Last January in Miami, Indiana University stunned the sports world by winning the college football national championship.
Looking on from the stands alongside his father, Eastern Michigan women’s golf coach Josh Brewer had a moment of inspiration.
“It can really happen at a place that’s kind of a doormat,” he said.
Brewer, 1998 IU alum and college golfer himself, went on to coach 12 seasons at the University of Georgia. But it’s at Eastern Michigan—by Brewer’s admission, a doormat in the women’s game—where his team has authored its own unlikely title-contending story.
Ranked 226th in Division I when Brewer took over as coach two years ago, Eastern Michigan did what seemed impossible: make the national match play semifinals in May despite having never previously qualified for an NCAA Tournament at all.
“I’m scared to death, like I’m in some coma in a hospital somewhere and this entire year did not happen,” Brewer said with a smile. “It’s just been a magical year and a magical journey here at Eastern.”
The Eagles’ run to a MAC Championship, through powerhouse Texas in the quarterfinals, ultimately meeting and falling to powerhouse Stanford, prompted two reactions:
Wow…and…how?
Their turnaround begins with a vision and a bankroll emblematic of the modern era in college athletics.
After being let go at Georgia in 2024, Brewer needed some convincing success was achievable at EMU.
“I was literally laying on the guest bed doing the Zoom. That’s how much interest I had [in taking the job],” Brewer recalled of his hiring process in 2024. “Keith [Stone] at GameAbove probably doesn’t want to hear that. The one thing I took from the whole thing: he said, ‘I want you to think different if you take this job.’ And I go, ‘okay, I get a schedule and he goes, ‘no. I want you to think different.’ I saw the lake, saw the golf course, and I’m like, ‘oh…we might have something here.’”
Eagle Crest Golf Club, their home course overlooking Ford Lake, might be the only thing that hasn’t changed since Brewer took over two years ago.
GameAbove, an investing organization chaired by alumnus Keith Stone, has gone above and beyond to give both the men’s and women’s golf teams a facelift.
The group gifted $8 million for a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility which opened just prior to Brewer’s arrival in May 2024. An additional $6.5 million was pledged to coincide with the head coach’s hiring.
“Schools are constantly flying, flying private, staying in all these luxury hotels, playing in these big events,” Brewer explained. “GameAbove helped us get to that level, just being able to compete equally.”
As is becoming standard in high-level athletics, Eastern Michigan hired a golf general manager, Dan McLean.
“Michigan or Alabama, obviously their number one is football,” Jordan Young, Director of Golf Operations at GameAbove said. “At Eastern Michigan, we chose golf to be number one.”
Of the $35 million GameAbove has pledged across the board to EMU Athletics since 2019, Young estimates nearly $20 million has been directed towards the golf teams.
“We wanted to get into the game as far as being competitive and NIL is one way we were able to do that,” Young continued. “Now let’s be honest. How many people want to play golf at Eastern Michigan? It’s in Michigan.”
Now? More players are enticed to commit from more places on the map.
Two seasons ago, all but two athletes hailed from within 215 miles of campus in Ypsilanti. This year, only three were Americans and two were twins.
Eastern built a competitive roster by luring top 200 amateurs Janae and Jasmine Leovao from Long Beach State. They added Thailand’s Baiyok Sukterm, the top ranked NAIA player from Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. Brewer also brought Belgium’s Savannah de Bock along when he was fired at the University of Georgia.
Jarring to outsiders—or those used to business as usual at a middling mid-major—Brewer argues the team’s approach mirrors other competitors.
“Oregon is fortunate to have (Nike co-founder) Phil Knight. I think Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, TCU, and Texas A&M are all fortunate to have billionaire oil men,” Brewer said. “Every university or athletic department has someone who has funded it. We just catch a little more grief about it because we’re Eastern Michigan and not the University of Michigan. If it was the University Michigan, no one would say a word about it, but they’re scared this little upstart might not be going away.”
During their Cinderella run through the NCAA field, the Eagles were met with newfound scrutiny and accusations. Some folks, ranging from national sports talk radio pundits to anonymous social media commenters, ran with a notion the Leovao twins did not attend the school at all.
Janae and Jasmine hail from Oceanside, California. According to Brewer and Young, both players took online courses in the spring and sometimes traveled separately to four events in their home state, but they spent fall in Ypsilanti and walked at graduation.
“The team actually trained in California and competed in California almost as many as eight weeks,” Young said. “Everything we ever did, we knew people were watching over us and we had to make sure everything was under compliance rules.”
“We only had, I think it was 24 or 25 days of classes before March 9th this year and they were in class for 15 of them,” Brewer added. “And you know what they were doing the other days? We were traveling as a team. It’s funny. I should shut it down. It’s kind of made me mad now because it’s a discredit to them for how hard they work.”
For a school with just six top five finishes in any Division I sport since 1940, the investment and execution which led to this season’s result is almost unbelievable.
By all accounts, it is legitimate.
But is it repeatable? Has Eastern Michigan found the blueprint to level the playing field in the modern era of college sports?
“I feel like we have a pretty good idea, but it’s also you’ve got to be humble,” Brewer said. “The transfer portal opened 48 hours after the national championship. There are plenty of kids and families in there that reminded me of Eastern Michigan and where we’re at. Such disrespect. So yeah, I carry a chip on my shoulder every damn day.”With the regional trophy over his shoulder, Brewer grinned again.
“They don’t want to see us at the national championship, I promise.”