DETROIT – At media day in 2009, the Mid-American Conference welcomed five new coaches and a commissioner into the fold. It was the most turnover in the conference's coaching ranks since 2003 and gave the gathering the feeling of a meet-and-greet.
At the luncheon, host Michael Reghi joked with Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit about being the most tenured MAC coach. At the time, Cubit was preparing for his fifth season as the Broncos coach.
Two years later, Cubit is still the conference's most senior coach and the class of '09 is already down to three members. Coaches' tenures are often brief in the MAC. Win and move on. Lose and find your contract renewal in the athletic director's shredder.
Stan Parrish was the first of the group to go, when he was fired by Ball State in November after two dismal seasons. Mike Haywood left Miami in December after winning the MAC Championship Game to replace Dave Wannstedt at Pittsburgh, only to be fired two weeks later after he was arrested for domestic assault.
The remaining members are Toledo's Tim Beckman, Bowling Green's Dave Clawson and Eastern Michigan's Ron English. They came to this year's media day among the conference's most experienced coaches, their two years of experience surpassed only by Cubit's six years and Frank Solich's five at Ohio.
Because each coach in the class of '09 inherited a unique situation, none wanted to compare how they have fared so far to the rest of the group.
"Any time you take a job over you have different strengths, different things you need to address to get the program where you need it," Clawson said. "Some are prone to one- or two-year turnarounds, some take longer."
Together, the class of '09 has won one MAC title, reached three bowl games and amassed an overall record of 40-83
Because of the remarkable reversal Haywood engineered at Miami last year, going from 1-11 in 2009 to 9-4 with an upset victory in the MAC Championship Game in 2010, it is difficult to call anyone else the most successful of the class after two years.
But it is Beckman that has the best record (13-12) in the last two years, and his Rockets were picked to win the MAC Championship this year. Beckman also noted his team's commitment to community service and the highest ever Academic Progress Rating score for a Toledo football program as successes in his first two years.
For his efforts, Beckman received a two-year contract extension in late July, a reward in part for taking Toledo to its first bowl game since 2005.
"The plan set in place two and a half, almost three years ago now, it seems we're heading in the right direction," Beckman said.
At the other end of the spectrum lies English and Eastern Michigan. The Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the MAC West for the third year in a row, which wasn't a surprise after winning two games last season and none in 2009.
But English believes those days might be in the past for Eastern Michigan. Since his arrival, English says the culture of the program has changed. The most visible change may be the construction of an indoor practice facility last year, but English listed numerous ways the university has supported him as he tries to pull the Eagles out of last place.
"We have tremendous support from facilities to training tables to nutrition station, our sports performance staff has been outstanding," English said. "We're at a point where we have our foundation laid and we can start to build."
Clawson, meanwhile, has experienced some of Beckman's success and some of English's failure, though not to the extent of either. Clawson took Bowling Green to a bowl game in his first year, only to fall to 2-10 last year.
The up-and-down first two years weren't a surprise to Clawson, who knew the Falcons had a lot of veteran talent in 2009, but would suffer heavy losses to the roster in 2010. So while Bowling Green lost the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl on a two-point conversion in the final seconds, last year's step back was expected by Clawson.
Now, however, Clawson believes he has the Falcons where he wants them.
"Our hope [in 2009] was we got to year three and we'd have the program back on a firm foundation and we'd be able to start growing it from there," he said. "We finally have a great foundation built. We're finally at full strength."
Meanwhile, the early season bright lights of the conference have moved from the class of '09 to the class of '11. There are once again five new coaches in the MAC, some inheriting high expectations, others entering ambitious rebuilding projects.
As the class of '09 can attest to, the coaching carousel stops for no one.
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