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COACHING SEARCH: Heeke targets ‘four or five’ finalists

By Daniel Monson on January 8, 2010 6:14 pm in Football, Sports / 5 comments

 

Central Michigan University Athletics Director Dave Heeke said Friday night that the search for the football team’s next head coach is down to “four or five people.”

“We’ve got a final grouping of candidates and we’re going to try to interview those people soon and then try to get to a point where we can select someone very quickly,” Heeke said.

Heeke would not confirm any names despite a Detroit News report Jan. 6 that stated Michigan State running backs coach Dan Enos is the leading candidate to replace Butch Jones, who departed for the University of Cincinnati on Dec. 16.

Heeke said the timing of CMU’s GMAC Bowl, which it won 44-41 in double overtime against Troy in Mobile, Ala., made the selection process more challenging.

“That has lengthened the search process but I believe it was the right decision to make and the right way to manage the program,” Heeke said.

Former coach Butch Jones, who left for the University of Cincinnati on Dec. 16, was hired at CMU on Jan. 3, 2007, 10 days after CMU’s appearance in the 2006 Motor City Bowl.

“Previously we were done right after Christmas, so we could move quickly,” Heeke said. “There was no lag time there. We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve continued to work through the bowl, but have been careful not to let it spin out of control. It’s been a little challenging, but I don’t think it’s hurt our search in any way — there’s tremendous interest.”

Heeke said he has tried to reassure recruits committed to CMU that the football program is not lagging behind because in the delay of naming a coach.

“The recruiting period at this time, it’s very critical we continue to illustrate to our recruits that we’re committed to moving forward but this has been a quiet and a dead period there is not a lot you can do until this next week,” he said.

sports@cm-life.com

 

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  • Dustin

    This is ridiculous, we are going to lose multiple recruits, plus we already lost arguably the most important person on next years team, in Antonio Brown. Heeke is an idiot, we are almost half way through January and we are a top 25 team and are leading candidate is a running back coach from State. Are you serious?!

  • Stewart

    My personal choice,albeit unrealistic would be for Ray Bentley to be the next coach. He would instill a toughness to our defense which is sorely lacking. (With all due apologies to Bellore,Zombo and Berning who greatly improved our defensive effort from those dreadful teams of Mike Debord that were giving up 60 points to Kent State and Navy. Of the so called serious candidates remaining according to ESPN, Bajakian would be the best fit, since he has been the offensive coordinator. Dan Enos makes no sense. Curt Mallory might help improve the secondary. Briefly on Antonio Brown, probably a mistake to leave early. As great a year as he had, he seemed inconsistent this year. Great game breaking plays from time to time, but not often enough. But then when you have helped lead a team to a top 25 ranking, MAC championship and Bowl victory, what else is there?

  • tim

    Dustin wrote, “Heeke is an idiot.” Of all the inane, vapid, baseless and mind-numbing crap posted during a season this one is the Grand Sweepstakes Award Winner.

    How many TV appearances? Who sustained and built on CMU’s national success, and how does CMU attendance rank with MAC counterparts?

    As the principle of a coast to coast media firm, I can tell you Heeke is an “athletic CEO” versus and athletc director. “Genius” is thrown around too often but in his case, its a fit. CMU is insanely fortunate to have Heeke and in addition to his skill-set, he personifies “class.”

    You might want to learn something about D-1 coaching searches, or perhaps you’d prefer Mike Leach. Come Monday we’llbe rewarded with a fine selection. As for AB leaving, do you REALLY think a coach–any coach– would or should dissuade him based on last week’s performance and a stellar career?

    Recruits are all reporting solid; come Monday it won’t be an issue.

  • ChrisCDavis

    I’m taking Dustin’s name-calling not just with a grain of salt, but with an entire salt truck. Writing in run-on sentences with improperly-placed punctuation says all I need to know about the contributor. Seems like a classic case of the pot calling the kettle “black.”

    In my own dealings with Dave Heeke (which admittedly have been few and far between), the man has been nothing but gracious and attentive. CMUs successes in athletics and the classroom speak to his dedication to position, and I’m sure he will court a new football coach who understands that the bar is significantly higher than it was five years ago.

  • Dustin

    First off TV appearances are through the conference, it is a deal between the MAC and ESPN. Not ESPN and Central. In any matter it is a stupid system, since we had to play a Friday game the day after thanksgiving at 11 am just to be on ESPN 360. Now thats Genius (sarcasm). Heeke has been here since 2006, lets not give him all the credit here. This program was starting to build to this level well before that. For the Antonio Brown case I feel it was a bad decision. He was very inconsistent throughout the year. He is a great player, but an undersized receiver coming out of the MAC as a Junior, is nit a smart decision. I hope he proves me wrong, but I don’t see him going any earlier than the 6th round. And truly I would rather have Mike Leech, at least he has proven he can coach and win. The leading candidate has never been a head coach and only been a cordinator for division 2 a and 1-aa. Other than that he is a position coach.