Big Sky Conference

Eastern Washington names Best new head football coach

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SKYLINE SPORTS & EWU PRESS RELEASE

Aaron Best, an integral part of Eastern Washington football for the last 20 years, is EWU’s new head coach, athletic director Bill Chaves announced on Saturday evening.

Best will take over for Beau Baldwin, who left after nine years to take the offensive coordinator position on Justin Wilcox’s staff at Cal. The former All-American offensive lineman at EWU (1996-99) takes over the regaining Big Sky Conference champions. Eastern Washington has claimed five of the last seven Big Sky titles, including one to kick off the decade that culminated in EWU’s first national championship.

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin

Former EWU head coach Beau Baldwin

Best coached offensive line on Paul Wulff’s staff from 2002 until 2006. He joined Baldwin’s staff in his first year at the helm in 2008.

Chaves took to Twitter to announce Best’s hiring at 4:26 p.m. PST shortly after the Eagles defeated Southern Utah in men’s basketball in Cheney.

“incREDibly excited to announce that Aaron Best will be @EWUFootball ‘s next HC! Introductory press conference on Monday at Noon #GoEags,” Chaves tweeted.

Best will officially be introduced on Monday.

Besides coaching the offensive line as a full-time assistant for 14 of his 16 seasons on the coaching staff, Best has also served in various coordinator positions, most recently as the team’s running game coordinator. He was a student assistant coach in 2000 and a graduate assistant in 2001.

Best coached Michael Roos, who went on to a 10-year career with the Tennessee Titans in the National Football League. With Best on the coaching staff, Eastern has had 13 different offensive linemen earn All-America accolades. He has coached 16 All-Big Sky selections.

Best played for Eastern from 1996-1999. He earned honorable mention All-America honors in 1999 when he was also a first team All-Big Sky selection. Twice he was selected to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team, and was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII Academic squad. He graduated in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in social science.

The 2016 season might have been one of Best’s most impressive coaching achievements. After losing five senior starters and two more seniors from EWU’s 6-5 team, the Eagles finished the 2016 campaign with a 12-2 overall record and perfect 8-0 mark in the Big Sky. Eastern’s five starters on the offensive line for the most of the year consisted of two redshirt freshmen and a trio of sophomores.

Best is only the fifth head coach since 1979 for the Eagles, and the third since then who played collegiately as an offensive lineman. Dick Zornes, who is also an Eastern graduate, coached at EWU from 1979-93 before former Idaho offensive lineman Mike Kramer took over from 1994-99. Washington State offensive lineman Paul Wulff took over from 2000-2007 until Baldwin, a Central Washington graduate, took the reins in 2008.

Photos by Brooks Nuanez. All Rights Reserved

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