Eastern Michigan University Eagles Football

Normalites, Hurons, Eagles

Football at Eastern Michigan dates to 1891, when the institution was Michigan State Normal School and the team played under the name Normalites. A student contest in 1929 replaced that with Hurons, which lasted until 1991, when the university dropped the name following a report recommending that schools using Native American logos or imagery abandon them. The switch to Eagles still irritates a section of the alumni body three and a half decades on.

The programme's strongest sustained run came under Elton Rynearson, head coach from 1917 to 1948. His teams went 40–4–2 between 1925 and 1930, with unbeaten seasons in 1925 and 1927 and four straight Michigan Collegiate Conference titles from 1927 to 1930. Across its various leagues the school has won ten conference championships: the MIAA in 1896 and 1925, the MCC run, the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1954, 1955 and 1957, and the Mid-American Conference once, in 1987.

The low point is equally well documented. Under Mike Stock the Eagles lost 27 consecutive games between 1980 and 1982, one of the longest losing runs in the sport's top division. The stadium carries Rynearson's name; the modern programme has spent most of its existence trying to live up to it.

1987, and the thirty-year wait

Jim Harkema's fifth season produced the only ten-win campaign in school history. The 1987 Hurons finished 10–2 overall and 7–1 in the MAC, took the conference title — the school's first since 1957 — and were sent to the California Bowl as 17½-point underdogs against San Jose State. They won 30–27, the first bowl victory the programme had ever recorded.

Nothing followed for a very long time. The 1987 appearance remained the most recent until 2016, and 1987 remains the only season in which Eastern Michigan has reached double figures in wins.

The Creighton rebuild

Chris Creighton took over in 2014 and is now in his thirteenth season, an unusual tenure for a MAC job that has historically been a stepping stone. His 2016 team went 7–5 for the first winning season since 1995 and the first bowl trip since the California Bowl, playing in the Bahamas Bowl; seven wins matched the programme's best total since 1989.

The bowl appearances then came in clusters — the Camellia Bowl in 2018, the Quick Lane Bowl in 2019, the LendingTree Bowl in 2021, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2022 and the 68 Ventures Bowl in 2023 — which is the point of the Creighton era rather than any single trophy. Eastern Michigan became a team that showed up in December, having previously done so twice in a century.

Last season broke the pattern. Picked eighth in the MAC coaches' preseason poll, the 2025 Eagles finished 4–8 and 3–5 in conference play, with their lone non-conference win a 34–31 result against Louisiana at home on 20 September 2025, plus MAC wins over Northern Illinois, Bowling Green and Ball State. Home attendance that year ran from roughly 11,800 to 18,371, the Louisiana game drawing the biggest crowd.

The 2026 roster and the staff behind it

The season turns on Noah Kim, a 6ft 2in quarterback from Westfield High School in Centreville, Virginia, now in his seventh year of college football. Kim redshirted at Michigan State in 2020, started five games there in 2023, spent 2024 as a backup at Coastal Carolina, then arrived in Ypsilanti for 2025 and started all twelve games, leading the MAC in completions (247), attempts (402) and passing yards (2,817) with 18 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. The NCAA granted him an eligibility waiver in January 2026 and he returned as one of five captains, having been named to the Phil Steele preseason MAC third team. Through six games this autumn he has completed 127 of 203 passes for 1,187 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions — fewer yards per game than last year, with the ball handled more carefully.

Creighton reshaped the staff over the spring. Mike Piatkowski stays as offensive coordinator in his fourth season, while the defence is now run jointly by Tate Omli and Kasey Teegardin, both in their first year in the role. Grant Kurzner returned as special teams coordinator from an analyst post at Michigan; Sean Dugan was promoted from analyst to linebackers coach after a second-half defensive improvement in 2025 that saw sacks rise from 0.4 to 2.0 per game; and Donnell Kirkwood Jr joined from Washington State to coach the running backs.

Top of the conference, with five games left

The non-conference portion was lopsided. Eastern Michigan opened in Week 0 for the first time in programme history on 29 August, beating Sacramento State 28–17 before 9,401, then lost 27–21 at home to San Jose State on 4 September in front of 5,646. Two Power Four road trips followed and both were heavy: 35–7 at Michigan State on 12 September and 54–10 at Wisconsin on 19 September. A 29–3 win over Lindenwood on 26 September, watched by 6,109, steadied things.

Conference play has been a different team. The Eagles won 38–14 at UMass on 3 October, then survived at Akron on 10 October, Kessinger landing a 48-yard field goal — his fourth of the afternoon — with 1:50 left for a 25–23 win. That puts Eastern Michigan at 4–3 overall and alone at the top of the MAC at 3–0, ahead of Ohio and Western Michigan on 2–0.

Five games remain. Toledo visit Rynearson Stadium on 17 October at 3.30pm on ESPN+, on homecoming; then Ohio away on 24 October, Central Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit on 4 November in an evening midweek slot, Western Michigan away on 17 November at 7pm and Kent State at home on 24 November. The MAC Championship Game is at Ford Field on 5 December.

Rynearson Stadium, and what a Saturday costs

The stadium opened on 27 September 1969 with a 10–3 upset of Akron and has been expanded twice, from 15,500 to 22,227 in 1974 and to 26,188 in 2008; it is now listed at 30,200. The record crowd of 26,188 came on 28 November 2008 for a 56–52 win over Central Michigan. Floodlights went in during 1974, partly because the Detroit Wheels of the World Football League were using the ground.

Since 2014 the playing surface has been grey FieldTurf, making Eastern Michigan only the second team in the top division to play on a non-green field. A $1 million donation in 2024 renamed the surface Crosby Field, paid for new turf, removed the running track that ringed the pitch and funded a separate track facility. The ground is known locally as The Factory, and the team breaks through a cement wall on its way out before kick-off.