Central Michigan to hire Lions' John Bonamego as coach

John Bonamego grew up in Paw Paw and walked on at Central Michigan, and for years his dream job has been coaching at his alma matter. Now, he'll get the chance.

Bonamego is finalizing a contract to be the next CMU football coach, a person familiar with the deal but not authorized to speak about it publicly told the Free Press today.

He replaces Dan Enos, who left the Chippewas last month to take the job as Arkansas offensive coordinator.

Bonamego, 51, spent the last two seasons as Detroit Lions special teams coordinator, and before that coached special teams for the Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers.

The Lions ranked 15th in a comprehensive special-teams analysis compiled annually by the Dallas Morning News and widely used in the NFL.

They went through three kickers this year before signing Matt Prater to stabilize their field-goal unit and had one of the top coverage units in the NFL, but also had two major breakdowns in a playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Jeremy Ross returned a fourth-quarter kick to the 5-yard line, and Sam Martin shanked a punt 10 yards to set up the game-winning touchdown.

Bonamego, who was known for his unique motivational tactics, including "Bono Gear" he bestowed upon players for their special-teams accomplishments, is the second assistant to leave the Lions this off-season.

Offensive line assistant Bobby Johnson took the tight ends job with the Oakland Raiders, and the Lions plan to promote offensive quality control assistant Terry Heffernan in Johnson's place.

Bonamego, who played receiver and quarterback at Central Michigan, started his coaching career as the JV coach at Mount Pleasant High in 1987 and worked for Maine, Lehigh and Army before landing his first job in the NFL.

He takes over a CMU team that finished 7-6 last season and lost one of college football's most thrilling postseason games, 49-48, to Western Kentucky in the Bahamas Bowl.