The worst season is Central Michigan football history has resulted in a regime change.
John Bonamego is out as the Chippewa's head coach, the school announced Friday night.
Bonamego, who was hired in 2015, went 22-29 in his four seasons, including a 1-11 overall record this season (CMU finished 0-8 in Mid-American Conference play).
"Making a leadership change is a difficult decision, especially when you know that coach has given his all to CMU," Michael Alford, CMU associate vice president/director of athletics, said in a statement Friday. "After conducting a 360-degree evaluation of the program, it was clear that a change is needed if we are going to compete for and win championships. We greatly appreciate all that John has done for his alma mater and wish him the best moving forward."
Bonamego, 55, would not talk about his firing when contacted by the Free Press on Friday night.
"Everything you need to know is in the press release," he said.
Bonamego's firing comes hours after CMU's season-ending 51-13 loss at Toledo, which included a couple of in-game skirmishes that led to multiple ejections.
The firing — and the game — was a sour end to an otherwise successful tenure for Bonamego, who signed a five-year extension in 2017 after leading CMU to bowl berths in each of his first three seasons. (CMU lost all three bowl games).
The 1-11 record in 2018 was the first time in school history that the Chippewas failed to win at least two games. It was also the first time the Chippewas have gone winless in conference play since joining the MAC in 1975.
Bonamego came to Central Michigan in 2015 after spending two seasons as the Detroit Lions' special teams coordinator. Shortly after being hired at CMU, Bonamego was diagnosed with cancer on his left tonsil, and it spread to a lymph node. He received radiation treatment throughout most of his first season, for about 17 weeks, before learning in November of that year that he was cancer free.
Bonamego's teams finished 7-6, 6-7, 8-5 and 1-11. His best win came in 2016, on a controversial game-winning Hail Mary-and-lateral touchdown against Oklahoma State.
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