The 1986 Western Michigan Broncos football team represented Western Michigan University in the Mid-American Conference (MAC) during the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season.
In their fifth and final season under head coach Jack Harbaugh, the Broncos compiled a 3–8 record (3–5 against MAC opponents), finished in eighth place in the MAC, and were outscored by their opponents, 257 to 183.
[1][2][3] The team played its home games at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
[5] Quarterback Chris Conklin, guard Sam Culbert, and defensive tackle Mark Garalczyk were the team captains.
Michigan coach Bo Schembechler called Harbaugh's firing "one of the tragedies of sport", referred to the head coaching job at Western as "the worst job in America", and said that Western had "the worst-administered athletic department, maybe the worst-administered school.