Buis moves on to Eastern Michigan

Friday, March 17, 2006

After winning the Division II National Championship with Grand Valley State, South Putnam and DePauw University Graduate Josh Buis is taking his coaching abilities to another level.

At the ripe age of 27-years-old, Buis is now a Division I football coach, working with tight ends and offensive tackles at Eastern Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference.

"It's exciting to have an opportunity to be a Division I coach," Buis said. "It's a great stepping stone."

Buis is a 2001 graduate of DePauw, where he was a three-year letterman and team captain. He also earned All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference honors and Academic All-SCAC honors in his career with the Tigers.

Buis went on to Northwestern University, where he was a graduate assistant on the football team while working on his master's degree. After spending two years at Grand Valley State, Buis is now ready to take his talents to the biggest stage in college football.

"It's an opportunity to be recruiting higher caliber players," Buis said. "Every week you're coaching against future NFL players."

Eastern Michigan was 4-7 overall last season, and 2-3 in the MAC. Buis comes from coaching running backs Grand Valley State, where the Lakers averaged a whopping 211.4 yards per game on the ground.

Buis was no running back in high school or college. In fact, playing center, he was quite the opposite.

Nevertheless, Buis has found coaching success, utilizing his knowledge in multiple facets of the game.

"You've got to coach each kid different," Buis said. "If you go into coaching thinking you can coach each kid the same way, it's not going to work."

Growing up in Putnam County, Buis became infatuated with football, studying the game, watching Coach Mark Wildman lead the Eagles.

"When I grew up, there would be kids behind the stands playing football," Buis said. "I was in the stands watching football."

He attributes Wildman and former DePauw Head Football Coach Nick Mourouzis with his current success. While he admits he is still growing as a coach, he credits both coaches for laying the foundation from which he can build.

"I learned from Coach Wildman. He basically taught me the game of football," Buis said. "Coach Mourouzis taught me to love coaching."

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