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  July 4, 2018 5:21 AM EEST

  The eagle does not always do what shes told. Kamrin Moore Jersey . But at least shes now being told to do something.When Eastern Michigan hired Heather Lyke as its athletic director in July 2013, the universitys live eagle mascot would appear at football games and meet recruits in the team room before leaving with its handler. Where does the eagle go? Lyke asked her staff. Doesnt it hang around the stadium? Do we have a place for it?It hasnt always been a smooth flight, but Lyke is trying to take Eastern Michigan athletics to new heights.Throughout its history, Eastern has performed well on the fields and courts. The school has been a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) since 1971 and has won more team championships than any other league member during that span. Of course, cross country and swimming dont get the same attention as football. And on the gridiron, the Eagles historically have not gotten off the ground.Their last winning football season was in 1995. Theyve appeared in just one bowl game in their 41-year history, in 1987. The team had the lowest home attendance in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) last year. Football is expensive relative to other sports, and an HBO Real Sports episode that aired in April questioned whether the school should abolish the sport because of its cost to the university. The program won just seven games over the previous four seasons before this one.This year has been different. The Eagles are 6-5 and bowl eligible for the first time since they posted that same record in 95. Theyll reach the seven-win mark for the first time in 27 years if they beat Central Michigan at home on Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET, ESPN3) in their regular season finale.People arent proud of Eastern Michigan because the football team hasnt been so good [in the past], Lyke said. Whether we want to believe it or not, football drives the attention, viewership, enrollment, fundraising. Having a successful football program to go along with the amount of success weve had in other sports was a real priority.And so she brought in coach Chris Creighton, now in his third season and one of nine head coaches -- along with a dozen administrators -- Lyke has hired at Eastern. Together, theyve tried to improve the culture and win more football games, recognizing that succeeding in one task often helps the other.Eastern renovated Rynearson Stadium before Creightons first season, replacing the field with gray turf, nicknaming the stadium The Factory, and plastering the athletic departments motto, Champions Built Here, on the wall below the student section. The phrase emanated from the programs desire to be tough and southeast Michigans manufacturing history.Creighton also introduced a 51-pound wrench that represents the teams mission to close the gap (the vices illustrate the gap) between its current status and its potential. When the team comes out for warm-ups, they are led by someone -- a coach, administrator, or former player, for example -- carrying the wrench. Lyke carried it last week. And before the team takes the field for home games, a few players use sledgehammers -- which are adorned with the jersey numbers of teammates who delivered big hits in the previous game -- to knock down a wall of cinder blocks.It will take hard work beyond these motivational symbols to revitalize the football program, and Lyke knows it. A 1992 University of Michigan graduate (where she was a two-time captain under legendary softball coach Carol Hutchins), she worked as an associate AD at Ohio State for 15 years before coming to Eastern. Those two Big Ten schools have financially self-sustaining athletic departments and very famous football teams. Lyke says the guiding principles of an athletic department administrator -- academic success, winning teams, alumni pride -- are similar at all schools, but the approach varies.Managing a train thats already on the right track is very different than turning the train and moving it in an absolutely different direction, Lyke said. Thats the fun of it. You get a chance to create a new track and build tradition and do things that have never been done before.Shes one of just 37 women conducting a Division I athletic department (out of 352, according to the latest NCAA data, from 2015-16). Among schools with FBS programs, Lyke is one of only seven women. When I go to a meeting, everybody knows who we are, she said with a laugh. The reality is that the athletic directors chair, for whatever reason, has been pretty stagnant. Shed like to see that change.I want women to aspire to do this because theres nothing to say you cant, she says. There are a lot of terrific men and women who will give you a chance. There might be some that wouldnt. Presidents and board members are making these decisions. I can build relationships with donors and board members just as well as a man can. You have to have the self-confidence to do the job. Put yourself out there and dont be afraid to go after it.She listed long-time ADs Debbie Yow (NC State), Judy Rose (Charlotte) and Sandy Barbour (Penn State) as mentors for her and other women in the field. She also mentioned Kathy Beauregard, the AD at Western Michigan, another MAC school in the state and an example of a football program that has drastically turned things around. Western went 1-11 just three years ago and is 11-0 this season, and ESPNs College GameDay visited Kalamazoo on Saturday.She was very aggressive when she got there, Beauregard said of Lyke wasting no time hiring coaches and staff. It was clear she had done a lot of evaluating ahead of time and didnt hesitate to move forward. She has an outstanding career ahead of her.While attendance numbers for The Factory are typically unreliable, Lyke feels the hard-working, middle-class community of Ypsilanti, Michigan, has embraced the Champions built here theme, and shes seen turnout rise.When Lyke arrived at Eastern, she repeatedly heard that the athletic department would never succeed because the Ypsilanti campus in southeast Michigan is just 10 miles from the athletic powerhouse in Ann Arbor. (She was told another reason was that alums were unhappy with the schools 1991 decision to change its mascot from Hurons -- referring to a Native American tribe -- because the name was deemed insensitive.) Given the drastic financial gap between the schools, Lyke said the University of Michigan is just not our competition.Eastern accounting professor Howard Bunsis, who was featured on the aforementioned Real Sports episode, said he believes the school should get rid of football -- or at least drop to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) -- because he thinks it would save millions of dollars, money he feels should go toward scholarships and academic support for Easterns 18,000 undergrads.Using data that schools report to the NCAA, USA Today reported that of the $34 million budget for Easterns athletic department, $27 million is subsidized by the university. Thats 80 percent, the largest chunk in the MAC.Despite being a huge sports fan who supports the players and coaches at Eastern, Bunsis said, No matter what we do [on the field], its not going to change the finances. Were not going to get the support. Financial support for college football is cultural. Its just not there at EMU.Right or wrong, its the sort of attitude that Lyke is up against. When asked if there are any plans to downgrade football to FCS, she smiled and said, Absolutely not, a notion shared by the board of regents, who wrote an open letter in April supporting Lyke and her department.Lyke is positive, engaging, and uses the word phenomenal often. And why not? Under her watch the student-athletes have set record highs for graduation rates and GPA. The school won two MAC honors for the first time: the Jacoby Trophy (last year) for having the best womens teams, and the Cartwright Award (in 2014), given to the school whose athletes best mix on-field success, academics and community service. For the 2015-16 academic year, Eastern won the National Championship for Excellence in Management, given to the FBS school that best maximizes fiscal resources through championship victories.Department awards are one thing; winning football games is another. Eastern Michigan almost certainly will fill one of the 80 bowl slots this season. While this would be just the second bowl invite in Easterns history, at least one fan doesnt want the team to settle. At a coaches luncheon last week, an older gentleman advised Creighton, Dont go to that one in Detroit, presumably referring to the Quick Lane Bowl. Never mind that the MAC is no longer tied to that bowl, he was aiming for a better destination.Was this an overly demanding fan or a subtle sign that the culture is changing just a little bit?Andrew Kahn is a freelance writer. He writes about college athletics and other sports at andrewjkahn.com,?and you can find his Scoop and Score podcast on iTunes. Email him at andrewjkahn@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @AndrewKahn. Saints Womens Jerseys . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. 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A combination of injury and lack of AFL success was behind Richmond veteran Brett Deledios decision to leave the club.The 29-year-old said his move to Greater Western Sydney was about reinvigorating his love of the game, which had faded in his 12 years at the Tigers.With ongoing calf issues, Deledio only managed 11 games in 2016 - his lowest number in 12 seasons - while Richmond finished a lowly 13th.There was some trying times this year when the sides not going so well and youre injured yourself so I ultimately came to the decision for a fresh start and the Giants were the perfect fit, Deledio said on Tuesday.With his body feeling good, Deledio said he was excited about the prospect of proving himself at a new club, which was just one win away from a grand final berth this season.Its about a fresh start; looking to reinvigorate myself and having to impress new coaches, new fitness staff and new teammates, Deledio said.Its about wanting to start from day one like I did in 04.He admitted the lure of success at the talent-laden Giants was sstrong. Marcus Davenport Jersey. .It is for every player, Deledio said.Theyre a super-talented side and Ive enjoyed watching them over the last couple of years because they play an exciting brand.The former Tigers vice-captain said it was tough to tell coach Damien Hardwick that he wanted to leave the club, where he felt he had grown up.He was initially disappointed it had come to this, that we hadnt got the success we wanted through this year and through the finals in last three years, said Deledio.He completely understood that after 12 years I needed something new and we had a handshake and a beer and away we went.Geelong and the Western Bulldogs were also in the mix, but Deledio felt the late offer from the premiers was a bit rushed. 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