Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Insider Podcast - Season 8 - Episode 6
9/29/2025 6:42:00 PM | Baseball, Football, General
EMU Grit, Alumni Achievement, and Fall Sports Momentum
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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE opened its sixth episode of Season 8 with a mix of humor, grit, and plenty of Eastern Michigan sports talk, even as co-host Greg Steiner admitted he was under the weather.
"I swear there's nothing in this world worse than when you're having to play sick. And right now, I am every bit of that in this episode. I have no voice, but we're going to get through it," Steiner said at the top of the show.
Elena Davis was quick to tease him. "I disagree. You have a voice. You seem fine. You have the man flu. Like you just act like the world is crumbling under your feet when you're sick."
Steiner laughed off the ribbing but kept things moving, shifting to Eastern's trip to Mount Pleasant. The Eagles dropped their Mid-American Conference opener to Central Michigan, but the second half showed signs of life. "They fall behind early, but second half a much different story," Steiner said. "The Chips prevail, but I think we saw some growing things out of an Eastern Michigan team in the second half up there in Mount Peay."
Davis agreed the response after halftime was noticeable. "The first and second quarter were great. And then coming out of halftime, it's just, there has to be a little motivation coming out of there," she said, joking that halftime "feels like five minutes" despite being 20.
The duo then looked around the rest of EMU athletics. Women's soccer, Davis noted, had "a tough draw with Ohio" following a loss at Miami, but remained ahead of last season's pace and entered a pivotal week with matches at Kent State and at home against Bowling Green in the annual pink game.
Volleyball endured setbacks at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois but has rivalry tests ahead against Bowling Green and Toledo. "So it'll be a good weekend for them," Steiner said, with Davis adding that pink week will bring extra color to the home atmosphere.
The conversation turned lighthearted when the subject of Barbie came up. Davis admitted she never played with dolls. "I did not have a Barbie or American Girl dolls. I think they're creepy," she said, sharing instead that she collected Littlest Pet Shops.
The fall calendar also includes EMU baseball's "wildcard weekend," which doubles as the program's annual scrimmage at a renovated Oestrike Stadium. The event promises fans a "super slice" giveaway from Little Caesars. "Show up to the game. First 100 people," Steiner reminded listeners.
The hosts also mixed in Detroit sports talk. Davis expressed confidence in the Lions, declaring, "This is our year," while both weighed in on the Tigers' postseason push and the oddity of a Scuba fastball hitting an opponent in the face.
Football remained front and center, with Steiner highlighting running back Dante McMillan's production. "This year Dante has carried the ball 62 times. He's been stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage just six of those occurrences," Steiner said. "He's currently 15th nationally in yards after contact and he's forced 27 missed tackles." Head Coach Chris Creighton, in his weekly interview, pegged McMillan as "the toughest man on this ball club."
Later in the episode, Davis introduced her conversation with former EMU baseball player and current businessman Anthony Tomey, a recent Alumni Achievement Award recipient. Technical issues limited how much of the interview could be shared, but Davis said Tomey's message about life beyond baseball left an impression. "In my mind I was motivated and I was fired up after it," she said.
Despite Steiner's scratchy voice and Davis' good-natured teasing, the episode once again blended athletics, personality, and local flavor. "All that and so much in store on this episode of the Eastern Insider between the coughs that we have to cut out," Steiner joked. Davis quickly added, "No germs were involved."
Segment 1 - Chris Creighton
Eastern Michigan football Head Coach Chris Creighton did not hide his frustration with last weekend's loss at Central Michigan, calling the first half a "really bad start" in his appearance on the Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE.
"Felt as though our guys were ready to go and, you know, when you give up a 47-yarder on the first play and then they go down and score, you know, that's not what we had planned and talked about and worked for," Creighton said.
Central scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions, while EMU settled for field goals. Despite holding the ball for nearly 26 minutes and limiting Central to four conversions on 13 third-down attempts, the Eagles were unable to generate momentum.
"The second half, our defense got stops, we got some momentum, scored, and we were marching down," Creighton said. "But we ended up throwing an interception. We just weren't able to turn the corner from that point on. So certainly a frustrating and really disappointing day for us."
Creighton admitted he was surprised by what he described as a lack of energy in a rivalry setting.
"As a player and as a coach, I'm not going to do a really good job explaining this," he said. "There are days for no reason where it's just not there, and you want it to be. Leaders have to be able to make themselves snap out of that and bring other people along."
The veteran coach stressed that the team needed game-changing plays to shift momentum, something he felt was missing against CMU.
"There was not a single game-changing play that was made on offense, defense, or special teams," Creighton said. "There wasn't a broken tackle long touchdown. There wasn't a tip ball that we picked off and put ourselves in great field position. There wasn't a long return or a block punt. I do believe that if we were able to have manufactured that, things could have more easily changed."
While the offense struggled to find explosive plays, Creighton highlighted running back Dante McMillan as an example of consistency and toughness. McMillan ranks 15th nationally in yards after contact and has forced 27 missed tackles this season.
"He is playing, that was his last football game," Creighton said of McMillan's intensity. "When you look in his eyes, you can see right into his soul and there is a fire raging. He's an absolute joy to coach."
The Eagles also continue to rank among the Mid-American Conference leaders on third down. EMU converted 7 of 13 opportunities against Central and has shown steady improvement since the season opener.
"We put a lot of time into it," Creighton said. "Coach Pike and the offensive staff put a lot of time into third downs as early in the week as you can get to that. The plan's been good. But it's something you have to work at every week."
EMU now turns its focus to Buffalo, a team Creighton called "well coached" and "fundamental." The Bulls opened the season with a close loss to Minnesota and own a conference win over Kent State.
"They're a good football team," Creighton said. "It's going to be another MACtion dog fight."
Eastern Michigan will meet Buffalo on the road this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Segment 2 - Anthony Tomey
Anthony Tomey has worn many hats in his life: pitcher, entrepreneur, and now recipient of the Eastern Michigan University Alumni Achievement Award. For Tomey, the recognition represents more than a personal milestone.
"It means a ton," Tomey said on the Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE. "To be able to come back like I do often, and then be recognized in front of all the people I do business with and help out at the school, and to just be chosen from so many different alumni, not just athletic alumni. This is the entire school. So huge honor for me and my family."
A Farmington Hills native, Tomey pitched for EMU from 2002-03 and helped lead the Eagles to a Mid-American Conference championship his senior season. He recalled that team as one of the most memorable in program history.
"We led the country in home runs that year," he said. "We had a great team. Ended up losing to Nebraska, who had two first-round picks, but we played really well. Just loved being around here, and still love coming back to this day."
Coming back to Ypsilanti also gave Tomey a first look at EMU's new baseball facility. The field, with its full turf surface, impressed him as a major step forward for the program.
"It's amazing," Tomey said. "I've never had to play on full turf my whole life. It's the new thing, everyone's doing it. Place looks really, really great. Dive's done a really good job of making it what it needs to be to keep up with the rest of the country and all the other teams in the MAC."
After college, Tomey signed with the Detroit Tigers organization and spent several years in the minors before transitioning into business full time. He said the lessons of sport prepared him for both success and setbacks.
"Sports in general is the greatest thing you can do," he said. "It teaches you how to compete, how to be accountable, how to outwork somebody. Nothing's gonna be given to you. That definitely carried over from baseball. A lot of great things have happened in business, but there are a lot of deals that don't go through, too. The ups and downs keep you competitive."
That mindset fueled the growth of The Tomey Group, the family business he now leads. At age 21, Tomey opened his first Jimmy John's franchise. By 2008, the family owned five locations, and today the group operates 50 stores across Michigan.
"We blew that store from five to what we have now, 50," Tomey said. "We're building Corktown right now, building Belleville soon, and a few more stores in the area. My goal is to get to 100 Jimmy John's."
The Tomey Group has also diversified. Anthony and his brother Michael co-own 8 Mile Vodka, an internationally recognized spirits brand, and Born in Detroit, a lifestyle apparel company with licensing agreements across Detroit's pro sports franchises and universities. The brand recently expanded into restaurants, with a location at Detroit Metro Airport and a new franchise at LSU.
"We're more of a growing company with a great vision of what we're doing in the future," Tomey said. "If we get a few more of those nationwide, I think that's going to be a huge success for us."
Despite his business success, Tomey said the competitive spirit he developed on the baseball diamond still drives him today.
"At the end of the day, I could be like, hey, I'm good," he said. "But I want to keep competing. It's like a game for me, and I just keep getting better and better and growing bigger and bigger."
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE opened its sixth episode of Season 8 with a mix of humor, grit, and plenty of Eastern Michigan sports talk, even as co-host Greg Steiner admitted he was under the weather.
"I swear there's nothing in this world worse than when you're having to play sick. And right now, I am every bit of that in this episode. I have no voice, but we're going to get through it," Steiner said at the top of the show.
Elena Davis was quick to tease him. "I disagree. You have a voice. You seem fine. You have the man flu. Like you just act like the world is crumbling under your feet when you're sick."
Steiner laughed off the ribbing but kept things moving, shifting to Eastern's trip to Mount Pleasant. The Eagles dropped their Mid-American Conference opener to Central Michigan, but the second half showed signs of life. "They fall behind early, but second half a much different story," Steiner said. "The Chips prevail, but I think we saw some growing things out of an Eastern Michigan team in the second half up there in Mount Peay."
Davis agreed the response after halftime was noticeable. "The first and second quarter were great. And then coming out of halftime, it's just, there has to be a little motivation coming out of there," she said, joking that halftime "feels like five minutes" despite being 20.
The duo then looked around the rest of EMU athletics. Women's soccer, Davis noted, had "a tough draw with Ohio" following a loss at Miami, but remained ahead of last season's pace and entered a pivotal week with matches at Kent State and at home against Bowling Green in the annual pink game.
Volleyball endured setbacks at Western Michigan and Northern Illinois but has rivalry tests ahead against Bowling Green and Toledo. "So it'll be a good weekend for them," Steiner said, with Davis adding that pink week will bring extra color to the home atmosphere.
The conversation turned lighthearted when the subject of Barbie came up. Davis admitted she never played with dolls. "I did not have a Barbie or American Girl dolls. I think they're creepy," she said, sharing instead that she collected Littlest Pet Shops.
The fall calendar also includes EMU baseball's "wildcard weekend," which doubles as the program's annual scrimmage at a renovated Oestrike Stadium. The event promises fans a "super slice" giveaway from Little Caesars. "Show up to the game. First 100 people," Steiner reminded listeners.
The hosts also mixed in Detroit sports talk. Davis expressed confidence in the Lions, declaring, "This is our year," while both weighed in on the Tigers' postseason push and the oddity of a Scuba fastball hitting an opponent in the face.
Football remained front and center, with Steiner highlighting running back Dante McMillan's production. "This year Dante has carried the ball 62 times. He's been stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage just six of those occurrences," Steiner said. "He's currently 15th nationally in yards after contact and he's forced 27 missed tackles." Head Coach Chris Creighton, in his weekly interview, pegged McMillan as "the toughest man on this ball club."
Later in the episode, Davis introduced her conversation with former EMU baseball player and current businessman Anthony Tomey, a recent Alumni Achievement Award recipient. Technical issues limited how much of the interview could be shared, but Davis said Tomey's message about life beyond baseball left an impression. "In my mind I was motivated and I was fired up after it," she said.
Despite Steiner's scratchy voice and Davis' good-natured teasing, the episode once again blended athletics, personality, and local flavor. "All that and so much in store on this episode of the Eastern Insider between the coughs that we have to cut out," Steiner joked. Davis quickly added, "No germs were involved."
Segment 1 - Chris Creighton
Eastern Michigan football Head Coach Chris Creighton did not hide his frustration with last weekend's loss at Central Michigan, calling the first half a "really bad start" in his appearance on the Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE.
"Felt as though our guys were ready to go and, you know, when you give up a 47-yarder on the first play and then they go down and score, you know, that's not what we had planned and talked about and worked for," Creighton said.
Central scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions, while EMU settled for field goals. Despite holding the ball for nearly 26 minutes and limiting Central to four conversions on 13 third-down attempts, the Eagles were unable to generate momentum.
"The second half, our defense got stops, we got some momentum, scored, and we were marching down," Creighton said. "But we ended up throwing an interception. We just weren't able to turn the corner from that point on. So certainly a frustrating and really disappointing day for us."
Creighton admitted he was surprised by what he described as a lack of energy in a rivalry setting.
"As a player and as a coach, I'm not going to do a really good job explaining this," he said. "There are days for no reason where it's just not there, and you want it to be. Leaders have to be able to make themselves snap out of that and bring other people along."
The veteran coach stressed that the team needed game-changing plays to shift momentum, something he felt was missing against CMU.
"There was not a single game-changing play that was made on offense, defense, or special teams," Creighton said. "There wasn't a broken tackle long touchdown. There wasn't a tip ball that we picked off and put ourselves in great field position. There wasn't a long return or a block punt. I do believe that if we were able to have manufactured that, things could have more easily changed."
While the offense struggled to find explosive plays, Creighton highlighted running back Dante McMillan as an example of consistency and toughness. McMillan ranks 15th nationally in yards after contact and has forced 27 missed tackles this season.
"He is playing, that was his last football game," Creighton said of McMillan's intensity. "When you look in his eyes, you can see right into his soul and there is a fire raging. He's an absolute joy to coach."
The Eagles also continue to rank among the Mid-American Conference leaders on third down. EMU converted 7 of 13 opportunities against Central and has shown steady improvement since the season opener.
"We put a lot of time into it," Creighton said. "Coach Pike and the offensive staff put a lot of time into third downs as early in the week as you can get to that. The plan's been good. But it's something you have to work at every week."
EMU now turns its focus to Buffalo, a team Creighton called "well coached" and "fundamental." The Bulls opened the season with a close loss to Minnesota and own a conference win over Kent State.
"They're a good football team," Creighton said. "It's going to be another MACtion dog fight."
Eastern Michigan will meet Buffalo on the road this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Segment 2 - Anthony Tomey
Anthony Tomey has worn many hats in his life: pitcher, entrepreneur, and now recipient of the Eastern Michigan University Alumni Achievement Award. For Tomey, the recognition represents more than a personal milestone.
"It means a ton," Tomey said on the Eastern Insider Podcast Powered by DTE. "To be able to come back like I do often, and then be recognized in front of all the people I do business with and help out at the school, and to just be chosen from so many different alumni, not just athletic alumni. This is the entire school. So huge honor for me and my family."
A Farmington Hills native, Tomey pitched for EMU from 2002-03 and helped lead the Eagles to a Mid-American Conference championship his senior season. He recalled that team as one of the most memorable in program history.
"We led the country in home runs that year," he said. "We had a great team. Ended up losing to Nebraska, who had two first-round picks, but we played really well. Just loved being around here, and still love coming back to this day."
Coming back to Ypsilanti also gave Tomey a first look at EMU's new baseball facility. The field, with its full turf surface, impressed him as a major step forward for the program.
"It's amazing," Tomey said. "I've never had to play on full turf my whole life. It's the new thing, everyone's doing it. Place looks really, really great. Dive's done a really good job of making it what it needs to be to keep up with the rest of the country and all the other teams in the MAC."
After college, Tomey signed with the Detroit Tigers organization and spent several years in the minors before transitioning into business full time. He said the lessons of sport prepared him for both success and setbacks.
"Sports in general is the greatest thing you can do," he said. "It teaches you how to compete, how to be accountable, how to outwork somebody. Nothing's gonna be given to you. That definitely carried over from baseball. A lot of great things have happened in business, but there are a lot of deals that don't go through, too. The ups and downs keep you competitive."
That mindset fueled the growth of The Tomey Group, the family business he now leads. At age 21, Tomey opened his first Jimmy John's franchise. By 2008, the family owned five locations, and today the group operates 50 stores across Michigan.
"We blew that store from five to what we have now, 50," Tomey said. "We're building Corktown right now, building Belleville soon, and a few more stores in the area. My goal is to get to 100 Jimmy John's."
The Tomey Group has also diversified. Anthony and his brother Michael co-own 8 Mile Vodka, an internationally recognized spirits brand, and Born in Detroit, a lifestyle apparel company with licensing agreements across Detroit's pro sports franchises and universities. The brand recently expanded into restaurants, with a location at Detroit Metro Airport and a new franchise at LSU.
"We're more of a growing company with a great vision of what we're doing in the future," Tomey said. "If we get a few more of those nationwide, I think that's going to be a huge success for us."
Despite his business success, Tomey said the competitive spirit he developed on the baseball diamond still drives him today.
"At the end of the day, I could be like, hey, I'm good," he said. "But I want to keep competing. It's like a game for me, and I just keep getting better and better and growing bigger and bigger."
Think pink with us this October! 💗
Wednesday, October 01
Eastern in 60 Seconds Part 6,
Tuesday, September 30
Season 8 - Episode 6: EMU Grit, Alumni Achievement, and Fall Sports Momentum
Monday, September 29
EMU Football Pregame Press Conference: Week 6 vs. Buffalo
Monday, September 29