NCAAF teams
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer 5y

John Bonamego fired as Central Michigan coach after 1-11 season

College Football, Central Michigan Chippewas

Central Michigan fired coach John Bonamego on Friday night, hours after the team completed the worst season in team history.

Bonamego went 22-29 in four seasons with the Chippewas, but the team finished 1-11 this fall, its first losing regular season since 2011.

Central Michigan lost 51-13 in its season finale Friday afternoon at Toledo. 

"Making a leadership change is a difficult decision, especially when you know that coach has given his all to CMU," athletic director Michael Alford said in a prepared statement. "After conducting a 360-degree evaluation of the program, it was clear that a change is needed if we are going to compete for and win championships."

Defensive backs coach Cory Hall will lead the team until a permanent head coach is named. Hall served as Oregon State's interim head coach for the final six games in 2017.

Bonamego, who came to CMU after 16 years as a special teams coach in the NFL, led the Chippewas to bowl games in his first three seasons. He battled tonsil cancer during the summer of 2015 but returned to the sideline that fall.

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