Western Michigan happy to focus on bowl, try to ‘walk out as winners’

Around this time last year, at the Veterans Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, Western Michigan players got to enjoy the trip, the experience and the lead-up to the actual game.

The coaches, not so much. During the day, WMU was practicing, and at night, coaches were making transfer-portal recruiting calls. As soon as Western Michigan landed back in Kalamazoo from the bowl, portal recruits were waiting at the airport.

This year, with a new transfer-portal window, all of WMU’s traveling party, coaches and players, will get to focus on all things Myrtle Beach Bowl, set for 11 a.m. Friday against Kennesaw State on the campus of Coastal Carolina in Conway, South Carolina.

The transfer portal window doesn’t open this year for most college football players until Jan. 2, when all but 12 teams ― including four of the 12 College Football Playoff teams ― are finished for the 2025 season.

And that’s a welcome change to the crazy and cramped calendar that is college athletics.

“I think it does allow you this year … to be able to focus on the bowl game, focus on your team, enjoy the last time you get to compete together as a team,” Western Michigan head coach Lance Taylor said Monday afternoon, after his team had landed in sunny (but chilly) South Carolina.

“For a lot of our guys (27), this is the last time they’ll ever play as a Bronco.

“And for most of them, it’s the last time that they’ll ever play football.”

Despite the rushed portal poaching last year, Western Michigan landed some big hits, one in particular, and it’s a big reason why the Broncos (9-4) won the Mid-American Conference championship for the first time since 2016. Kennesaw State (10-3) won the Conference USA championship, and this is the only bowl with a set matchup between two 2025 conference champions. This Western Michigan team could be the first in the program’s history to win a conference championship and a bowl game in the same season.

As good of a story as Western Michigan is, having won nine of 10 games and five straight to win the MAC title, Kennesaw State, based in Georgia, might be even a tick better. Kennesaw State launched its football program in 2015, and only moved to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2024, when it was 2-10.

Jerry Mack took over as head coach in 2025, and Kennesaw State already is an FBS conference champion.

“I’m asking him for pointers, because it’s taken us three years to get here,” quipped Taylor, who was hired ahead of the 2023 season. “I have a ton of respect for him.”

There are some similarities between the programs, most notably their head coaches, who were interns together with the NFL’s New York Jets over a decade ago, and are on their first head-coaching jobs. In recent days, both Taylor, 44, and Mack, 45, have signed contract extensions, Taylor’s through 2030 and Mack through 2031.

Taylor, starting Jan. 1, will make at least $1.225 million a year, making him the second-highest paid coach in the MAC, behind only UMass’ Joe Harasymiak.

Taylor and Mack, both named coach of the year in their respective conference, are considered rising stars in the coaching world, but they’ve stayed committed to their schools, despite buzz in the latest coaching carousel about both of them.

“For us to be able to bring a championship back home to Kalamazoo is just really the beginning,” Taylor said Monday, one week after his new contract was announced. “My family and I love it in Kalamazoo and we’re excited to stay and continue to build and elevate the standard.”

The next benchmark for Western Michigan is a bowl win. WMU lost to South Alabama, 30-23, in last year’s Salute to Veterans Bowl, and hasn’t won a bowl since 2021 at Ford Field.

This bowl matchup is a meeting of the best offense in Conference USA (Kennesaw State averaged 34.5 points in conference games) against the second-best defense in the MAC (Western Michigan averaged 14.5 points allowed in conference games.

Kennesaw State’s offense is led by four first-team Conference USA performers, including senior receiver Gabriel Benyard, who’s also a dangerous threat on punt return, and redshirt sophomore quarterback Amari Odom, who comps to Dequan Finn (Detroit King), who handed WMU its only conference loss (and last loss, back in October), before he left Miami’s team before the teams met again (and WMU won) in the MAC championship game. Western Michigan’s defense is led by redshirt senior defensive end Nadame Tucker, a transfer from Houston who in his one season with the Broncos was the MAC defensive player of the year and a third-team Associated Press All-American. He leads the nation with 14.5 sacks, and is tied for the nation’s lead with 12 solo sacks.

Tucker is one of several transfers Taylor and Co. have hit on during their time at Western Michigan (redshirt sophomore quarterback Broc Lowry, an Indiana transfer who was the MAC’s offensive player of the year, is another, thanks to his running ability), but the portal, this year, can wait. And the Broncos can have their fun.

“We’re excited to get out of the snow and see some sand and sun,” said Taylor, whose team, as part of their bowl gifts, was fitted for sunglasses Monday. “It’s a reward. A bowl game is a reward for a good season. We want our players to enjoy the ball game, enjoy their time here. … But we also want to walk out as winners.

“The bowl suite and bowl gifts are awesome, but they don’t taste or feel nearly as good if you lose.”

Myrtle Beach Bowl

WESTERN MICHIGAN VS. KENNESAW STATE

▶ Kickoff: 11 a.m. Friday, Brooks Stadium, Conway, South Carolina

▶ TV: ESPN

▶ Records: Western Michigan 9-4; Kennesaw State 10-3

▶ Line: Western Michigan by 4

▶ WMU bowl history: This is Western Michigan’s 13th bowl game; the Broncos are 2-10 in those bowls, including a 30-23 loss to South Alabama in the 2024 Salute to Veterans Bowl.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984