WISH YOU WERE A CHIPPEWA? Despite ups and downs, athletics playing major role in university life
In recent years, Central Michigan athletics has seen its ups and downs.
After sitting atop the Mid-American Conference in the 2009-10 season in football, soccer, wrestling, gymnastics and baseball, multiple programs have moved into “rebuilding periods.”
CMU’s football program won three MAC titles and appeared in four bowl games between 2006 and 2009. Since then, the team has recorded back-to-back 3-9 seasons.
“For the most part, I would say CMU athletics are in a period of rebuilding, judging the major sports programs here,” said Dearborn senior Joe Hunter. “The men’s basketball and football teams have both struggled the last few years, but the future looks bright.”
As the top grossing programs work to rebuild their winning name, CMU has had its share of success elsewhere.
The wrestling team has finished 10 straight seasons as MAC champions, while the baseball team won back-to-back MAC West division titles. Volleyball won its first MAC championship in 2011, and both the soccer and gymnastics teams have won two consecutive MAC championships.
“There’s a correlation between winning sports programs and university popularity,” Hunter said. “I noticed the popularity movement in the fall of 2010 when the enrollment growth was obvious and many freshmen told me firsthand that the success of CMU sports programs influenced their decision to attend CMU.”
Popularity
A luxury that CMU students enjoy is free access into sporting events. While students of other universities like the University of Michigan and Michigan State University have to purchase tickets, season tickets are packaged with student status.
“You don’t always have a lot of money as a student and it’s nice to be able to go to games for free,” said Grand Blanc senior Scott Wade. “I feel like a lot more students go to games because they are free."
In August 2009, CMU adjusted its tailgating procedures, which saw quick criticism and has since decreased the “sporting experience,” said Vince Chrisman, a 1988 alumus.
“The biggest thing that I noticed is the school seems to try its hardest in eliminating the game-day experience,” Chrisman said. “Separating the students and placing them in a cage does little to build that game-day experience.”
The group that decided the changes cited incidents of fighting, intoxication, broken glass and other hazards. Some of their adjustments included alcohol limits, decreased stereo volume, permitted grill size, cars being unable to leave until after halftime and the removal of all animals and trailers.
CMU removed restrictions against external speakers two months after the new rules were put into effect, though tailgating has yet to return to the popularity it once saw.
“I think the new tailgate rules have for sure ruined the atmosphere of what tailgate at CMU used to be and has taken some fun out of game day, which in my opinion has caused the decline in attendance at games,” Hunter said.
Chrisman added that scheduling has also plagued football attendance. CMU scheduled three of its five 2011 home games on Thursday and Friday nights.
“You can’t gain a loyal following by having only two home Saturday games,” he said.
Despite tailgating restrictions and scheduling affecting popularity in CMU athletics, renovations on other parts of campus have had an inverse effect.
CMU opened the doors to the $22.5 million Events Center Dec. 1, 2010, which has sparked the interest of many potential Chippewa athletes and students.
“I think the new McGuirk Arena is a big deal for our athletics recently,” Wade said. “Seeing games or holding events there is a lot better than the old place and makes the experience a lot better.”
The newly-renovated building has a capacity of 5,300 and houses the wrestling, volleyball and basketball teams.
“The new McGuirk Arena is amazing and top notch, but a nice arena won’t fill the stands alone,” Hunter said. “It will take a winning product to support.”
Academic success
High expectations for student-athletes in the classroom have paid off for CMU, constantly earning awards for academic performance.
“Several of our teams are consistently ranked in the top 25 across the country and several own the highest grade point averages in the nation in their particular sports,” said Athletics Director Dave Heeke.
CMU’s soccer team has held the top grade point average in the nation for seven consecutive seasons, including a team 3.76 GPA in 2011. The field hockey and cross-country teams both earned a league-best team GPA in 2011.
The softball program has turned in 47 Academic All-MAC members in its 34-year history, while gymnastics has produced 84 Scholar-Athlete selections.
The field hockey team produced 18 Academic All-MAC in its history, while the women’s basketball team produced 23, and baseball added 19 under head coach Steve Jaksa.
All 14 members of the 2011 MAC champion volleyball team earned at least a 3.0 GPA – a team that has maintained a 3.30 GPA five consecutive seasons.
On a larger scale, the football team has produced 14 Academic All-Americans in its history.
“In the past few years, athletics has experienced unprecedented success in competition, in the classroom and in the community,” Heeke said. “We have won 23 conference and tournament team championships in the last six years and we maintain graduation success rates that consistently rank in the top quartile of Division I (schools).”
