Wednesday, November 29, 2006
In his third season at Central Michigan, the team has rediscovered success.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) -- When Brian Kelly got to Central Michigan, the campus community hoped he could bring the Chippewas some rare football success.
He may have succeeded too well.
In his third year in Mount Pleasant, Kelly has the traditionally hapless Chippewas heading to Thursday's Mid-American Conference championship game and the Dec. 26 Motor City Bowl, both at Ford Field in Detroit. The latter will be the program's first bowl appearance since the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl.
The Chippewas head into Thursday's MAC title game against Ohio with an 8-4 record, including an 8-1 mark in the conference.
"People wrote off this program as a joke," said senior offensive tackle Joe Staley. "And now we're playing in the biggest games I've ever been associated with, and that's because of coach. He came in here from day one and preached the same message -- do the right things on and off the field."
Back-to-back titles
Kelly came to Central Michigan after winning two Division II titles at Grand Valley State, which gave him instant credibility with his new players.
"We knew he was a winner," said junior linebacker Red Keith. "We had to believe in his plan, because he had been there and we hadn't. People here didn't know how to win. We always expected to lose. Now we expect to win."
After going 4-7 in his first season, Kelly led the Chippewas to a 6-5 record in 2005, the school's first winning season since 1998.
"When I got here, we spent the first few months just trying to change the structure," Kelly said. "We had to develop a championship culture, and that means a lot more than playing football. We changed the academics and the way our players behaved off the field.
"That had to be the first step, before we could change the results on the field."
Strong league start
Central Michigan won its first seven conference games, clinching the MAC West Division with an emotional 31-7 rout of arch-rival Western Michigan.
"That was an exciting night," said first-year athletic director Dave Heeke. "The first sellout in our remodeled stadium, and a chance to beat our rivals to win the championship.
"It's a great time to be a Chippewa, and Brian is the key figure in that."
The newfound success has brought attention to the football team, which will become the first Michigan team to play in the Motor City Bowl. Not all the attention has been what Heeke hoped to see.
Kelly has already interviewed for BCS-conference jobs at Michigan State and Iowa State. Even though both schools chose different candidates, Heeke knows they won't be the last suitors.
"We want Brian to be our coach for a long time, and we're doing everything we can to take care of that," said Heeke, who is negotiating with Kelly on a contract extension. "But when you talk about big-budget programs, we aren't going to be able to compete in terms of money or facilities, and that's just reality."