Eastern Michigan Athletics
EMU Considered One of Football’s Most Stable Programs Per ESPN
7/30/2021 12:12:00 PM | Football
Eastern came in at No. 9 on the list and considered one of 17 programs to have “extreme stability”
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Toughness. Pride. Resilience. Those key words have come to describe Eastern Michigan University football under the direction of Head Coach Chris Creighton as he enters his eighth season in Ypsilanti in 2021. Creighton and his staff have made tremendous strides in changing the culture and mindset surrounding the program, however, it might be time to add "consistent" and "stable" to those program defining words.
On Wednesday, July 28, ESPN ranked all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs in order of stability. Eastern Michigan checked in at No. 9 overall and tied with Miami University for the top-spot in the Mid-American Conference.
Overall, EMU was considered one of 17 programs to have "extreme stability" and the only program inside the state of Michigan to make the "extreme stability" list.
The Eagles earned a total stability value of 38.6 out of 50 possible points, as No. 1 Wyoming earned 40.6 points. EMU earned 18.0 out of 20 points possible for coaching stability, 15.2 out of 20 points possible for roster stability and 5.3 out of 10.0 points possible for performance stability.
ESPN's Bill Connelly based his rankings on three areas:
Coaching stability - "Points will be awarded according to three factors: how long your current coach has been on the job, how many head coaches you've had over the past five years (so, 2017-21, not including late-year interims) and how many coordinators you've had to replace this offseason."
Roster stability - "This will be based on two factors: your returning production averages and the number of players you've lost to the transfer portal since the start of last season. The former points directly at the value of who you've got returning, while the latter hints at a program's overall culture and stability."
Performance stability - "How well have you done recently? We'll derive this from your five-year average SP+ rating. How consistent have you been? We'll use the standard deviation of your last five years of SP+ for this. How many games did you play last year?"
Connelly said of the Eastern Michigan football program in the story "Seven years ago, Chris Creighton took over what was basically a smoking crater of a football program. No history, no recent success. The Eagles haven't broken through to a division or conference title yet, but they went to three bowls in four years from 2016-19, and the two-deep is loaded with experience. What a turnaround this has been."
Named EMU's head football coach on Dec. 11, 2013, Creighton is now the 21st-longest tenured coach in the FBS ranks. Following the recent retirement of Ohio's Frank Solich, he is now just eight days shy of Miami's Chuck Martin for the top-spot in the MAC.
Creighton is the only coach in EMU history to lead the program to multiple bowl appearances with the 2016 Bahamas Bowl, the 2018 Camellia Bowl, and the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl. Voted a finalist for the 2016 American Football Coaches Awards' first-ever Comeback Coach of the Year, Creighton led EMU to the program's first winning season since 1995 and its first bowl appearance since 1987.
One of eight active Football Bowl Subdivision coaches to record more than 160 wins, Creighton helped the Eagles to the program's first win over a Big Ten Conference or Power Five team with a 16-13 victory over Rutgers, Sept. 9, 2017. Nearly one year later, EMU used a 24-yard field goal as time expired for a stunning 20-19 win over Purdue, Sept. 8, 2018, for Eastern's first walk-off win in two decades. The magic continued in 2019, when Eastern posted its third-consecutive Big Ten road victory with a 34-31 walk-off triumph at Illinois, Sept. 14.
In the classroom, Eastern Michigan led the MAC in mean grade point average (GPA) for the third time in the last seven years. Eastern notched an impressive 3.158 GPA in 2020 when combining the fall and winter terms. The next closest MAC school recorded a 3.148.
In recent years, the Green and White have taken home the league's football academic crown in 2014-15, 2015-16, and now in 2020-21.
A MAC-leading 106 EMU football student-athletes have landed on the league's Academic All-MAC teams since 2014 when Creighton arrived. EMU's number is two ahead of Western Michigan (104) and four ahead of Ball State (102) as the only conference institutions to surpass the century mark over that span.
Furthermore, Eastern Michigan continues to give back with weekly service appearances in the Ypsilanti community. In addition, Creighton has installed yearly traditions such as Youth Day as well as Victory Day, which is designed for cognitively and physically impaired children.
Inspired by the region and the student-athlete's own backgrounds, Creighton has continued to challenge the program to be "E Tough," committed to great effort, sacrifice and triumphing in the face of adversity. In this spirit, EMU nicknamed Rynearson Stadium "The Factory," a place where coaches and staff will go to work each day to help "E Tough" student-athletes become scholars, leaders, champions and impact men. "The Factory" is also highlighted by Division I Football's first gray FieldTurf playing surface.
Here is how the rest of the MAC fared in the rest of Connelly's stability rankings:
MAC Rank: Team — Score (National Rank)
"Extreme stability" programs
t-1. Miami – 38.6 (No. 8)
t-1. Eastern Michigan - 38.6 (No. 9)
3. Toledo - 38.5 (No. 10)
"High-level stability" programs
4. Ball State - 33.8 (No. 24)
5. Western Michigan - 30.1 (No. 45)
"Stable enough" programs
6. Kent State - 27.8 (No. 62)
7. Ohio - 25.3 (No. 79)
8. Akron - 25.0 (No. 81)
"Slight instability" programs
9. Central Michigan - 23.6 (No. 90)
10. Northern Illinois - 20.3 (No. 106)
"Beware" programs
11. Bowling Green - 17.8 (No. 114)
12. Buffalo - 9.1 (No. 129)
On Wednesday, July 28, ESPN ranked all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs in order of stability. Eastern Michigan checked in at No. 9 overall and tied with Miami University for the top-spot in the Mid-American Conference.
Overall, EMU was considered one of 17 programs to have "extreme stability" and the only program inside the state of Michigan to make the "extreme stability" list.
The Eagles earned a total stability value of 38.6 out of 50 possible points, as No. 1 Wyoming earned 40.6 points. EMU earned 18.0 out of 20 points possible for coaching stability, 15.2 out of 20 points possible for roster stability and 5.3 out of 10.0 points possible for performance stability.
ESPN's Bill Connelly based his rankings on three areas:
Coaching stability - "Points will be awarded according to three factors: how long your current coach has been on the job, how many head coaches you've had over the past five years (so, 2017-21, not including late-year interims) and how many coordinators you've had to replace this offseason."
Roster stability - "This will be based on two factors: your returning production averages and the number of players you've lost to the transfer portal since the start of last season. The former points directly at the value of who you've got returning, while the latter hints at a program's overall culture and stability."
Performance stability - "How well have you done recently? We'll derive this from your five-year average SP+ rating. How consistent have you been? We'll use the standard deviation of your last five years of SP+ for this. How many games did you play last year?"
Connelly said of the Eastern Michigan football program in the story "Seven years ago, Chris Creighton took over what was basically a smoking crater of a football program. No history, no recent success. The Eagles haven't broken through to a division or conference title yet, but they went to three bowls in four years from 2016-19, and the two-deep is loaded with experience. What a turnaround this has been."
Named EMU's head football coach on Dec. 11, 2013, Creighton is now the 21st-longest tenured coach in the FBS ranks. Following the recent retirement of Ohio's Frank Solich, he is now just eight days shy of Miami's Chuck Martin for the top-spot in the MAC.
Creighton is the only coach in EMU history to lead the program to multiple bowl appearances with the 2016 Bahamas Bowl, the 2018 Camellia Bowl, and the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl. Voted a finalist for the 2016 American Football Coaches Awards' first-ever Comeback Coach of the Year, Creighton led EMU to the program's first winning season since 1995 and its first bowl appearance since 1987.
One of eight active Football Bowl Subdivision coaches to record more than 160 wins, Creighton helped the Eagles to the program's first win over a Big Ten Conference or Power Five team with a 16-13 victory over Rutgers, Sept. 9, 2017. Nearly one year later, EMU used a 24-yard field goal as time expired for a stunning 20-19 win over Purdue, Sept. 8, 2018, for Eastern's first walk-off win in two decades. The magic continued in 2019, when Eastern posted its third-consecutive Big Ten road victory with a 34-31 walk-off triumph at Illinois, Sept. 14.
In the classroom, Eastern Michigan led the MAC in mean grade point average (GPA) for the third time in the last seven years. Eastern notched an impressive 3.158 GPA in 2020 when combining the fall and winter terms. The next closest MAC school recorded a 3.148.
In recent years, the Green and White have taken home the league's football academic crown in 2014-15, 2015-16, and now in 2020-21.
A MAC-leading 106 EMU football student-athletes have landed on the league's Academic All-MAC teams since 2014 when Creighton arrived. EMU's number is two ahead of Western Michigan (104) and four ahead of Ball State (102) as the only conference institutions to surpass the century mark over that span.
Furthermore, Eastern Michigan continues to give back with weekly service appearances in the Ypsilanti community. In addition, Creighton has installed yearly traditions such as Youth Day as well as Victory Day, which is designed for cognitively and physically impaired children.
Inspired by the region and the student-athlete's own backgrounds, Creighton has continued to challenge the program to be "E Tough," committed to great effort, sacrifice and triumphing in the face of adversity. In this spirit, EMU nicknamed Rynearson Stadium "The Factory," a place where coaches and staff will go to work each day to help "E Tough" student-athletes become scholars, leaders, champions and impact men. "The Factory" is also highlighted by Division I Football's first gray FieldTurf playing surface.
Here is how the rest of the MAC fared in the rest of Connelly's stability rankings:
MAC Rank: Team — Score (National Rank)
"Extreme stability" programs
t-1. Miami – 38.6 (No. 8)
t-1. Eastern Michigan - 38.6 (No. 9)
3. Toledo - 38.5 (No. 10)
"High-level stability" programs
4. Ball State - 33.8 (No. 24)
5. Western Michigan - 30.1 (No. 45)
"Stable enough" programs
6. Kent State - 27.8 (No. 62)
7. Ohio - 25.3 (No. 79)
8. Akron - 25.0 (No. 81)
"Slight instability" programs
9. Central Michigan - 23.6 (No. 90)
10. Northern Illinois - 20.3 (No. 106)
"Beware" programs
11. Bowling Green - 17.8 (No. 114)
12. Buffalo - 9.1 (No. 129)
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