Ron English says foundation in place at Eastern Michigan, but in-state recruiting still a struggle
After two seasons and a 2-22 record as football coach at Eastern Michigan, Ron English is excited about what is coming into place after he signed his third recruiting class on Wednesday.
‘We are starting to have a really strong foundation here now,” English said. “We took a lot of skill in this class.
“I think the (returning) kids feel we are in a good place. I think the kids wanted to get a few players in here to upgrade our skill, because if you watch us we’ve been deficient at skill positions.”
Eastern Michigan football coach Ron English: "When we start winning, we'll recruit well in state."
File photo
English said his most difficult obstacle on the recruiting trail is overcoming negative perceptions of a football program that hasn't had a winning season since 1995.
English believes he has a program that he can sell, but he still has to convince people that Eastern Michigan’s program is serious about winning.
“People don’t understand that it’s really not the same old Eastern Michigan where there was no real commitment financially, and no real commitment in other ways to the football program,” English said.
He points to the university’s new indoor practice facility, increases in assistant coach salaries and enhancements to the program’s health and training staffs and facilities as evidence of the Eastern Michigan administration’s commitment.
“We have the facilities we need to compete,” English said.
Still, English faces an uphill battle when trying to convince high school seniors in the state of Michigan to come to join his program. English signed just three players from Michigan compared to 16 in-state recruits by Central Michigan and six by Western Michigan.
“I don’t know that we’re going to recruit well in Michigan until we win,” English admitted. “Because nobody’s going to believe, because they’ve been here a long time.
“When we start winning, we’ll recruit well in state. I believe that.”
Until then, English and his staff are doing well in other parts of the Midwest, particularly the Chicago area, and in the California junior college circuit, where English is well connected.
Six of the seven junior college transfers in the class come from California. Five already are enrolled at Eastern Michigan, which could help make their academic transition easier.
Eastern Michigan’s most recent Academic Progress Rate for football, released last summer, was 930. The APR is the NCAA’s quantitative metric used to assess a program’s academic performance, and is based on the academic standing and retention of student-athletes over a four-year period. A perfect score is 1000, and if a team’s APR falls below 925, the program faces potential penalties.
English is aware of the potential negative impact junior college transfers can have on an APR score, since junior college transfers often have a longer road to graduation due to the way credits transfer, and because many players end up at junior colleges in the first place because of poor academic habits.
But English also believes that he and his staff have made careful assessments of each member of the class and that the academic risk is minimal.
“We did a nice job of thoroughly evaluating the kids,” English said. “From the tape to the transcript to being one-on-one with the kid. The best thing we did this year was evaluate thoroughly.”
The Eagles' APR fell sharply in the two years after English took over, but that is the norm at any program following a coaching change. Coaching changes almost inevitably lead to attrition; and attrition, regardless of the reasons, hurts a team’s APR.
“Our APR is going back up,” English said. “The one thing I want to say about the last staff is they recruited good kids.
“That’s why when I came here the APR was extremely high, and we’ll get it extremely high again. It’s just going to take a couple years, because we knew we’d take a hit with the attrition.”
All seven of English’ junior college recruits play defense, and he is hoping they will bring instant improvement to his defensive personnel. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see multiple players from the 2011 class starting on defense for the Eagles next fall.
Offensively, Pottstown, Pa., tailback Ryan Brumfield could get in the mix as a true freshman to eat up some of the carries that are up for grabs after Dwayne Priest’s departure. And English is dreaming big about what DeMarius Reed (Chicago Simeon) and his athleticism can do for the Eagles at receiver and kick returner.
Reed and his high school teammate, fellow 2011 signee Darius Scott, have the athleticism that could put them side-by-side returning kicks when the Eagles open the 2011 season Sept. 3 at home against Howard.
Comments
catfishrisin
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 3:40 p.m.
"I hope that the EMU leadership has the patience to allow him to finish the task". EMU has the highest turnover rate of football coaches in the NCAA. I doubt if this trend will stop anytime soon.
Edward R Murrow's Ghost
Sat, Feb 5, 2011 : 3:20 p.m.
I go to a couple of EMU games every year, and it is clear that this team has improved over when English became the head coach. No, it's not exactly showing up in the win-loss column, but it is showing up in the quality of the play on the field. English took over what was easily one of the worst programs in the FBS and has undertaken the thankless job of turning it around (you know, kinda of how RichRod imagined his task to be--except this was reality rather than fantasy). I hope that the EMU leadership has the patience to allow him to finish the task. It took whatshisname three years to bring the UM football program into disrepute. EMU ought give English at least twice that time to build the Eagles into a respectable team. Good Night and Good Luck
bballcoachfballfan
Fri, Feb 4, 2011 : 7:13 p.m.
Let's see: Was it a good decision to fire Jeff Genyk after the 2008 season? Far less success on the football field and more importantly, far less success in the classroom. There are reasons why so many of the "good kids" Genyk and his horribly underpaid staff recruited are part of the attrition this article describes... From the Genyk regime to Coach English's regime: 2 1/2 times the head coaching salary, 3 times the assistant coach pool, 3 times the recruiting budget, an indoor facility--and 2 wins in 2 years. What an investment! This is not a knock on Coach English who served the University of Michigan very well in his tenure. It is simply to point out that EMU didn't need to do this. All they needed to do was give Genyk the resources and his 4 win seasons would have turned into 7 or 8 win seasons with less turnover and less consternation.
catfishrisin
Fri, Feb 4, 2011 : 4:23 p.m.
After attending Governor Snyder's recent pow-wow for university presidents, President Martin espoused a "New Normal" - as a nice way to say cuts are coming in line with the anticipated reductions of state funding. This would be a great place to start. Eliminate the high maintenance athletic programs that benefit a few and redirect attention back to the academic mission of the university. I'm excited about the possibilities.
pseudo
Fri, Feb 4, 2011 : 3:39 p.m.
@tater- i think that is a inaccurate characterization of Ypsilanti and what recruiting for football is all about. Given the history of the behavior of football players at EMU, they have often been part of the problem between Washtenaw and, save, Michigan ave. I think there is a much bigger issue: 4 wins, 4 years. And then there are the academics.
tater
Fri, Feb 4, 2011 : 2:35 p.m.
Recruiting EMU isn't bad until the kid finds his way south of Washtenaw. Then, they are in pretty much the worst town in the MAC. It has to be a detriment to recruiting when a kid goes to "Downtown Ypsi." Ron English deserved a better opportunity than EMU, but you'll never hear him say it. If English can even get the program back to being a team that usually wins as many as it loses, it will have been a great accopmlishment.