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Nate Schneider: Baffling how a fourth-place MAC West finish considered a ‘very good season’ in CMU head coach Dan Enos’ fifth year

Sun Photo by Lisa Yanick-Jonaitis - Central Michigan fifth-year head coach Dan Enos scans the field Saturday, Nov. 22, 2014, during a 32-20 loss to rival Western Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.


By Nate Schneider, The Morning Sun


Posted: 11/23/14, 3:39 PM EST | Updated: 1 min ago
0 Comments




Perspectives are important.

If Western Michigan had finished this regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 in the Mid-American Conference, that would be considered a fantastic season.




That’s because last year under incoming head coach P.J. Fleck, the Broncos stumbled and bumbled and rowed their way to a 1-11 record.




But instead of just a six-win improvement, Fleck in his second year has WMU rolling with an 8-3 record and 6-1 in the MAC following Saturday’s 32-20 win at Central Michigan. The Broncos still have an outside shot at a MAC title as they take on Northern Illinois next weekend and as strong as a 10-win season is still poss



That’s called an extremely successful season.




If Western Michigan had simply compiled the record CMU currently has, you’d still have to give all due credit because of how far the program has come along and how young the Broncos are under the eccentric but incredibly savvy direction of Fleck.




Conversely, a seven-win regular season and 5-3 MAC record does not look nearly as good under Chippewas fifth-year head coach Dan Enos.




Enos still did what he apparently felt he had to do when asked if he felt CMU’s regular season ended in average fashion. He defended it to the core.




“I thought we had a very good season,” Enos said. “The schedule we played, no one had a tougher schedule than us in the whole league. We had to play Tennessee-Chattanooga, which is 8-3 or 9-3 now. We played a Big Ten team, an ACC team, a Big 12 team. Then we had our first five games in the MAC against teams that went to bowls last year. Thank you very much. We won at Northern Illinois on the road and nobody’s done that in 28 tries. There are times this year when we were outstanding. We had two days in my opinion, today and the Ball State game, that kept us from being a 7-1 team in this league. That’s the difference. But I thought we had a very good season and accomplished some very good things.”




Good seasons are when a team does not allow two home losses happen like the ones CMU suffered at the hands of the Cardinals and the Broncos.




No one doubts Enos’ passion in wanting to win a MAC Championship, but when the MAC West Division is so wide-open this year having that goal fall so far short is inexcusable.




Central Michigan arguably had the top skill players on offense in the MAC this year in wide receiver Titus Davis and running back Thomas Rawls, plus a defense that returned nine starters and lived up to its billing much of the season.




All that did for the Chippewas was earn a fourth-place MAC West finish for a third straight year, while in the five years under Enos that is still their best conference finish.




Let’s take a minute to remember that there are only six teams in the MAC West.




Enos can gripe all he wants about the schedule, but CMU fans would gladly take a 1-3 or 0-4 non-conference record if the Chippewas can still win a MAC Championship.




And it isn’t like those major conference opponents were powerhouses anyway.




No one can take the 38-17 victory over Purdue away from CMU as it played an outstanding game that day and most certainly deserved that decisive of a victory. But the Boilermakers are now a 3-8 football team with eight of those nine losses being by double digits.




Kansas was so bad that Charlie Weis was fired as head coach of the Jayhawks eight days after his team defeated Central Michigan 24-10. The Jayhawks did make top headlines Saturday when they allowed Oklahoma true freshman running back Samaje Perine set a Division I record with 427 rushing yards.




As for Syracuse, the team that looked like world-beaters during its 40-3 throttling of Central Michigan at Kelly/Shorts Stadium – yup, another 3-8 team that is going nowhere in the ACC.




Doesn’t look like such a brutal schedule does it?




Northern Illinois played at Northwestern and at Arkansas. Toledo hosted Missouri while playing at Cincinnati and Iowa State. Western Michigan squared off with Purdue and Virginia Tech on the road.




Enos is correct that CMU had a difficult beginning to its MAC schedule, but everyone in the MAC West has to play each other at one time or another.




The Chippewas could not take care of business in 2013 when they hosted Toledo and Northern Illinois, so no one is going to feel sorry for them when they go on the road for those games.




And when CMU did pull off the upset at NIU, it left open a world of possibilities for what could follow including a MAC West title.




In true Enos fashion, Central Michigan put up a clunker the next week at home against Ball State.




Leading up to the game against Western Michigan, Enos said that quick turnarounds are possible in the Mid-American Conference in some situations.




While Enos has his Chippewas progressing from year to year in a sloth-like fashion, Fleck has the Broncos on the fast track to Mid-American Conference supremacy in the next couple of years.




Fleck has received plenty of flak for his “Row the Boat” slogan and all the other marketing gimmicks he has used to infuse life into a Western Michigan football program that was close to flat-lining before he arrived.




It’s all worked.

When Brian Kelly arrived at Central Michigan a decade ago, he turned a losing program into a consistent winner in the blink of an eye.




Kelly was CMU’s Fleck.

Enos, on the other hand, is staying the course and ending up with fourth-place finishes.




Ho-hum same old stuff often leads to same old results.




The no-handshake

Also making the news in the fallout of the CMU loss Saturday is the Chippewas senior captains refusing to shake the hands of the Western Michigan players following the coin toss.




In a story on MLIve.com, Western Michigan senior cornerback Donald Celiscar explained what transpired while he was at midfield.




“We were trying to shake hands,” Celiscar said to MLive. “We got class and we were trying to shake hands with them, but they didn’t want to do that. I guess they’re being Central I guess. That’s all I can say.”




Fleck also weighed in with his two cents.




“Everybody has their beliefs,” Fleck said. “I do know this: It’s a man’s game. You might not respect your opponent. I was taught a long time ago by Joe Novak, Jerry Kill, Mike Nolan, Dennis Erickson to be classy. Be you, but be classy. They didn’t shake our hands. That’s OK. I just know this: Our players are always going to respect the game. You always have respect for your opponents, but respect the game.”




If Central Michigan’s captains were trying to get in the heads of Western Michigan’s players before the game even started, it certainly did not work.




After that lack of class, the Chippewas probably got what they deserved.




Bowl game possibilities

Sources close to the Central Michigan program say that the Bahamas Bowl or the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl could be among the destinations for the Chippewas next month.




The Bahamas Bowl is in its first year of existence and pits the MAC versus a Conference USA opponent. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl would be versus a Mountain West Conference team.




The bowl selection show will air Dec. 7 on ESPN.




CMU Campus Ambassador Application

Nate Schneider
Nate Schneider: Baffling how a fourth-place MAC West finish considered a 'very good season' in CMU head coach Dan Enos' fifth year

Perspectives are important.If Western Michigan had finished this regular season with a 7-5 overall record and 5-3 in the Mid-American Confer...

So much for nate being a mouth piece for chimp football.

I read that on Nates link. If Enos is retained Nate will not be in good standing.

Even Jack Moss knew, you don't write stuff about the coach until you know FOR SURE that he's on his way out the door.

Maybe Nate knows something everyone else doesnt. Me, I'm hoping they give him a couple more years.

CMU has always had a hard time recruiting talent to play basketball. Even Jay Smith admitted as much. Everybody recruits Chicago, and Detroit gets a lot of attention from UT and BG.

I read a book by a guy from Chicago talking about his son's recruiting process. He stopped at WMU and CMU. He didn't get an offer from Darnell, but said he was shocked by how impressive the facilities were. Much bigger than he expected. Darnell ran into him and gave him a tour, totally unscheduled.

His main issue with CMU was the additional drive to get there. The facilities were nice, but Debord nor his assistants would talk with him. And he did have an appointment.

Point being, if you're a Chicago kid, northern Indiana kid, Detroit kid, or Ohio kid, there has to be a really good reason to drive that extra 200 miles to play in Mt. Plesant when NIU, WMU, BG, and UT are a much closer and easier drive.

Akron and Kent have Cleveland Metro and the fertile NE Ohio area, as well as Pittsburgh. Miami and BSU have the Cinci area.

Ohio and CMU are a bit out of the fertile recruiting areas, and talent out of Northenr Michigan is not as plentiful as other markets.

I think you really have to be a special coach to get people there. Kelly was that guy. Enos, Debord, and Flynn weren't. In fact, if you factor out the Kelly/Jones era that lasted about five years, the Enos, Debo, Flynn era has only 4 winning seasons and 11 losing seasons.

I think CMU has a location problem along with a bit of a coaching problem. He's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be, but he's not dynamic enough to convince kids to head two hundred miles north to play.

Quote:“The schedule we played, no one had a tougher schedule than us in the whole league. We had to play Tennessee-Chattanooga, which is 8-3 or 9-3 now. We played a Big Ten team, an ACC team, a Big 12 team. Then we had our first five games in the MAC against teams that went to bowls last year. Thank you very much.

Toledo had a tougher schedule than CMU. Tenn-Chattanooga is a ranked D1AA team, and Toledo's D1AA opp is in the Top 5. The other 3 OCC games were tougher than CMU's. CMU had to play at NIU -- fair enough. But playing at NIU isn't a scary environment -- NIU over the years was winning almost every time in the MAC regardless of location. Just basic home field advantage will give it a slightly better streak, is all. So playing AT NIU is only as good as how NIU was that year, measured just the same as any other team in the MAC.

And CMU didn't have to play BGSU -- the real threat team in the East, unlike what Toledo & WMU had to do.

CMU had a decent schedule. But Purdue before they replaced their QB so they could be reasonably competitive -- and Syracuse in Mt P, while adding Kansas? That's about as WEAK of a "P5" three-fer as you can get. One could easily schedule 3 G5s being a tougher schedule, sorry. BUT, sure, it wasn't an easy one. But pEnos, don't say it was the hardest in the MAC. In fact, it was constructed so that if you WERE going to have a Great Year -- you'd win All 3 of those barely-P5 games -- not 1 out of 3 and call it a "good season". No, that'd be "par" for an expected OKAY season.

CMU fans should be frustrated. They had a good Defense team in there, a great WR and great RB as seniors, with a capable QB. In a down year in the MAC you end up going 5-3 when you have the capability to beat NIU? Wow. Can you say falling short? If that represents a "peak year" -- that's really sad. If it represents some "rebuilding year", that's just fine. Unfortunately for them, it's the former, not the latter.

(11-23-2014 09:42 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  Ohio and CMU are a bit out of the fertile recruiting areas, and talent out of Northenr Michigan is not as plentiful as other markets.

What? Ohio is pretty good.

(11-23-2014 10:45 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  

(11-23-2014 09:42 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  Ohio and CMU are a bit out of the fertile recruiting areas, and talent out of Northenr Michigan is not as plentiful as other markets.

What? Ohio is pretty good.

Ohio is in a somewhat remote location, at least in comparison to the other Ohio MAC schools. That said, though, they also have a greater ability to draw talent from surrounding areas and states. Geographically, CMU is more limited as the northernmost location in the MAC. CMU does not have the access to nearby talent that Ohio does.

(11-24-2014 12:57 AM)The Colonel Wrote:  

(11-23-2014 10:45 PM)Charm City Bronco Wrote:  

(11-23-2014 09:42 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  Ohio and CMU are a bit out of the fertile recruiting areas, and talent out of Northenr Michigan is not as plentiful as other markets.

What? Ohio is pretty good.

Ohio is in a somewhat remote location, at least in comparison to the other Ohio MAC schools. That said, though, they also have a greater ability to draw talent from surrounding areas and states. Geographically, CMU is more limited as the northernmost location in the MAC. CMU does not have the access to nearby talent that Ohio does.

Ohio, while somewhat remote, doesn't deal with what CMU has too as far as location. I mean, the Columbus Metro area has 1.5 million and is only a little over an hour away. Lots of Columbus area kids go to OU just to go to school. Actually, OU draws lots of kids from the greater Cleveland and Cincinnati areas.

OU is almost as close to Cincinnati as Ball State is - about 30 miles different which I don't think that 30 miles would tip a recruit one way or another.

Two things Ohio has that CMU doesn't have.. 1) A beautiful campus and town. 2) A proven football coach.

Back in Kramer and Deromedi's hey days CMU made big deal about winning with all in-state (Michigan HS) kids.

Most of them were from Saginaw Valley league, Lansing and Grand Rapids areas.

BTW this helped them with our rivalry because it meant more to all their home-grown players whereas we had alot from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin.

Around mid-80s teams broadened recruiting outside geographical area, started getting more speed, and passing more. And the talent in Central's formerly fertile grounds started drying up (except for GR burbs).

People don't realize because of the mythology but in Herb's last 13 years CMU won exactly one MAC Co-Championship.

His last eight seasons they had five years where they won only five games, another only six.

(11-24-2014 10:21 AM)MajorHoople Wrote:  Back in Kramer and Deromedi's hey days CMU made big deal about winning with all in-state (Michigan HS) kids. Most of them were from Saginaw Valley league, Lansing and Grand Rapids areas. BTW this helped them with our rivalry because it meant more to all their home-grown players whereas we had alot from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin.

Not trying to ignite another Cubit/Fleck holy war here, but P.J.'s six-hour radius recruiting strategy is thriving in large part at CMU's expense. IMO for far too long CMU pretty much had their pick of the MAC-level litter in much of Michigan. That's no longer the case.

Quote:Not trying to ignite another Cubit/Fleck holy war here, but P.J.'s six-hour radius recruiting strategy is thriving in large part at CMU's expense. IMO for far too long CMU pretty much had their pick of the MAC-level litter in much of Michigan. That's no longer the case.

Which I don't understand. I can understand after the Kelly/Butch timeline set in. But when we both suck or are both mediocre? I don't see how CMU could draw more in. Their girls put out a bit easier since there's less to do up there. I guess it'd all have to come down to how good a schools recruitment program is.

Our recruiting focus at that time was heavily Florida-based. It wasn't a failure - it just wasn't successful enough to justify it IMO. I like that we are going after (and getting) more quality recruits in Michigan now while, unlike CMU, not relying almost entirely on Michigan recruits.

CD, Schneider's safe. Enos lives in Midland, probably reads the Midland DAILY NEWS and not the MORNING SUN.