I have to think there's some behind the scenes stuff going on here. EWU is better than U of Portland 4 out of every 5 years, and usually it wouldn't even be close. But it is really hard to turn down the kind of pay raise that he was offered. He's got a family to feed, and I'm sure he's confident enough in his own abilities to think he can build a winner there. I hope he's successful, because he's a super good guy... and it sucks to lose a coach like Shantay because he was such a great ambassador for Eastern.
Based on the the abnormal amount of coaching turnover, I think there's a lot of frustration in Cheney about the path the university is on. Who would've thought that Arevalo leaving would just crush the school like it did? Eastern was growing enrollment every year and became the "hot" place to go to school in Washington. A few years later and every trend line is the complete opposite. Bad leadership gutted the school, and while I think there's a path to success, it's going to take a lot of time and energy to make it happen.
I mean, seriously, look around the country and schools are adding football as a means to attract male students. Eastern has people that advocate for dropping it. The school has a massive budget crunch during one of the largest economic expansions in history. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about the piss-poor decisions the university has made over the last five years, then nothing would convince you.
