wife lost a child shortly after birth. He said that he kept telling himself no matter how much adversity life gave him that he had to keep rowing to move forward and get past it. As a WMU grad I am finally fired up about the football team. I can see it taking a few years for his hard work to payoff, but things look good going forward. Sadly though he will have one or two solid seasons and then get picked up by a bigger school.
Row the boat story link: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/western-michigan-coach-…
Dang what a guy. Rooting for the Bronco's and Coach Fleck! Who the heck wouldn't wanna play for him.