Many men dream of living a life of football, but few men actually live it. Two of those men who go beyond armchair quarterbacking and spend their lives studying football are CMU assistant football coaches Jim Schulte and Plas Presnell.
Schulte and Presnell have poured their hearts, souls and lives into the football program at CMU as together they have combined for about 50 years with the program.
They both love their jobs and wouldn’t trade it for any other offer.
“If I didn’t enjoy (my job here) I would have left long before. If I didn’t love Central I would have left,” said Schulte, who has coached for 26 years and played four with the Chippewas totaling 30 years of service.
In fact, Schulte has been so stable that even his phone number hasn’t changed.
“For 26 years, I’ve had the same phone number at home and in the office. The only thing that’s changed on my business card has been the logo,” Schulte said.
Presnell, on the other hand, started at CMU, before leaving and then returning.
Before long, he wanted to stay at CMU.
“I’ve been to the mountain top and to the valley, but my love for this place will never die,” said Presnell, who has put 19 years into CMU’s program.
Schulte and Presnell are the veteran coaches on the staff and remain even through the loss of previous head coach Dick Flynn.
Schulte and Presnell are both glad to be a part of new coach Mike DeBord’s staff, but Presnell emphatically noted that there was no guarantee for his job security.
“I wasn’t positive at all,” Presnell said.
He said once his position was secure he and DeBord quickly connected on the recruiting process.
“The previous staff had done a nice job. With my position, I knew the kids and had them evaluated so Mike leaned on me and we were able to hit the ground running,” Presnell said.
Presnell was more than pleased with the recruiting class and says that it ranks among the best ever for CMU.
“I believe it’s been the best recruiting class ever. We have five that are playing significantly already. Our guys worked really hard (on recruiting) and we didn’t miss much,” he said.
Presnell sees good things in store for the DeBord era of CMU football.
“He (DeBord) has a really great personality that kids like. They like his enthusiasm. He has a good blend of older guys and younger guys (on staff) and that blend has helped us,” he said.
Presnell is the current tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator, while Schulte is the defensive line coach and heads up the recruiting on the west side of Michigan.
Presnell relates that recruiting is a full time job.
“It’s 24-7. If I’m not formally doing something, then I am informally. I do a little bit every day. The saying goes if there’s no animals, there’s no zoo. We have to have players,” Presnell said.
Recruiting, especially locally is a tough job with two Big Ten schools (University of Michigan, Michigan State University) and two other Mid-American Conference schools (Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan) all competing for the same in-state players.
“It’s really competitive. The things we’ve done, with our facilities are the things we’ve needed to do. We have the best facilities in the MAC, but people are still important. We have family guys (coaches) here,” Presnell said.
Presnell is married to Sue and has two children, Ben and Kate.
It doesn’t take long for Presnell to start bragging about his family as a proud husband or papa.
“I have a great family, a great wife, she’s my best friend. She’s the real deal. I have a daughter who is a straight A student at Mount Pleasant High School and my son goes to Central,” he said.
Ben Presnell may not have had much of a choice with a father who has poured so much into CMU, but Plas says Ben really enjoys CMU.
“He is a fun-loving kid and he fits in well,” Presnell said.
Schulte on the other hand has no kids but is married to Mary, who is an elementary school teacher in Clare. They enjoy spending their leisure time traveling.
“I like traveling around and that’s a luxury I’ve gotten is that I can travel. Family’s very important to me and they’ve been following CMU football for over 31 years,” Schulte said.
His parents have shown their dedication by being Chippewa faithful.
“My folks were original CMU season ticket holders at Kelly/Shorts Stadium,” Schulte said.
Schulte has no children, but takes that fatherly approach to his players as a coach.
“Basically my children are the people I’m dealing with here,” he said.
That’s how important CMU football is to these two men. However, to overlook either CMU or football would be to overlook these passions of these two men. The two words cannot be separated, it must be “CMU football.” To have one and not the other would detract from their experiences.
Schulte describes himself as a “CMU football coach.”
“That has been my life, that has been the consuming part of my life up to this point. (A CMU football coach), that’s the deal...that has offered me a lot of opportunities and it’s here at Central that has offered me those opportunities,” Schulte said.
Presnell, although he graduated a Spartan, sees himself completely as a Chippewa.
“I’m a guy that graduated from Michigan State, but is maroon and gold through and through,” Presnell said.