Posted on 11/11/2004 4:32:15 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
One thing that's still right about college football: Michigan Tech
11/11/2004, 6:58 p.m. ET
By JIM LITKE
The Associated Press
(AP) — There isn't enough room on a page to catalog everything that's gone wrong with big-time college football.
But two words are enough to describe everything that's still right about the game at the lower levels: Michigan Tech.
The small engineering school seeded No. 1 as the NCAA Division II playoffs begin this weekend is stocked with athletes who really are students. Founded in 1920, the program boasts a 100 percent graduation rate and the current team's grade-point average is better than the student body's at large, which means something at a university known for academics.
On top of that, Tech is located in Houghton, Mich., a town of 8,000, at the base of a finger of land that extends from the eastern tip of Michigan's Upper Peninsula into Lake Superior, guaranteeing a minimum bus ride of eight hours just about every time the Huskies go on the road.
"So let me put it this way," said Bernie Anderson, in his 19th season as head coach. "To be up here at the end of the earth, facing high-academic expectations in a no-frills environment, well, you've really got to love football if you're going to play it here."
But even that doesn't explain how much Anderson and the guys who've played for him — past and present — love football.
Late one spring night in 2003, Anderson got a phone call from his bosses that the football program was being deep-sixed. A budget squeeze meant weakening five sports at Tech or cutting the most expensive one, and football drew the short straw. It didn't help, of course, that the Huskies had a string of mediocre seasons behind them and only 1,500 fannies in the seats for most home games.
At 6 a.m., the next morning, Anderson stood in front of 91 bleary-eyed kids and broke the news.
"Some of them started crying," he recalled. "It was tough. I felt a little like crying, too."
Then something strange happened.
A tiny news item that Tech was dropping football began rattling around in cyberspace. Within a week, Anderson received 1,400 e-mails from 35 states and 13 countries. Each one expressed sadness or promised support — and most included both. That's when he and three alumni drew up a financial plan to raise the $400,000 needed for the upcoming season with the high-tech equivalent of a bake sale.
They collected e-mail lists, set up phone trees, started a fund-raising club and held raffles. The money rolled in almost immediately, almost all of it from former football players whose degrees were put to good use in the business world. The scheme worked so well that Anderson secured enough long-range funding to guarantee operations for the next five seasons and beyond.
"Once I found out how much this university and this football team meant to so many people, I had an obligation," he said.
"I couldn't let it die, because I love it, too, and I know the value of football to a university," he added. "Especially this university."
Then something stranger happened.
After losing 23 kids to other programs, then struggling through a 5-5 season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2003, the Huskies came out for the 2004 season on fire. Attendance at home doubled and they rolled to nine straight wins and won their first-ever Great Lakes championship.
Fifth-year senior quarterback Dan Mettlach ran Tech's pro-style offense so efficiently that he's earned consideration for all-conference honors. Tailback Lee Marana is in the running for the Division II equivalent of the Heisman Award, mostly because he's operating behind a line led by Joe Berger, a 6-foot-5, 293-pounder whose been scouted by all but a handful of NFL clubs.
"It sounds corny, but football really can be a great instrument to prepare people for the real world. What's going on with Joe doesn't happen here often, and our kids know — I mean really know — that their chances of going pro is less than 1 percent," Anderson said.
The Huskies' only loss came in their 10th and final regular-season game, a loss at "home" against two-time Division II defending champion Grand Valley State. To raise money, Tech arranged to play at the "Big House" on the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor — a nine-hour bus ride — as part of an alumni reunion.
With a science and technology conference on campus the same weekend, the game drew 50,000. The take from that gate made the blemish on Tech's record easier to take.
Even better: The Huskies kept the top seed for the playoffs and a first-round bye. They open at home Nov. 20 against the winner of Saturday's North Dakota-St. Cloud matchup, and Anderson can't wait to see how his kids come flying out of the tunnel for that one.
"Looking back, I thought the worst thing that could ever happen was to be cut. But now, a year and a half later, I can say it's the best thing that could have happened. It woke up a community, a university, our alumni, and our players," he said, "and look at the way everybody stepped up."
Typo: makes me wish..
Thanks for the great article Dan. My son is a senior at Northwood (10-1)!
I think the reason they are so good at sports and academics is because there are hardly any females there to distract them.
Speaking as a Michigan Tech alum, I can confirm the above assertion.... It prepared me well for living in the Silicon Valley :-/ It also gives one a good bit of agression to work out - always good on the gridiron!
I'm a proud alum, and remember well playing in the famous MTU pep band at the football & hockey games. I even took a football "class" from Bernie - but since he was so busy with coaching, it was pretty much a bone-busting free-for-all among engineering men.
Still though - the parties at the hockey player's house always had the hottest women....maybe that's changed since the football program's doing better....
Excellent engineering university.
Damn straight! And without the glitz & glamour & high tuition of the "prestige" schools. That, and you get to play in the Keewenaw, jewel of the UP!
My friend and I were discussing that while we were digging a trench.
GVSU alum bump.
I've always been in awe of these guys.
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