Eagles former OC lands at Fresno State

Joe Wade, who served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Eastern Washington last fall, has taken a new job as running backs coach at Fresno State.

You can read an unedited version of the story — which also includes Coach Beau Baldwin’s comments about winter conditioning and a note on the start of spring practice — that  will appear in Thursday morning’ s S-R below.  And I’ve included this link to additional details on the Killin feed that annually marks the end of spring practice and the role Michael Roos is playing in this year’s event.

 

BALDWIN WON’T HIRE RIGHT AWAY TO REPLACE WADE

Joe Wade, a long-time assistant on Eastern Washington University’s football staff, has accepted a position as running backs coach at Fresno State University, where he will work under Bulldogs head coach Pat Hill.

 

 

Wade served in various capacities during his nine-year stay at Eastern and was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under first-year head coach Beau Baldwin last fall when the Eagles finished 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference while averaging 29.4 points and 398.5 total yards per game.

 

 

Baldwin said he does not expect to hire anyone to replace Wade, opting instead to promote offensive line coach Aaron to offensive coordinator and shuffle the responsibilities of several other coaches on his staff.

 

 

Former wide receivers and co-special teams coach Chris Peterson will take over the duties of coaching quarterbacks, Baldwin explained.

 

 

“And I may end up being more directly involved with coaching a position, as well,” he added.

 

 

Baldwin said his team is currently continuing its winter conditioning program, and he likes what he has seen from his players so far.

 

 

“I’ve been extremely impressed with their attitude, approach, work ethic and accountability,” he explained, “especially considering all the stuff they’ve had to deal with that is different than most winters – like the NCAA sanctions.”

 

 

The NCAA recently placed the Eagles on probation for three years and banned them from post-season play in 2009 after a two-year investigation uncovered a serious of secondary rules violations that occurred from 2003-07 and were considered a major infraction when taken in total.

 

 

Eastern has since announced its intentions to appeal the post-season ban, while leaving all other penalties handed down by the NCAA uncontested.

 

 

The Eagles are scheduled to begin spring practice on Tuesday, April 7, with the annual Red-White Game that traditionally caps spring workouts scheduled for Saturday, April 25.