Big Sky Conference

Baldwin leaving Eastern Washington for Cal OC position

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Beau Baldwin never hid from his Eastern Washington players his candidacy for the Nevada vacancy despite the fact that it came as EWU chased its second national championship under Baldwin.

“Our philosophy was to be up front and tell them exactly,” Baldwin said days before his team’s 38-0 win over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. “I tell them up front this is what’s true, this is exactly what happened the last couple of days. By doing that, it allows you the freedom to say you don’t need to talk about it and boom, they are all in that mode that it’s Richmond until 4:30 on Saturday afternoon when the game ends.”

Baldwin was one of two finalists for the job in Reno, eventually giving way to Jay Norvell. Baldwin barely had time to say a thing to his players this time around.

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

Cal fired Sonn Dykes on January 8. The Golden Bears named Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox its new head coach on Saturday. On Saturday night, Baldwin called EWU athletic director Bill Chaves. On Monday, Martin Luther King Day meant no school at Eastern Washington. Baldwin met with his team nonetheless.

Baldwin informed his charges he will take Cal’s offensive coordinator job effective immediately. An emotional Baldwin confirmed on Monday afternoon in a press conference that he is in fact leaving Eastern Washington after nine wildly successful seasons in Cheney.

“There have been other opportunities in the last four or five years because this place is so special and the people are so special,” Baldwin said. “I knew strongly if I had any reservations, I was going to continue to fight like heck as an Eagle.

“This didn’t get going…I didn’t call Bill until Saturday night so these things go really fast. This one, as hard as it is — and I want it to be hard because that means this place means something. But as hard as it is, this one is right. It’s an incredible opportunity.”

Baldwin has led EWU to five Big Sky Conference titles over the last seven seasons. His Eagles ran the table for the second time since 2013 this past season, advancing to the semifinals of the FCS playoffs for the third time in Baldwin’s tenure, a run that included the 2010 national title.

“This place is much bigger than any one person,” Baldwin said. “Always has been, always will be. I know these guys will continue to roll. That excites me and I’m proud of that.”

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin in 2015/by Brooks Nuanez

Chaves confirmed longtime offensive line coach Aaron Best and second-year Jeff Schmedding will serve as co-interim head coaches for the Eagles.

Chaves signed Baldwin to a new five-year contract extension on December 9.

“There is no doubt that coach Baldwin is one of the very best coaches ever in the Big Sky Conference and we are excited to be working out details with him,” said Chaves of the head coach he hired nine seasons ago.

Baldwin posted a 58-14 Big Sky record for a winning percentage of .806 to rank as the fifth-best in Big Sky Conference history. His .730 winning percentage overall (84-31) is seventh all-time in the 53-year history of the Big Sky. He was fast approaching the school record of 89 victories by Dick Zornes from 1979-93 during EWU’s transition from NAIA to NCAA Division I and the Big Sky.

“We look forward to even greater things in the future,” said Baldwin then as his team prepared to play Richmond.

The Eagles won 40 of their last 46 Big Sky games since a 0-2 start in 2011. Eastern has won 30 of its last 34 league games, with the lone losses coming against Montana and Portland State in 2015 and Northern Arizona in both 2015 and 2014. Including non-conference victories (two versus MSU and one against Cal Poly) and a playoff win (Montana), the Eagles have won 34 of their last 38 versus conference foes, and are 44-6 since the 0-2 start in 2011.

EWU wide receiver Shaq Hill (1) with head coach Beau Baldwin/by EWU Athletics

EWU wide receiver Shaq Hill (1) with head coach Beau Baldwin/by EWU Athletics

Last season marked the sixth time Baldwin has taken the Eagles to the playoffs as head coach (2009-10-12-13-14-16), plus two more as offensive coordinator (2004-05). He has coached in a total of 27 postseason playoff games (12 appearances) with a record of 17-9-1, including eight appearances in the FCS Playoffs and two at both the NCAA Division II and NAIA levels when he was at Central Washington. His Eagles lost in the final seconds of the FCS semifinals to Youngstown State in December.

In his nine years as Eastern’s head coach, the Eagles have ranked in the top 10 in FCS in passing offense eight times and total offense six seasons (including 2016). Eastern led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in passing offense in 2015 (353.3 yards per game) and 2011 (368.5), and scoring in 2014 (44.1 points per game). In EWU’s last 13 seasons (2004-2016), including 12 with Baldwin on the coaching staff, EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 11 times, total offense on nine occasions and scoring five times.

Baldwin will serve at Cal under Wilcox, who was named the new head coach of the Bears on January 14. Wilcox was previously an assistant coach at Cal, USC and Boise State, and most recently at Wisconsin. He graduated from Oregon in 1999.

Best recently concluded his 20th year as an Eagle, including four years at Eastern (1996-99) as an All-America center and 16 season as an assistant coach (2000-2006, 2008-2014) in the 2016-17 school year. An academic honor student as an undergraduate at Eastern, Best is the team’s offensive line coach, its running game coordinator and also handles the team’s academic coordinator duties.

He helped coordinate an offense in 2016 which set seven Big Sky Conference records and two additional EWU marks for a total of nine school records. Eastern finished the year ranked second in FCS in total offense with an average of 529.6 yards per game and was the FCS leader in passing offense (401.0 yards per game). Eastern was also third in scoring offense (42.4). Eastern’s offense excelled after Best helped develop an offensive line that lost all five starters from EWU’s 2015 squad plus two other seniors. In the last eight games of the 2016 season, the starting lineup consisted of two redshirt freshmen and a trio of sophomores.

In the last 13 seasons (2004-16) – 12 with Best on the coaching staff — EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 11 times and in total offense on nine occasions and scoring five times. In the last 23 years (1993-2016), the Eagles have had 22 different offensive linemen earn All-America accolades while winning 26 first team All-Big Sky Conference honors (1993-2015). In 2016, center Spencer Blackburn was a second team All-Big Sky selection and went on to earn sophomore All-America accolades.

Among the All-Americans Best has coached was Michael Roos, who became the highest NFL draft choice in school history when he was chosen in the second round – 41st overall – by the Tennessee Titans in 2005. A season-ending knee injury in 2014 led to his retirement from the NFL after 10 seasons. He credited Best in his retirement statement on Instagram on Feb. 26, 2015.

Best started 22-straight games at center for Eastern in 1998 and 1999, earning honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a junior and first team honors as a senior. He also earned honorable mention All-America honors his final season.

Best graduated in 1996 from Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he had a 3.75 grade point average. He was co-captain his senior season as Curtis won the State AAA championship.

Schmedding took over as Eastern’s defensive coordinator in 2015 after a highly-successful seven-year stint coordinating special teams. The 2016-17 school year was his 13th year on the coaching staff, and coached safeties for the seventh year.
Schmedding graduated in 2002 from Eastern with his bachelor’s degree in health education and a minor in physical education/coaching. He was a health and fitness teacher at University High School in Spokane Valley for two years, and coached football.

While he was an EWU undergraduate, he also did his student teaching at U-Hi in 2001 and coached football. Schmedding graduated in 1996 from University High School.

Photo attribution noted. All Rights Reserved. This story will be updated.

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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