Ron English ( American football ) Ron English ( born May 21 , 1968 ) is an American football coach and former player . He is the current head coach of the Eastern Michigan Eagles football team , having replaced Jeff Genyk before the 2009 season . Playing career and education . From 1987 to 1990 , English attended and played college football at the University of California , Berkeley . He graduated in 1990 with a degree in communications . In 1995 , he received his master ' s degree in education administration from Arizona State University . Assistant coaching career . English has served as an assistant coach at Mt . San Antonio College , Northern Arizona University , San Diego State University , Arizona State University , the University of Michigan , and University of Louisville . He coached the defensive secondary at Michigan from 2003 through 2005 . In February 2006 , he accepted a position on the coaching staff of the NFL ' s Chicago Bears . However , Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr persuaded English to stay on as the defensive coordinator after Jim Herrmann , who coordinated Michigan ' s defense from 1997 to 2005 , accepted a position with the NFL ' s New York Jets . In the 2006 season , English coached only safeties , rather than the entire defensive secondary , to allow him to concentrate more fully on his responsibilities as defensive coordinator . English ' s defense showed great success against most run - heavy teams in the Big Ten Conference and allowed the fewest rushing yards per game in the nation . With Carr ' s retirement at the end of the 2007 season , English , along with all of the assistant coaches at Michigan except for running backs coach Fred Jackson , was fired by incoming head coach Rich Rodriguez . English interviewed for the head coaching vacancies at the University of Arkansas and at Michigan before accepting the defensive coordinator duties for Steve Kragthorpe at the University of Louisville . Head coaching career . English was hired as head coach at Eastern Michigan in December 2008 . At the time of his hiring by Eastern Michigan , he was one of six African American head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision teams ; the others ( and their teams at the time ) were Turner Gill ( Buffalo ) , Kevin Sumlin ( Houston ) , Mike Locksley ( New Mexico ) , Randy Shannon ( University of Miami ) , and Mike Haywood ( Miami University ) . 2009 . Eastern Michigan compiled a 0 – 12 record in 2009 . An article on " ESPN . com " ranked the Eagles the second - worst team in NCAA FBS football . 2010 . The Eagles posted a 2 – 10 record in 2010 , English ' s second season as head coach , losing all four non - conference games and stretching their losing streak to 18 games before winning an overtime game at Ball State and another game at Buffalo in the latter part of the season . 2011 . 2011 saw the Eagles achieve their best season in 17 years . They finished the season 6 – 6 , 4 – 4 in MAC play to finish in a tie for fourth place in the West Division . Despite being 6 – 6 , the Eagles were not bowl eligible because two of their wins came against FCS teams . The 6 wins were the most wins the school had since 1995 when they also had 6 wins . Following the season , English was named the Mid American Conference Coach of the Year . Following the success of the 2011 season , media outlets speculated that English could be a candidate for head coaching openings at BCS schools . Based on his west coast recruiting background and Big Ten coaching experience , the schools most often mentioned were Illinois , Arizona State , and Washington State . 2012 . English returned to the Eagles as head coach for the 2012 season . Eastern Michigan posted a 2 – 10 record in 2012 , with their wins coming against Army ( 48 – 38 ) and Western Michigan ( 29 – 23 ) . EMU faced a difficult schedule , with 7 losses to teams that participated in a post season bowl game . Additionally , the Eagles lost to ( FCS ) # 14 ranked Illinois State by a score of 31 – 14 in the second week of the season .