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A crowd of just under 24,000 showed up to cheer on their Broncos when they hosted Eastern Michigan, but is that all the team deserves? (Cory Olsen | MLive.com)

Editor's note: This is an opinion piece by Western Michigan football beat writer Cory Olsen.



KALAMAZOO, MI -- The year was 2000, and Waldo Stadium was hopping during a massive 56-0 win over Indiana State.

Attendance at Western Michigan's football stadium hit its highest mark ever that day when 36,361 spectators watched the Broncos flex their muscles on their way to a 9-3 season (7-1 in the Mid-American Conference).

Fans watched as running back Robert Sanford set a school record for rushing yards in a season with 1,571.

The team lost in the MAC championship game 19-14 to Marshall, and the euphoria was gone.

The Broncos went on to post four consecutive losing seasons through 2004 under head coach Gary Darnell (1997-2004), and home attendance suffered as the losses piled up.

No doubt, the last couple decades have been tough for Broncos fans.

But now there's a new leader in town who is realizing his goal of taking the program to national status and realizing new "firsts" each week.

The biggest to date is the national ranking. The Broncos debuted on the AP Top 25 list at No. 24 after defeating MAC powerhouse Northern Illinois 45-30 on Oct. 8.

Since then they've spent the past two weeks at No. 20 with wins at Akron (41-0) and against Eastern Michigan (45-31) and moved up to No. 17 in advance of Tuesday's game at Ball State (8 p.m., ESPN2).

But where are the fans?

Waldo Stadium has a capacity of 30,200 with magnificent seating all the way around the field. Tickets are priced reasonably from $16-$30 for a variety of locations (Compare that to prices of $70-$150 at two in-state Big Ten schools).

Parking and tailgating options are similar to Michigan and Michigan State, most everyone has to walk a little bit, but the biggest factor in attendance, the quality of play, isn't an issue this season.

After a huge win at Northwestern on Sept. 3, the Broncos hosted North Carolina Central for their first home game of the season Sept. 9, and 23,727 folks were there for that 70-21 win.

The next week, Western beat another Big Ten team on the road, winning 34-10 at Illinois for their first 3-0 start in 22 years.

What did Fleck and players get for their efforts? A "crowd" of 17,208 the next week at home for a night game against Georgia Southern.

This after coach P.J. Fleck had put out a call to all University of Michigan and Michigan State fans earlier in the week, welcoming them to the Broncos' night game against the Eagles. (The Spartans hosted Wisconsin at noon that day while the Wolverines hosted Penn State at 3:30 p.m.).

It took a shellacking of rival Central Michigan on the road (49-10) the following week and a record of 5-0 to draw 28,042 fans to Waldo for a night game against Northern Illinois, obviously aided by homecoming, which adds thousands no matter record or opponent.

That said, the stands were nearly full and the crowd was lively, maybe things were starting to turn around?

After a 41-0 scorching of Akron on the road the Broncos were back home again, this time toting a 7-0 record and a No. 24 ranking on the AP Top 25 Poll and facing a resurgent Eastern Michigan team.

Just 23,721 fans watched that game on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, an attendance number that a former Broncos alumni association president called "disappointing."

"I drive down from Grand Rapids," said Al Emmons, class of 1965. "Now, I'm a little bit crazy, but I've done it since '65, except for when I was in the service.

"People say it's too far to go. Aw come on, it's a good product."

Emmons said the Western community has a tendency to think it can't keep good leaders at the college, like there's always something better, always a direction up from Kalamazoo.

"I wish Kalamazoo would understand what a treasure P.J. is," Emmons said. "One of the reasons he might leave is they don't understand (that)."

For his part, Fleck was fired-up about that night's crowd when asked for comment after the Eastern game, and said the program, and fan base, was on the right track.

"I have no problem continuing to prove to people," Fleck said. "I have no problem with that. I can tell you this, our fourth home game last season, I don't know what we had, but it probably wasn't 24,000.

"Changing our best is what this program is about. One person at a time."

He's right. Attendance for the Broncos dominating 35-13 win over Miami on Oct. 24, 2015, was 18,523, a good 5,000 fewer fans than this year's fourth game.

Progress? Yes, but not indicative of what this program deserves.

Heading into two big weeknight road games at Ball State on Tuesday and at Kent State the following Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Broncos are 8-0 (4-0 in the MAC) and will likely bring a 10-0 (6-0) record home for their final two games of the season against Buffalo and Toledo.

They've done plenty to fill the stands, but will Western Michigan alumni and the citizens of the greater Kalamazoo area respond?

If they want to keep their head coach around much longer, they better.