You don't just "end up" in Kalamazoo. It’s a specific kind of place with a specific kind of pressure. For Western Michigan football coaches, the job is basically a high-wire act where you're expected to win the MAC, beat at least one Big Ten team every September, and do it all while knowing a bigger school is probably trying to poach you the second you hit eight wins. It’s a grind. Honestly, the history of the Broncos' sideline is a weirdly accurate map of how modern college football actually works.
Think about the names. You’ve got the old-school lifers who built the foundation, the high-energy recruiters who turned the program into a viral sensation, and the guys who had to pick up the pieces when the hype train finally left the station. It’s not just about wins and losses at Waldo Stadium. It’s about who can handle the "Mid-American Conference" reality—where the budgets are tight, the Tuesday night "MACtion" games are freezing, and the transfer portal is constantly threatening to drain your roster of every three-star gem you spent years developing.
The Architect: Bill Doolittle and the 1966 Standard
If you want to understand why Western Michigan fans expect so much, you have to look at Bill Doolittle. He wasn't just some guy with a whistle. He was the one who proved Western could actually dominate.
Doolittle took over in 1964. Before him, the program was... fine. Just fine. But 1966 changed everything. That team went 7-3 and won the Mid-American Conference title outright. It was the first one. For a school that had been playing football since the early 1900s, this was the "oh, we can actually do this" moment. Doolittle stayed for 11 seasons. That kind of longevity is basically non-existent now. He ended his career with 58 wins, but his real legacy was professionalizing the program. He coached guys like Dom Gentile and showed the Kalamazoo community that Saturday afternoons at Waldo could be a legitimate event.
Doolittle didn't have TikTok or NIL. He had a tough-nosed philosophy and a knack for finding kids in Detroit and Chicago that Michigan and Michigan State overlooked. That's the blueprint. Every successful Western Michigan football coach since has essentially tried to replicate that "chip on the shoulder" recruiting style.
The Alum: Al Molde and the Transition to Modernity
After a bit of a slump in the late 70s and early 80s, Al Molde stepped in. This was a different era. The MAC was starting to get more television exposure, and the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" was widening.
Molde was interesting because he understood the offensive evolution. In 1988, he led the Broncos to a 9-3 record and a trip to the California Bowl. It was a massive deal. Even though they lost to Fresno State, it put Western Michigan back on the national radar. Molde won 62 games over eight seasons. He was steady. He was reliable. But more importantly, he bridge the gap between the "run it up the middle" days of the 60s and the high-flying spread offenses that would eventually define the conference.
He also coached during a time when the rivalry with Central Michigan became genuinely toxic—in a good way. The "Battle for the Cannon" became the game that defined a coach's career. If you couldn't beat the Chips, it didn't really matter if you beat everyone else. Molde got that.
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The Gary Darnell Era: So Close, Yet So Far
Gary Darnell is a name that brings up a lot of "what if" conversations among the older donors. From 1997 to 2004, Darnell had some of the most talented rosters in school history. We're talking about players like Jason Babin, who became a first-round NFL draft pick.
In 1999 and 2000, it felt like Western was on the verge of becoming a Group of Five powerhouse. They were winning 7, 8, 9 games. They were making noise. But they couldn't quite clinch the MAC title when it mattered most. Darnell’s tenure is a cautionary tale for Western Michigan football coaches. You can have the NFL talent, you can have the flashy stats, but if you don't bring home the hardware, the seat gets hot remarkably fast.
Darnell ended with 46 wins. He was a great recruiter, maybe one of the best the school has ever seen, but the consistency just wasn't there toward the end. By the time 2004 rolled around and the team went 1-10, the fan base was ready for a total culture shift.
Row the Boat: The P.J. Fleck Phenomenon
Love him or hate him, you can't talk about Western Michigan football coaches without spending a lot of time on P.J. Fleck. He arrived in 2013 like a hurricane. He was young, he was loud, and he had a catchphrase that people initially thought was the corniest thing they'd ever heard.
"Row the Boat."
The first year was a disaster. 1-11. People were calling for his head. They said he was all talk, all gimmick, and no substance. But Fleck did something that hadn't been done in Kalamazoo in decades: he recruited at a Power Five level. He convinced kids that Western Michigan was a destination, not a consolation prize.
- 2014: 8-5
- 2015: 8-5 (First bowl win in school history at the Bahamas Bowl)
- 2016: 13-1
That 2016 season was magic. Honestly. There's no other word for it. They went undefeated in the regular season. ESPN’s College GameDay actually came to Kalamazoo in late November for a game against Buffalo. Think about that. A MAC school hosting GameDay. They won the MAC Championship at Ford Field and went to the Cotton Bowl to play Wisconsin.
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Fleck’s departure for Minnesota was inevitable. You don't go 13-1 in the MAC and stay. But he left a template. He showed that if you lean into a brand—no matter how weird it is—and back it up with elite recruiting, Western Michigan can compete with literally anyone. Corey Davis, Taylor Moton, Western was an NFL factory for a three-year stretch.
The Stability Phase: Tim Lester’s Tough Spot
Following a legend is a nightmare. Ask anyone who took over for Saban or Coach K. Tim Lester, a former WMU quarterback himself, took the job in 2017.
Lester was the "safe" pick, but he was also a "Western guy." He understood the culture. For six seasons, he kept the floor relatively high. He went 37-32. He made three bowl games. He even pulled off a massive upset against Pitt in 2021—a team that went on to win the ACC. That win was probably the highlight of the post-Fleck era.
But "fine" isn't enough anymore in the MAC. Fans had tasted the 13-1 season. They wanted the New Year's Six bowls again. Lester was a victim of the standard set by Fleck. When things started to stagnate and the team couldn't get over the hump in the MAC West, the school decided it was time for a fresh start. It felt a bit harsh to some, but that’s the reality of the business.
The Lance Taylor Era: Rebuilding the Identity
And that brings us to the current situation. Lance Taylor was hired away from Louisville (where he was the offensive coordinator) to bring some of that Power Five energy back to the program.
Taylor's challenge is fundamentally different than what Doolittle or even Fleck faced. He's dealing with the transfer portal. In the old days, if you found a star wide receiver at Western Michigan, you had him for four years. Now? If he catches 80 passes as a sophomore, he’s probably getting an NIL offer from the SEC by December.
Taylor’s first season in 2023 was a rebuilding year, plain and simple. 4-8. But you could see the shifts. He's trying to build a more balanced, physical team. He’s not leaning as heavily on the "gimmick" branding, focusing instead on professional development and a "pro-style" environment.
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The jury is still out. But the 2024 and 2025 seasons have shown flashes. Winning the MAC isn't just about having the best players anymore; it's about having the best culture so your players don't leave. Taylor is betting that his background with guys like Christian McCaffrey (whom he coached at Stanford) will convince recruits that Kalamazoo is the best place to prep for the NFL.
What People Get Wrong About Coaching at WMU
Most people think the biggest hurdle for Western Michigan football coaches is the weather or the budget. It’s not. It’s the "geographic trap."
You’re sitting right in the middle of Big Ten country. You are fighting Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and even Purdue or Illinois for every single recruit. To win here, a coach has to be a master of the "evaluation." You can't win by out-bidding the big guys. You win by seeing the talent in a kid from Gary, Indiana, or Muskegon that the big schools missed.
Look at the stats. The most successful coaches at Western—Doolittle, Molde, Fleck—all had one thing in common: they were obsessed with the state of Michigan. They didn't treat it like a secondary recruiting ground. They made it their backyard.
The Actionable Reality for Bronco Fans
If you're following the program or betting on its future, here’s the reality of the coaching situation:
- The Three-Year Rule: In the modern MAC, you usually know what a coach is by Year 3. If the recruiting classes aren't consistently in the top three of the conference by then, the wins won't follow.
- The Transfer Portal Metric: Watch the "Out" column more than the "In" column. A coach who can keep his All-MAC starters from jumping to the Big Ten is doing a better job than a coach who signs five fancy transfers.
- The Mid-Week Factor: Winning on a Tuesday night in November in 20-degree weather requires a specific kind of locker room chemistry. It's not about schemes; it's about "want-to."
Western Michigan remains one of the best jobs in the Group of Five. It has the facilities (the Bill Brown Alumni Football Center is legit), a dedicated fan base, and a history of launching coaches to the next level. Whether Lance Taylor becomes the next P.J. Fleck or the next cautionary tale depends entirely on how well he navigates the new "pay-to-play" world of college sports.
The coaching carousel never stops in the MAC. But for now, the Broncos are betting that a mix of Power Five experience and old-school developmental grit is the way back to the top of the standings. If you’re looking for the next "Cinderella" run like 2016, keep a very close eye on the recruiting rankings coming out of Kalamazoo this winter. That's where the games are actually won.
To truly track the progress of the current staff, focus on the retention of the offensive line and the defensive secondary. Those are the units that typically determine MAC titles. If Taylor can keep those groups together for more than two seasons, the Broncos will be back in the hunt for a conference championship sooner than most people expect. Following the recruiting trail through local Michigan high school rankings is the best way to see if the "Doolittle Blueprint" is being modernized successfully.