The 2000 Central Michigan Chippewas football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) during the

2000 NCAA Division I-A football season The 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with the Oklahoma Sooners claiming their seventh national championship and their thirty-seventh conference championship, the first of each since the departure of head coach Barry Switzer. Oklahoma ...

. In their first season under head coach

Mike DeBord Mike DeBord (born February 7, 1956) is an American football coach who was most recently the offensive coordinator at the University of Kansas. He was previously the offensive coordinator of the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football ...

, the Chippewas compiled a 2–9 record (2–6 against MAC opponents), finished in last place in the MAC's West Division, and were outscored by their opponents, 376 to 137. The team played its home games in

Kelly/Shorts Stadium Kramer/Deromedi Field at Kelly/Shorts Stadium is an American football stadium in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. It serves as the home field for the Central Michigan University Chippewas. The stadium opened in 1972 and holds 30,255 spectators, making i ...

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Union Township but is politic ...

, with attendance of 94,949 in five home games. The team set a single season school record with 90 punts, and Brian Brandt set a school record with 87 punts. The team's statistical leaders included Derrick Vickers with 1,059 passing yards, Vince Webber with 458 rushing yards, and David Hannah with 411 receiving yards. Senior defensive back Brian Leigeb set a single game school record with 26 tackles against

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by th ...

on November 18, 2000, totaled 147 tackles for the season, set a school record with 490 career tackles, and was selected as the team's most valuable player. On December 1, 1999, Mike DeBord was hired as Central Michigan's head football coach. He had previously served as

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

's offensive coordinator. DeBord was given a four-year contract with an annual base salary of $120,000.

Schedule

References

{{Central Michigan Chippewas football navbox

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan cor ...

Central Michigan Chippewas football seasons

Central Michigan Chippewas football The Central Michigan Chippewas are a college football program in Division I FBS, representing Central Michigan University (CMU). CMU has the 30th highest overall winning percentage of programs playing in NCAA Division I. The Chippewas have pla ...