Three things to know about Notre Dame Week 3 opponent Central Michigan
Notre Dame hosts Central Michigan at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. Here are three things to know about the Chippewas.
1. It’s A Popular Steppingstone For Aspiring Power Five Coaches
Since the mid-2000s, three former Central Michigan head coaches left on their own accord to take Power Five jobs.
In 2015, Dan Enos resigned to take the offensive coordinator job at Arkansas, where he remained for three years before short stints at Michigan, Alabama, Miami (Fla.), Cincinnati, Maryland and Arkansas again. Before Enos, Butch Jones parlayed an 11-2 season at CMU in 2009 into head jobs at Cincinnati and later Tennessee.
The coach who started this trend: none other than Brian Kelly, who left for Cincinnati after a 9-4 season with the Chippewas in 2006. Kelly, of course, went on to coach Notre Dame for 12 years before bolting to LSU in December 2021.
One can safely assume the Chippewas’ current head coach, Jim McElwain, hopes to get back to the Power Five (soon to be Power Four) level in short order. He reached that goal as Florida’s head coach from 2015-17, but his tenure was fraught, to put it mildly. After his “mutual separation” in October 2017, a Florida source told ESPN’s Edward Aschoff and Mark Schlabach that “He never embraced being here and being part of a team.” This was despite back-to-back Southeastern Conference East titles in 2015-16.
2. Pass-Rush Prowess Has Been A Hallmark Of McElwain’s CMU Teams
In 2021, Central Michigan was No. 1 in the Mid-American Conference with 43 sacks and No. 5 in the country with 3.5 sacks per game. That wasn’t a one-off, either — each of McElwain’s CMU teams, since he took over in 2019, have ranked in the top four in MAC sacks. The Chippewas went 8-4 during the 2021 regular season and capped off a successful campaign with a win over Washington State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
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During that time, Central Michigan has largely taken a by-committee approach to pass rushing (much like Notre Dame appears to be doing this season). Thomas Incoom (11.5 in 2022) is the only double-digit sack artist McElwain has coached in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The Chippewas picked up 2 sacks against Michigan State Sept. 1, one by redshirt sophomore Michael Heldman and one by senior Maurice White.
3. Strong Relationship With The Local Native American Tribe
While using the Chippewa nickname, Central Michigan is proud of its “strong, historic and cooperative” relationship with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. The tribe, CMU president Dr. Bob Davies told the Detroit Free Press in 2020 (around the time the NFL team in Washington finally gave up its offensive nickname and logo), has given the school permission to use the nickname.
“The tribe is the one that determines how we use it,” Davies told the Free Press. “At any point in time, that can change. That’s the tribe’s decision, not necessarily our decision.”
Central Michigan does not use Native American imagery on their uniforms or merchandise, and the school says it collaborates with the tribe to “improve and enhance the quality of life of citizens of the region.”
