Jim McElwain, players thankful for former Central Michigan coach John Bonamego
John Bonamego arrived at Central Michigan in 2015 to lead his alma mater.
A 1987 CMU graduate, Bonamego led the Chippewas to three bowl appearances in his first three seasons before they went 1-11 in 2018, the last year for Bonamego as the head man for CMU with an overall record of 22-29.
About two weeks after Bonamego's firing, Jim McElwain stepped in and took over the program.
In his first year, McElwain led Central Michigan to an 8-4 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the Mid-American Conference. Those records translated to a MAC West Division title, a berth in the MAC championship game for the first time in a decade and the upcoming New Mexico Bowl.
McElwain said he was appreciative of Bonamego and the former coaching staff for bringing the team together and setting it up for success.
"I've talked to Bono; I told him thanks for a good group of guys that were here," McElwain said. "The guys that we brought in that blended with them so well. No doubt about it, it's one of those things where I was just happy to see these guys come together and prove to themselves that they could do it if they invested in it."
Seniors Steve Eipper and Da'Quaun Jamison, who are both playing in their final games at CMU in the bowl game, said they love Bonamego and appreciated him for bringing them in to play at Central Michigan.
Eipper has played in 40 games in his Chippewa career and the bowl game will be his 41st and final game for CMU. He gave credit to Bonamego for putting the pieces of the program together.
"I love Bono, I love the old coaching staff, they were my coaches for four years," Eipper said. "They kind of made me into the player I am today and the coaches this year have built upon that. But I owe my whole career to Bono and the whole coaching staff because that's how I got here to play football. I've got no bad words to say about coach Bono."
As for Jamison, he will play his 49th and final game of his CMU career in the bowl game. He has 136 total tackles throughout his career and three interceptions, two of which came against Bowling Green on Oct. 19.
Jamison said he, like Eipper, had nothing but positive thoughts and feelings for his former coach.
"Coach Bono is a great guy, I love coach Bono, he's like a father to me," Jamison said. "I just think coach Bono brought in a lot of tough guys, it's kind of sad the way things happened."
Andrew Ward began his college career at Nebraska as a redshirt in 2017 after graduating from Muskegon in 2016.
Ward returned to play with his longtime friends and teammates Kalil Pimpleton and JaCorey Sullivan and played in nine games in 2018.
After playing in eight games in 2019, Ward suffered a career-ending neck injury against Bowling Green on Oct. 19.
Ward said Bonamego was the key factor in bringing in him in to play for the Chippewas.
"I feel like he controlled us coming together," Ward said. "He recruited most of us to come back to -- well, for me to come back to Michigan. Yeah, he got most of us there. Like I feel like he played that role in bringing us together and helping us meet each other.
"I feel like he played that role."
