Loading your audio article
Andy Bronkema is moving on up.
Bronkema, who won a Division II national championship at Ferris State in 2018, has been named the new head men’s basketball coach at Central Michigan, the university announced Monday.
Bronkema will be introduced in a press conference on the Mount Pleasant campus Tuesday.“Andy’s ability to raise a program to excellence and sustain it at the highest level is impressive,” Central Michigan athletic director Amy Folan said in a statement Monday. “He is a Michigan native who has built his whole career in this state and is well-respected in the coaching ranks at many levels. He is the perfect fit for what we need at Central Michigan and at this time in intercollegiate athletics.
“Excellence and innovation are qualities that a coach needs to be successful in this current collegiate environment.”
Bronkema, a native of McBain in northern Michigan, replaces Tony Barbee, who was fired earlier this month after four seasons. His hiring represents Central Michigan prioritizing a return to local roots in this coaching search.
Bronkema emerged as the pick for Folan out of a pool of three finalists that included Michigan State assistant Jon Borovich, a CMU alum; and Oakland assistant Jeff Smith, who’s had two stints coaching at CMU.
Bronkema has been head coach at Ferris State for 12 seasons, leading the Bulldogs to three Division II Sweet 16 appearances, and nine berths in the NCAA Tournament. His record is 278-105.
He also led the Bulldogs to four regular-season championships in the ultra-competitive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, as well as five tournament titles. He has 10 seasons of 20 wins or more.
He has been a hot name in coaching searches since winning the national title, and he was very close to getting the Detroit Mercy head-coaching job in 2018 before the Titans pivoted at the last minute to Mike Davis.
“I want to thank Amy and president (Neil) MacKinnon for the opportunity,” Bronkema said in the statement. “Through the process, our visions aligned well and I look forward to working with them. I’m excited about becoming a member of the Mount Pleasant community and putting a team on the floor that everyone can be proud of and enjoy.”
Bronkema, 41, didn’t return a call from The Detroit News on Monday. Contract details weren’t immediately known, but Barbee signed a five-year contract that paid him at least $420,000 a year. Barbee was fired with a year left on his deal, and he received a $300,000 buyout.
At Central Michigan, Bronkema takes over a program that has had one winning season in the last six, and hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003, five head coaches ago.
The Chippewas were 14-17 this past season, in which was expected to be a breakthrough season in Barbee’s fourth year, after he was hired away from John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky.
CMU has just one player from this past season’s roster who remains on the roster; everyone else has either transferred, is in the transfer portal or has graduated. Assistant coach Hassan Nizam, whose contract runs through the end of April, has continued to recruit on behalf of the Chippewas, who have among the lowest NIL budgets in the Mid-American conference. That NIL situation could improve with the endorsement of distinguished alums Chris Kaman and Dan Majerle, who were involved in the coaching search.
“Coach Bronkema clearly understands how to create and sustain a winning culture that prepares student-athletes for tremendous success on the basketball court, in their educational careers and for life after the game,” MacKinnon said in the statement. “We are fired up to welcome him and his family to our community as he continues pushing for success as a CMU Chippewa.”
Bronkema joined the staff at Ferris State as an assistant in 2007, and was promoted to the top assistant before being named head coach in 2013. As head coach, his only losing season was his first, when the Bulldogs went 10-16. The next season, they went 23-9, and in 2017-18, they went 38-1 in winning the national championship, the first-ever Division II men’s basketball title for a school from Michigan.
He was a standout basketball player at Cornerstone University, an NAIA school in Grand Rapids, where he was a two-time All-American. He won two regular-season conference championships and a tournament title, playing in the national tournament all four seasons. In high school, he played basketball, football and baseball, winning a state basketball title in 2002 and being part of a football team that was runner-up in 2001.
Bronkema, who has three daughters, has some ties to CMU, as his father, sister, grandmother and great-grandmother all graduated from the university. Bronkema earned a bachelor’s from Cornerstone and a master’s from Ferris, where he also was a professor.
