EMU Heads to Houston for Road Game with Texas Southern

YPSILANTI, Michigan - The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team will square off against the Texas Southern Tigers Tuesday, Nov. 15, in the first of four games the Eagles will play in during the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State University. Game time is 7 p.m. in Texas Southern's H & PE Building in Houston, Texas. After Tuesday's outing the Eagles will have three more games as part of the invitational. Eastern will host Arkansas-Little Rock Friday, Nov. 18, before traveling to Indianapolis, Ind. to meet IUPUI Sunday, Nov. 20. Eastern closes out the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational Sunday, Nov. 27, with a home game against the Michigan State University Spartans. Game time for that MSU contest is noon in the Convocation Center.

MURPHY ERA STARTS WITH A WIN: The Rob Murphy Era of Eastern Michigan University men's basketball opened successfully as the Eagles downed the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames, 68-57, Friday, Nov. 11, in the Convocation Center. The Eagles rallied from six-points down in the second half to record the win.

FAMILIAR FACE: When the Eagles travel to Houston, Texas for Wednesday's, Nov. 15, matchup with the Texas Southern University, Nov. 15, there will be a familiar face on the opposition's sideline. TSU Head Coach Tony Harvey, now in his fourth season, was an assistant men's basketball coach at EMU for a three-year period, from 1996-99. He has a 43-55 record at Texas Southern and led his team to the 2010-11 Southwest Athletic Conference championship and a berth in the post-season NIT.

FOR THE 115th TIME: The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team kicked off its 115th season of competition Friday, Nov. 11, 2011, when the Eagles posted a 68-57 win over the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) in a 7 p.m. game in the Convocation Center. Eastern played its first season in 1897-98 and split games with Detroit, losing a 2-0 decision before coming back for a 4-0 victory. The Eagles are are 67-48 in season openers.

38th MAC SEASON: The 2011-12 season will also be the 38th for the Eagles in the Mid-American Conference. The first year of MAC play for EMU was 1974-75 when the then-Hurons went 12-14 overall and 4-9 in league play.

EMU has won three Mid-American Conference titles: 1987-88, 1990-91, and 1995-96, and the Green and White captured MAC Tournament crowns in all three of those years in addition to winning the tournament title in 1997-98.

CHECKING THE SERIES: EMU and Texas Southern are meeting for the first time Tuesday, Nov. 15, when the two teams square off in the H & PE Arena in Hoston, Texas.

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Coaching change at Howard complicates Eastern Michigan game planning for football opener

YPSILANTI, Mich. - Before heading off for tough road games against Big Ten foes Michigan and Penn State, the Eastern Michigan football team has a chance to gain some early-season momentum.

A pair of Football Championship Subdivision opponents visit Rynearson Stadium in the first two weeks of the season, Howard at 7 p.m. Saturday and Alabama State on Sept. 10. That scheduling gives the Eagles a realistic shot at a 2-0 start, something that hasn’t been accomplished at Eastern Michigan since 1989.

First up is a Howard team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference that went 1-10 last season and cleaned out its coaching staff afterward. That coaching change gives EMU coach Ron English a challenge.

“Really, the issue is you’re not as comfortable because you don’t know exactly what you’re going to see,” English said during Monday’s Mid-American Conference coaches teleconference. English says his staff has tracked down film from when first-year Howard coach Gary “The Flea” Harrell was an offensive coordinator at Bowie State and background on the systems the Bison’s new coordinators coached in previously.



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Howard University vs. Eastern Michigan

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The Eastern Michigan University football team returns home Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22, to host Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference foe Howard University. The highlight of the afternoon will be the appearance and performance of the renowned Howard "Showtime" Marching Band. "Showtime" is recognized nationally as one of the finest marching bands in the land and has a long and distinguished history of excellence and showmanship.

FIRST MEAC TEAM IN RYNEARSON: When EMU plays host to Howard University Saturday, it will mark the first appearance in Rynearson Stadium for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) team. The MEAC is comprised of: Howard, Bethune-Cookman, Coppin State, Delaware State, Florida A&M, Hampton, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Morgan State, Norfolk State, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina State.

ANOTHER TELEVISION APPEARANCE: Saturday’s EMU-Howard game is one of eight television appearances this season for EMU. The Sept. 8 Ball State game and the Howard contest are both Comcast Local TV productions as are the EMU-Western Michigan (Oct. 27) and Central Michigan (Nov. 16) games. The EMU-Northern Illinois game (Sept. 15) and the EMU at Ohio (Oct. 13) games are both slated for ESPN Regional action and the EMU-Northwestern (Oct. 19) and EMU-BGSU (Nov. 9) games are scheduled for ESPNU.

THE HEAD COACHES: EMU head coach Jeff Genyk (Bowling Green, ‘82) is in his fourth year as head coach after serving the previous 12 years working for Northwestern University. Howard head coach Carey Bailey (Tennessee, ’92) is in his first season.

GREEN EGGS AND COFFEE: EMU head football coach Jeff Genyk will be the featured guest on the Monday evening radio show, "Green Eggs and Coffee", from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. each Monday of the football season. The shows, with WTKA radio’s Jeff Radford and WEMU radio reporter Brian Nemerovski serving as co-hosts.

PROJECT PERFECT: EMU would like to recognize Saturday’s guests that are part of the Project Perfect program. The incentive program is designed to honor and recognize top students at local elementary and middle schools. Project Perfect rewards perfect grades, perfect attendance, and/or exemplary citizenship.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? The labels Division I-A and I-AA have been deleted from NCAA use and replaced by the terms "Football Bowl Subdivision" and "NCAA Football Championship Subdivision." The FBS is used to describe football programs like Eastern Michigan that compete to participate in the postseason bowl system that includes the 32 NCAA-licensed bowls that make up the Bowl Championship Series. The FCS is used for schools such as Howard that participate in the NCAA championship postseason structure.

COACH HAS A VOTE: EMU head football coach Jeff Genyk will be involved in weekly coaches’ polls for 2007. Genyk, the fourth-year head coach of the Eagles’ football squad, will be one of 60 head coaches that will vote in the weekly USA Today Coaches’ Poll that will pick the top 25 teams in the NCAA Bowl Championship Series each week of the season.

COLLEGIATE CLASH SET FOR OCT. 19: For the fourth year in a row the EMU football team will be taking one of its home games on the road, hosting a Big Ten team for the first time ever in the fourth annual Collegiate Clash at Ford Field in Detroit. EMU will be the host team for the non-conference battle against Northwestern University with game time set for 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19. The Eagles hosted Central Michigan in the inaugural Collegiate Clash, Nov. 6, 2004, and Eastern won a thriller, 61-58, in four overtimes. In 2005 EMU hosted Western Michigan, Nov. 5, 2005, and lost a 44-36 shoot-out. Last year Navy recorded a 49-21 win, Nov. 5, 2006, in the game at Ford Field.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: EMU will have five captains for the 2007 season. The captains, as voted by the players, are: Ken Bohnet, Jason Jones, Darran Matthews, Andy Schmitt and Pierre Walker.

STATELY BREAKDOWN: The 2007 EMU football roster has 60 players from the state of Michigan, 16 from Ohio, eight from Florida, two each from Indiana and Virginia, and one apiece from Washington D.C., Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Illinois, New York and Georgia.