Eastern Michigan hires Drake’s Chris Creighton as head football coach

Eastern Michigan has hired Drake coach Chris Creighton as its new head football coach, the school has announced. Creighton notified his players during a team meeting Wednesday.

Creighton has been head coach at Drake since 2008. He has gone 43-21 in six seasons, winning two Pioneer Football League titles. His team also won the first college football game ever played in Africa. Creighton has made his name on player development, having successfully coached in one of the few non-scholarship leagues in Division I football.

Prior to Drake, Creighton took the Wabash (In.) Little Giants to three Division III playoff appearances in seven seasons. He was also head coach at Ottawa (Kan.) in the late 1990s. In 17 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Creighton has won 138 games, and never had a losing season. He played college football at Kenyon (Ohio) College.

Creighton replaces Ron English, who was fired in early November after nearly five seasons at the helm in Ypsilanti. English went just 11-46 at Eastern Michigan, and was also criticized for using what EMU athletic director Heather Lyke called “wholly inappropriate language” in addressing his team after an October loss.

Eastern Michigan has not had a winning season since 1995, and has not played in a bowl game since the 1987 California Bowl.

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