COLUMN: Enos had one foot out the door
A successful football program is about accountability and production. There wasn’t enough of either during Dan Enos’ five years as the head coach of Central Michigan Football.
Dan Enos came to CMU in 2010 with good intentions. He was taking over a program that was dealing with the reality that star quarterback Dan LeFevour would never run back out onto the field in maroon and gold.
After four years as an assistant coach under Mark Dantonio at Michigan State, Enos thought CMU would be the necessary next step in his coaching journey.
Enos is from Dearborn. He is a Michigan man. Shortly after being hired in 2010 he spoke with his hometown paper, The Dearborn Time Herald, and spoke of his admiration for the Central Michigan Football program.
“I began thinking about what attracted me to the job,” Enos said. “The first was the strong academic reputation…..second was the proud tradition the football team has, it was the class of the Mid-American Conference when I was growing up in Dearborn, just like it is now.”
That was then, this is now.
Right now CMU is not the class of the MAC. The program is average and the results have shown that. The program wanted to be great under Enos but it fell short for five consecutive seasons.
Two 3-9 seasons to begin his tenure had people second guessing the hire. He would reach 7-6 his third year followed by a 6-6 campaign in his fourth. The progression was there but it wasn’t enough.
His final season saw the Chippewas just short of a bowl victory in the Bahamas against Western Kentucky. A 7-6 record and an active contract was a sign that Enos would be back.
That all changed Thursday morning.
He made a call to Athletic Director Dave Heeke in the morning hours to discuss his resignation and made the same announcement to the team shortly thereafter at 10:30 a.m.
With only two weeks until signing day on Feb. 4th many are criticizing the timing of his resignation.
I would be one of those critics.
When a coach resigns it affects hundreds of people. It’s about more than a football coach and a football team. It’s about families and for many these are uncertain times.
Trust must be put into the program that the right person will be hired to lead this team forward.
The identity of the football team changes and for many players it’s an unsettling experience.
Now it’s time to move forward. It’s time to hire a new coach and convince recruits, current players, families, alumni and students that everything will be just fine.
Enos jumped at an opportunity that he felt was best for him and his family. That’s great but the timing of his announcement is wrong.
Many players are upset. Some may understand, but it’s about class and the way Enos exited this football program was nothing close to that.
People will say “good for him” or “how can you blame him?”
I will say he could of taken a different route. He could have respected the program more than he did in this situation. He could have been fairer to the men whose homes and schools he went to when recruiting.
He looked most of these players and coaches in the eye and said “I’m your coach, come to Central Michigan University and you will accomplish great things.”
For the most part the “great things” part didn’t become reality. He was 26-36 in five seasons with CMU. That’s not good enough. The program needs to find someone that isn’t just good enough.
Today is day one. A day to start a new journey and a day to start searching for a new football coach that will lead this once proud football program back to prominence in the MAC.
That’s where this program belongs.
Enos said himself after this season’s bowl game.
“A Dan Enos team don’t quit, and we don’t quit.”
He just quit on this team, this program and this university.
