Notebook: MSU's big gift, WMU renovating facilities, EMU tweaks 2026 schedule and more

East Lansing — In case you missed it, Michigan State announced on Friday that Greg and Dawn Williams are donating $301 million to the university and committing another $100 million in an equity stake of Spartan Ventures, a new third-party entity to raise revenue for the athletic department. 

That’s $401 million dollars worth of commitments, greater than the GDP of some Pacific island nations. But instead of economic conquest over Kiribati, the Spartans will be using the money mostly to support athletics, with $290 million of the dollars in the form of a direct donation to athletics. 

It’s the largest private donation in Michigan State history and one of the biggest for a college nationwide. It sets the stage for the new leadership apparatus at the university to push full steam ahead to accomplishing their lofty fundraising goals: $1 billion for athletics as part of $4 billion for the university at large, all by 2032. 

Mitten Football with have some more considered coverage of this donation, what it entails and how the past week in East Lansing is, in large part, a story of seeking to leave behind a decade of dysfunction and misalignment behind, and pushing Michigan State’s athletic department to the top of the heap, nationally. 

But before getting to that, there’s some news to churn through from this week. And Mitten Football will be in Detroit for the MAC title game between Western Michigan and Miami (OH) on Saturday. 

Michigan fired a coordinator

It was the most obvious fall guy: Special teams coordinator JB Brown, who got fired earlier this week per ESPN and other outlets. 

And it’s obvious for two big reasons: It’s easier to fire the special teams coordinator than an offensive or defensive coordinator, as it doesn’t really alter how you want to build your roster or find scheme fits and secondly, Michigan was mid, at best, at special teams this year. 

Being middle-of-the-pack at special teams on its own isn’t a failing, but after the Michigan special teams had been such a definitive edge for years, the past two seasons have been a step back. 

The punt return game suffered, the return units as a whole weren’t particularly effective, anyways, and kicker Dominic Zvada and punter Hudson Hollenback certainly could’ve had better years. 

The individual performances don’t fall on a special teams coordinator as directly as the overall product being lackluster and lacking any meaningful improvement does. And while the special teams didn’t really cost Michigan a game this year, it became clear it could’ve been a lot better and didn’t seem to be headed that way. 

And with Brown on the outs, it will be curious to see if head coach Sherrone Moore wants to make more staff changes. 

Western Michigan football facility renovations on deck

The Broncos announced on Wednesday some coming additions and renovations to the Bill Brown Football Alumni Center, with athletic director Dan Bartholomae announcing the plans to the team. 

Along with updates to the football facilities themselves — a complete remodel of the athletic training room and a redesigned entryway leading into the team locker room — the project will feature a weight room addition to the football facilities. And the new Stafford-Smith Weight Room is getting named after one of the lead donors making it possible, former Bronco David Staffer and his wife, Ronda.

The project will begin in the coming months with the conclusion of the 2025 football season. 

The field at Waldo Stadium is named Stafford-Smith Field and now the weight room will share that moniker as the Stafford’s have donated $2.5 million as the lead givers for the project, per a release. The Broncos announced late this week that former WMU defensive lineman and Los Angeles Ram Braden Fiske has donated to the project. 

"This project will elevate every part of the student-athlete experience and strengthen the foundation of our program for years to come,” head coach Lance Taylor said in a release announcing the project. “The Stafford's understand the brotherhood and the pride that come with being a Bronco, and their willingness to give back in such a meaningful way inspires all of us. We're honored to carry forward the legacy of those who helped build this program, and this gift will have an immediate and lasting impact on our team."

Eastern Michigan future schedule tweaks

The Eagles added an away game against Wisconsin for Week 3 of the 2026 season, it was announced on Friday. 

That game replaces a previously scheduled contest against Marshall for Eastern Michigan, as the Eagles have prioritized playing home-and-home series with Group of 6 opponents in future schedules. 

The Eagles host Marshall in 2028, now, and visit Huntington, West Virginia, for a return game in 2031. EMU also has G6 home-and-homes scheduled with Georgia Southern and San Jose State. 

Eastern Michigan opens the 2026 season at home vs. the Spartans, before a trip to East Lansing in Week 2 to play, also, the Spartans. 

The Eagles also added a pair of future home games against Mercyhurst in 2027 and 2030, respectively, as the Pennsylvania-based program moves from Division II to the Division I FCS level in the coming years. 

All Conference teams!

Since this publication gains little to nothing from aggregating and blasting that stuff out on Al Gore’s Internet, we chose to compile the all-conference honorees here to make sure it’s hit on. 

For starters, the Broncos cleaned up by winning MAC coach of the year for Lance Taylor and offensive and defensive players of the year for quarterback Broc Lowry and edge rusher Nadame Tucker, respectively. 

Tucker is near or at the top of the national rankings for sacks and tackles for loss and has been the catalyst for a fearsome WMU defensive front this year. And Lowry has been the engine driving an offense that hasn’t always been the prettiest, but has been brutally effective in leading the Broncos to a 7-1 record in conference play. 

Ryan Eckley won punter of the year in the Big Ten, and otherwise it was just a collection of players landing on first, second, third and honorable mention teams. 

Note: The Big Ten has coach and media all-conference teams, and the higher of the two rankings was picked. The MAC just has one set of all-conference teams, and doesn’t have honorable mentions.

Central Michigan

• 1st team: DL Michael Heldman, LB Jordan Kwiatkowski
• 2nd team: LB Dakota Cochran
• 3rd team: WR Langston Lewis, K Cade Graham

Eastern Michigan

• 2nd team: TE Joshua Long, RB Dontae McMillan, DB Bryce Llewellyn
• 3rd team: OL Mickey Rewolinski, WR Nick Devereaux, P Mitch Tomasek

Michigan

• 1st team: DE Derrick Moore (coaches)
• 2nd team: LB Jimmy Rolder (consensus), RB Jordan Marshall (media), DB Zeke Berry (media)
• 3rd team: RB Justice Haynes (coaches), OL Giovanni El-Hadi (coaches), TE/FB Max Bredeson (coaches), DL Rayshaun Benny (consensus), LB Ernest Hausmann (media), LS Greg Tarr (media)
• HM: WR Andrew Marsh (consensus), OT Andrew Sprague (consensus), OL Jake Guarnera (consensus), TE Marlin Klein (consensus), S Brandyn Hillman (consensus), LB Jaishawn Barham (consensus), CB Jyaire Hill (consensus), DB TJ Metcalf (coaches), K Dominic Zvada (coaches), C Greg Crippen (media), DL Trey Pierce (media)

Michigan State

• 1st team: P Ryan Eckley (consensus)
• 3rd team: TE Jack Velling (media)
• HM: WR Nick Marsh (consensus), LB Jordan Hall (consensus), C Matt Gulbin (media), WR Omari Kelly (media), LB Wayne Matthews III (media)

Western Michigan

•  1st team: QB Broc Lowry, C Raheem Anderson, OL Chad Schuster, EDGE Nadame Tucker
• 2nd team: S Tate Hallock
• 3rd team: RB Jalen Buckley, DB Josh Franklin

Bowl projections

Central Michigan, Michigan and Western Michigan are all bowl bound, and we’ll quickly learn of the matchups on Sunday after the College Football Playoff gets set. 

Even still, it’s easy to pick off the handful of options for each team, starting with Michigan being a near mortal lock for one game, in particular.

Michigan

• ESPN (Bonagura): Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
• ESPN (Schlabach): Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
• CBS Sports: Citrus Bowl vs. Vanderbilt
• The Athletic: Citrus Bowl vs. Texas
• Sports Illustrated: Citrus Bowl vs. Texas

The Citrus Bowl is scheduled for Dec. 31 at 3 p.m.

Central Michigan

• ESPN (Bonagura): 68 Ventures Bowl vs. Georgia Southern
• ESPN (Schlabach): 68 Ventures Bowl vs. Coastal Carolina
• CBS Sports: Salute to Veterans Bowl vs. Troy
• The Athletic: Salute to Veterans Bowl vs. Louisiana
• Sports Illustrated: Boca Raton Bowl vs. FIU

The Salute to Veterans Bowl is on Dec. 16 at 9 p.m., 68 Ventures Bowl is Dec. 17 at 8:30 p.m. and the Boca Raton Bowl is Dec. 23 at 2 p.m.

Western Michigan

• ESPN (Bonagura): GameAbove Sports Bowl vs. Penn State
• ESPN (Schlabach): GameAbove Sports Bowl vs. Northwestern
• CBS Sports: Left the Broncos off, somehow
• The Athletic: Arizona Bowl vs. San Diego State
• Sports Illustrated: Salute to Veterans Bowl vs. Old Dominion

The GameAbove Sports Bowl is in Detroit at 1 p.m. on Dec. 26 and the Arizona Bowl is 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

For what it’s worth, the Broncos aren’t likely to end up in Detroit at this point, as that bowl is lower down in the MAC bowl tiering. The Cure, Arizona or Salute To Veterans bowls seem like better bets, as of now.