Coach Charles Ramsey finished his sixth season of the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team on Tuesday when it lost in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament to Akron, 67-53.
With the end of the season comes the question everyone has been asking since mid-season: Will EMU keep Ramsey?
Of course, this question hasn’t been answered yet, but it is definitely up for debate. EMU athletic director Derek Gragg didn’t exactly give Ramsey a ringing endorsement.
“He inherited a program that wasn’t very successful,” Gragg told the Detroit News prior to the Eagles leaving for Akron. “I feel strides have been made, but we’ll meet with him for his evaluation at the end of the season.”
Despite Gragg’s statement, I have to believe EMU is leaning toward dumping the Ypsilanti native.
Without taking a look at his numbers, Ramsey is everything you could ask for in a coach at EMU. Who is better to represent Eastern Michigan than a man who grew up right here in Ypsilanti? Who is better to lead the team than a man that was a part of the coaching staff during the glory days of Earl Boykins and the NCAA tournament teams?
Ramsey says all the right things, and seems to have a pretty good relationship with his players. The players certainly appear to respect him. Ramsey has achieved mild success. It appeared the program was on the right track after last season’s heart-breaking loss to Central Michigan for the MAC West title. In 2007-08 he also led his team to second in the MAC West with an 8-8 record.
So, naturally the Eagles went into the 2010-11 season with reasonably high expectations. It was Brandon Bowdry’s senior season, and the team was coming off the best season of Ramsey’s tenure.
Instead, the Eagles came short of posting even a mediocre season. What happened?
As far as I can tell, the team never really seemed to jell on the court. Frustration was apparent in the body language of players on offense, even when they managed to get a 69-50 victory over Toledo, a really bad team.
That can be partially blamed on the coach, but it should also be noted that when Carlos Medlock and Justin Dobbins moved on after last season, so did much of the team’s leadership.
When we take numbers into consideration, it becomes harder to keep Ramsey around. The Eagles finished the season 5-11 in the MAC and 8-22 overall, his worst season since 2005-06, his first season as coach. Jim Boone, the coach before him, went 48-96 over five years.
As Ramsey is 68-118, a winning .366 percentage, his record is only slightly better than Boone’s regime.
Gragg also told the Detroit News he wants to give EMU supporters a reason to show up to games and cheer, regardless if they kept Ramsey on the job or not.
Again, not sounding like an A.D. who is trying to keep his coach around, especially if you consider that “average” attendance was a meager 1,307 this season. Average is in quotes because I suspect the actual body count, even earlier in the season at the Convocation Center, has been slightly exaggerated. If you’ve been to a game, you could probably vouch for this.
Should Gragg decide to get rid of Ramsey, it can’t be for another lateral move (like Boone for Ramsey). It’s not worth a coaching change unless you can bring in a guy who you really feel will be .500 or better, and make some noise in the MAC tournament.
When it comes to putting Eastern Michigan sports back on the map, men’s basketball is the best way to do it.
Every year a college basketball team comes from out of nowhere to have a Cinderella story in the big dance, and at times make it to the Final Four.
The MAC puts teams in a great position to be that Cinderella team, and if the Eagles could put a consistent contending team together, it could be them again one day.
Compare that with football, where at best if you’re in the MAC and have a great season, you can get matched up with Big Ten teams like Northwestern and Indiana in bowl games.
So the next move for EMU men’s basketball is a very important one.
With Ramsey still employed, it’s not yet appropriate to speculate on possible replacements. For now we should focus on him staying or going.
Either way Gragg needs either football or men’s basketball to put together a couple of successful seasons in a row soon, or he will be the next one on the hot seat.
