By Daniel Gretzner
Three former prep stars of times gone by are now heading up the coaching staffs at Division I sports programs and the National Football League. This trio includes Dan Enos (Edsel Ford) in football at Central Michigan University, Tom Anastos (Fordson) at Michigan State University and Pat Schurmur (Divine Child) of the Cleveland Browns.
All three of these mentors are Dearborn natives and have carved out coaching careers after their high school and college playing days ended. Other commonalities include being student varsity athletes at MSU during the 1980s.
Enos and Schurmur played together on the 1987 MSU team that defeated University of Southern California in the 1988 Rose Bowl, with Enos doing the quarterbacking and Schurmur at center. To this day, the two are best friends.
Anastos became part of the Spartan hockey Central Collegiate Hockey Association championships during their early glory days. Before being named as the hockey head coach at MSU, Anastos served as commissioner of the CCHA.
At present, Enos has had a couple of tough years with his Chippewa teams as they have struggled to keep pace in the Mid-American Conference. Hopefully, this coming fall will be the season to make some big noise on the football field.
On the other hand, Anastos has his MSU ice team doing quite well in the winning column, enjoying an overall 11-7-2 record as the year 2011 came to a close. The Spartans are ranked No. 15 in NCAA Division 1 college hockey.
During the holiday brake, MSU split games at the Great Lakes Invitational held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, defeating Michigan Tech in the semifinals then losing to Michigan in overtime in the finals.
Schurmur, has just completed his first year at the helm of an NFL team. His Cleveland Browns squad finished 4-12 in the American Football Conference North Division. Four of those lost games were by only a touchdown or less.
Schurmur hopes to rebuild the Browns into a real contender in 2012. He inherited a poor performing team to start with, so it might take another year or so to turn the franchise around.
A few last words about these former Dearborn athletes who have turned to the coaching profession once their playing days were over. Enos, Anastos and Schurmur are all members of the Dearborn Sports Hall of Fame. May their coaching years continue well into the future.