Eastern Michigan looks to be repeating history..   going after a successful Grand Valley coach to save its struggling football program.

EMU has done this before, back in 1982, Eastern tapped Jim Harkema from GVSU.  Harkema took over a program which had only 2 wins total over the previous 3 years and within 4 years EMU had won a MAC Championship.

The bonus is..  this coach as EMU ties, previously working at Eastern Michigan as a linebacker coach

LSR has it from a decent source (not great, not completely unfounded) that it looks like Eastern Michigan University is talking turkey with Grand Valley State Head Coach Chuck Martin.

Grand Valley State long ago established itself as one of the elite football programs in Division 2 college football..  and recently has really hit the big time with 4 National Championships in the last decade.

Two of those Nationasl Championships were won by Brian Kelly...   who went on to CMU where he quickly turned around a dead Chip team and had them winning MAC Championships in just two years.  Kelly went on to University of Cincinnati and was rumored to be heading to Notre Dame before the Padres decided to give Fat Charlie one more year.

Chuck Martin is 39-year-olds, he began his coaching career at Mankato State in 1992 while finishing his master's degree. After a one-year stint with the Mavericks, Martin moved on to Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. At Wittenberg, Martin coached the linebackers in football and served as the head golf coach and assistant baseball coach for two years. He moved on to become the defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at his alma mater, Millikin University, for two years before taking over the linebackers at Eastern Michigan in 1998. Martin coached the linebackers at EMU for two years prior to his arrival at GVSU.

Prior to being named head coach, Martin was an assistant coach at GVSU for four years. Chuck was the defensive coordinator in the Lakers' 2003 National Championship season. Grand Valley State rode its defense to the 2003 NCAA DII Football National Championship, holding its final three opponents in the playoffs to just three field goals.

Martin in his 4 completed seasons at GVSU, he has led the Lakers to two NCAA DII Football National Championships, 50 total wins and set the all-time NCAA DII winning streak at 40. He has been named the American Football Coaches Association DII Coach of the Year twice and was honored as the GLIAC Coach of the Year for the first time in 2007.

Martin will be offered other prominent jobs, and EMU is also looking at a couple of former University of Michigan coaches..  but Chuck Martin is going to be their man.