Central Michigan Names Detroit Assistant John Bonamego as New Head Football Coach [Video]

Left in the lurch by the late departure of former coach Dan Enos for Arkansas, Central Michigan University officially announced its new head coach yesterday.

Detroit Lions special teams coordinator John Bonamego may lack collegiate head coaching experience, but he seems to more than making up for it in enthusiasm.

Calling it a "dream come true" and the "only head coaching job he ever wanted,' Bonamego (pronounced Bon-a-may-go) returned to the campus where he played college football under College Football Hall of Famer Herb Deromedi in the mid-'80s.

A 1986 CMU grad, Bonamego coached in the college ranks for a bit in the '90s before going to the NFL as the Jacksonville Jaguars special teams coach in 1999. He has coached under some big names in the League like Tom Coughlin, John Harbaugh, Sean Payton and Jim Caldwell, all who have won Super Bowls.

A Michigan native, Bonamego grew up in Paw Paw, and walked on to the Chippewa squad soon after arriving in Mount Pleasant as a student. He played wide receiver and quarterback under Deromedi, and earned varsity letters in 1985 and 1986. He won the Iron Man Award as the defensive scout team player of the year.

Bonamego has spent the past two seasons as the special teams coordinator of the Detroit Lions. Last season, he helped the Lions win 11 games for the first time since 1991 as they qualified for the playoffs.

“Since I left CMU in 1987, my dream job was to be the head coach of the Central Michigan football program. Today, that dream came true,” Bonamego said. “During my time here, I had some of the best experiences of my life and I expect to make many, many more in the coming years. The Mount Pleasant community is a very special place and my family and I are excited to be a part of it.

“It’s clear to me that this program has a very solid foundation. We will work every day to achieve the championship level,” he said. “Our team will compete with a strong passion and work ethic in everything we do, from on the field, to in the classroom and in the community. It’s a priority that we help our student-athletes develop into great young men who will make an impact on those around them for the rest of their lives.”

Bonamego said he would like to end his career in Mount Pleasant as coach of the Chippewas. That might have been a shot at the early flight of Enos, which caught CMU off guard.

His former boss, Lions head coach Caldwell, said his protege was ready. 

“It’s not very often where a guy in our profession has an opportunity to coach his alma mater. It’s a very special, unique opportunity," Caldwell said.

"John has spoken often about having an opportunity to coach at Central Michigan, and I think it was really -- I don’t know if you want to call it his bucket list -- but one of his ultimate goals.”

Many others from the CMU and pro football community had glowing words for Bonamego, including current Lion punter Sam Martin, "I owe a lot of my success to Bono. He was one of the best things to happen to me coming into the league. He's been an awesome mentor and coach to me the last two years and he's going to be a great head coach at CMU."

Bonamego's base salary at CMU will be $350,000 per year, with an additional $120,000 from radio, TV and speaking engagements.

Bonamego was very emotional at Monday's press conference announcing his return to this alma mater.