SochorField
Active member
Every perennially successful team in the Big Sky is a losing streak away from being average these days.
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Potential Head Coaches
- Thread starter E-Wu Tang Clan
- Start date
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
I don't disagree with any of this. But it is a fact that it didn't translate well when he was at an actual FBS school. Even a power 5 school like Cal. Cal is the best public school in the world and has a ton of rich alumni. Yet his offenses always ranked near the bottom of the Pac. I don't know if it was cause of Justin Wilcox or P5 defenses adapting to his schemes or what. But his time at Cal and Arizona State did not go well.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
Yea I don't know what happened but his offenses at Cal and ASU sucked. Maybe he would have been better as a head coach at a G5 school.
I don't think that's why Shoemaker left Eastern. There was a pretty significant dispute, but I don't think it had anything to do with misconduct on anyone's part. I think we lost the plot by not getting the guy from Central.
The way modern football is, you need to hire a guy from D2 (or similar) that is highly successful and has ties to the area. You gotta get somebody who's able to bring talent with him... maybe 10-15 players who want the opportunity. Eastern drastically needs to onboard some players... there just isn't enough talent capable of winning games on the roster right now.
This is why I don't think Baldwin fits anymore. The baggage he brings along with him is also an issue. I really like Coach Baldwin, but there are just too many risks and too few benefits.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
I worked with Anthany Smith and he said it had something to do with misconduct and he played from 2018 to 2022 while Shoemaker was there. I don't have any reason to not believe him. There was probably some disputes too with Best and play calling philosophies too though.
I think there is plenty of talent just the coaching sucks. Think about it, our OC is in his second year of play calling ever, he didn't even play college football, he was the video coordinator in college. Our DC is in his first year of being a DC and play calling. All the good coaches leave the first chance they get, ex. Eric Sanders, Jaylen Jenkins, Wes Nurse going to Montana of all places. Speaking of Montana, they basically set up Michael Wortham to look like a stud that he is and sent him to the NFL. Meanwhile, all our coaches did for him was kick returns and trick plays.
I ain't being picky. Baldwin wants to come back I'd welcome him with open arms. You have anyone better in mind? I would have said Chris Fisk too but he is at Portland State. Maybe Shoemaker but Idaho has yet to win a game this season. Maybe the Montana State OC I doubt he is bringing many players over though, if any. Troy Taylor if he can stop being an asshole to staff. I'd also go for a defensive minded coach.
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I don't know what's out there. I really don't have any idea what's going on in the Northwest with coaches. And being frank, I think we could pry a guy from Portland State. Maybe I'm thinking bigger than reality.
As for talent, I don't agree. I think Eastern has a handful of guys, but this isn't even close to what our talent was a decade ago. We had enough talent to beat NAU and Cal Poly (and still lost), but there are very few players on our roster that would have been impact players from 2010-2020. How many guys, regardless of their coach, are legit All Big Sky players? We don't have those kind of players that are on the level with the guys at Montana and Montana State anymore.
The other area where I see player problems is in the injury tent. We've always seemed to have more than our fair share of injuries, but holy hell do we get beat up. Not only do we have players missing loads of time with multi-game injuries, we don't have the toughness to play 4 quarters. We fade every week.
It's a disaster on every front.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
Even when we had guys like Chism, we used threw him screen passes out in the flat with no blockers and he got immediately lit up. Imagine turning down a million plus dollars to stay loyal to your school and all they have you doing is catching screen passes and getting lit up like a christmas tree, dude was lucky he didn't get injured.
Injuries happen I guess, Montana State just lost to a winless Idaho in part their starting QB, RB and best WR are all injured.
Injuries happen I guess, Montana State just lost to a winless Idaho in part their starting QB, RB and best WR are all injured.
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E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
Also there are ways to throw to receivers to reduce the risk of injury and as far as I can tell is Bell is doing the opposite. Don't you think it's a coincidence that Bell is constantly scrambling to make something happen, trying to force it into double coverage and the receiver scrambling to get open then getting lit up? Schakel got put in last year and it looked like an elite receiver corp of the Baldwin days. I'm pretty sure I've seen NFL receiver stare down their QB cause they threw to them when there was a DB coming at them full clip and they got laid out.
Doesn't it bother anyone else that our QBs coach, the most important position on the team, is coached by a dude who has never played QB in his life or even coached QBs before last season? If Baldwin did that I wouldn't care because Baldwin himself was a QB and he could help coach, but Best was a olineman.
Also, Bobby Hauck returned to Montana after a stint in the FBS and got them back to playoff status within like a few seasons. He didn't have a team to pull from, he was coaching special teams at San Diego State. Not having a team to pull from is fine if you can use the portal and evaluate talent well, I think Baldwin was rather adept at both, at least offensively.
Doesn't it bother anyone else that our QBs coach, the most important position on the team, is coached by a dude who has never played QB in his life or even coached QBs before last season? If Baldwin did that I wouldn't care because Baldwin himself was a QB and he could help coach, but Best was a olineman.
Also, Bobby Hauck returned to Montana after a stint in the FBS and got them back to playoff status within like a few seasons. He didn't have a team to pull from, he was coaching special teams at San Diego State. Not having a team to pull from is fine if you can use the portal and evaluate talent well, I think Baldwin was rather adept at both, at least offensively.
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eaglemachine
Active member
Past Presidents going back to Arevalo have been terrible. He was fantastic. The board is anmixed bag. They do barely enough to show commitment to athletics without rocking the boat too much. Based on the success of 2010-2022 we should have already had stadium improvements done and a successful record.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
Realistically speaking I think Pete Sterbick and Ian Shoemaker are our best bets. They're both Big Sky OCs who have a very successful D2 head coaching background. Neither are a downgrade from Chris Fisk imo. Fisk would have been able to possibly bring over coaches and players to fill out his team though.
Sterbick went 22-4 as the head coach at Colorado Mines and runs a spread multiple RPO offense that is proven cause he just won a national championship with Montana State. The bad thing is I think he is more of a mid west guy. He was a graduate assistant for WSU but that is the extent of his experience in Washington. But he's still a Big Sky coach and Montana schools still recruit in Washington.
Shoemaker has been at Eastern before and coached QBs like Barriere. He is very familiar with EWU's offensive identity going back to Baldwin and might be the closest to Baldwin of the two. His advantage being that he was head coach at Central Washington for 5 years and went 38-16 and is from Graham, Washington.
Baldwin might be waiting to swoop in (no pun intended) and take the job from Best or he might be done with coaching and finds it too stressful with all the new changes to the portal and NIL etc.
Troy Taylor might be nice but he has conduct questions and seems like a California guy and would probably leave for a Cali job first chance he got.
Sterbick went 22-4 as the head coach at Colorado Mines and runs a spread multiple RPO offense that is proven cause he just won a national championship with Montana State. The bad thing is I think he is more of a mid west guy. He was a graduate assistant for WSU but that is the extent of his experience in Washington. But he's still a Big Sky coach and Montana schools still recruit in Washington.
Shoemaker has been at Eastern before and coached QBs like Barriere. He is very familiar with EWU's offensive identity going back to Baldwin and might be the closest to Baldwin of the two. His advantage being that he was head coach at Central Washington for 5 years and went 38-16 and is from Graham, Washington.
Baldwin might be waiting to swoop in (no pun intended) and take the job from Best or he might be done with coaching and finds it too stressful with all the new changes to the portal and NIL etc.
Troy Taylor might be nice but he has conduct questions and seems like a California guy and would probably leave for a Cali job first chance he got.
ewueagle2010
Active member
Shoemaker is unlikely in my opinion. I have been told by many inside the program that his reason for being let go had to do with questionable comments. Obviously he’s picked up other jobs since then, but his bridge at EWU may be burned due to said comment.
My dream would be Baldwin, if he wants it. He knows how to win here and I don’t think anything has changed enough to prevent him from winning again.
My dream would be Baldwin, if he wants it. He knows how to win here and I don’t think anything has changed enough to prevent him from winning again.
DefendtheRed
Active member
We need a guy with very intimate ties to WA state HS coaches because that's one of our biggest competitive advantages, IMO. Sterbick might be a great coach, but that requirement eliminates him in my mind.
eaglemachine
Past Presidents going back to Arevalo have been terrible. He was fantastic. The board is anmixed bag. They do barely enough to show commitment to athletics without rocking the boat too much. Based on the success of 2010-2022 we should have already had stadium improvements done and a successful record.I agree with this eagle machine. Everytime I made a donation to EWU Arevalo sent me hand written thank you card. That guy was a leader and a Rainmaker.
Mary Cullinan rest in peace set was let go by SOU for lack of confidence etc by by the university. Yet EWU, in thier infinite wisdom hired her anyway and she the started the downslide for EWU IMO. Bill Chaves saw the writing on the wall( BTW he was very good for EWU) and bolted for greener pastures.
Cullinan then hired Lynn Hickey who was average at best. She did nothing to enhance the athletic programs.
Chaves and Arevalo were rainmakers and got things done. Every business or good ourganization has a rainmaker and good personnell. Tim Collins might be okay but I just dont see where he is willing to go all out. Fund raising networking is a big part of it and i dont see him being that aggressive in that aspect.
I graduated with one of current trustees and he doesn't have any vision. He has that public employee vision. Sometimes it take someone who has been successful in the private sector that knows how to scrap and claw to get things done.
I am embarrased that enrollment is down and we are still playing in a glorified high school stadium. EWU has been around since 1882 and we are still struggling with trying to get a decent football field . Leadership starts from the top and if EWU is ever going to make a big impact in the sports arena, academic reputation etc. EWU has to make drastic changes and start hiring hard working people who can make huge postive gains and not just wish for them. Our current visions for EWU are very average to say the least and blame the current adminstrations . I know that money talks so why haven't they beat the bushes to get money?
I read a lot of the comments posted here and you guys are spot on the majority of the time of these. These commenst really have good horse sense.
Sometimes people who work in the capacity of a state, government , public employee don't really care because there is no sense of real urgency as they are going to get paid regardless. EWU needs some leadership qualities from people who have made it in the private sector who are RAINMAKERS.
I love my EAGS but am very disappointed with the current administration.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
He could always hire coaches from Washington. Every coach on the team has their recruiting regions anyway, Sterbick could recruit Montana and the midwest and hire an coordinator familiar with Washington recruiting. First few years he's probably going to have to hit the portal hard anyway.
The only school is below us on the totem pole and we could poach from is Central and that won't work this time cause our AD pissed that away by letting Portland State hire him first and the new Central head coach isn't proven yet. Baldwin hasn't coached in Washington for close to a decade now, how many of those high school coaches are even still around.
It's ultimately up to the AD, President etc. But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss candidates. We're a school with limited resources and facilities. We're not overflowing with quality head coach candidates either. There is a reason of the highest paid public employee in most states is the head football coach. Good ones are very hard to find. Yall are like the average looking guy at the bar looking at the few hot girls and dismissing them because of one flaw or another.
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E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
I think Arevalo retired before some very unpopular budget cuts had to be made. I think Cullinan was brought in to make those budget cuts and was basically the scapegoat. I read somewhere Arevalo knew Cullinan and recommended her for president.
I think Tim Collins is alright. It does seem like he is trying to get things done. He created the endzone Bud Light Endzone club seating which has raised hundreds of thousands. The Night of Champions apparently raises a lot of money Fundraising is up 31%. Other revenue is up 25-26% year after year. I think trying to brand EWU as "Spokane County's team" is kind of meh, but whatever. Track just got replaced, Reese Court got a new floor. I like that he said if we get enough money we can get shovels in the ground and pay the rest off later using new revenue. A new press box opens up the old ones for premium box seating which will bring a lot more money then regular seating in stands. Collins may be a public employee but I'm assuming he does want AD job at a bigger school in the future so he has to show he can improve Eastern and pad his resume now.
Now Collins just needs to find the money to get rid of Best and hire an amazing head coach so we can start winning again and people start showing up to games.
The enrollment thing, not really much to be done there. Enrollment is down at every public university in Washington except UW. College just keeps on getting more expensive and was a decline in births about 18 years ago around the Great Recession. So now we have less young people in general and now they're realizing a college degree isn't a ticket to the middle class, the work and debt isn't worth it and going in the trades.
Not being known as the school with the red turf who can beat bigger schools in football anymore certainly doesn't help with enrollment though.
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Obzerver
Active member
Collins is a good one. He will peddle as fast as he can until he starts peddling for a bigger program. He wants to make a mark on EWU facilitates and bolster fundraising programs and get them into place while supporting all mens/womens programs. Hopefully we have him for a 2-3 more years....who knows.
*finding money for a Best buyout of his last year gonna be a challenge, if Collins even thinks that's a good idea....would President even ok that?wonder if Best has a no buyout clause ..in the fine print?
*finding money for a Best buyout of his last year gonna be a challenge, if Collins even thinks that's a good idea....would President even ok that?wonder if Best has a no buyout clause ..in the fine print?
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E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
A Spokesman Review article says we'll owe him for a years salary plus unused vacation. So roughly $250k. Shit might be able to make that back with a good head coach hire and having people show up to games and get excited about the program again and donate.
E-Wu Tang Clan
Active member
Yea like pervy comments to female staffers. Who knows though.
