Central Washington hires Shoemaker as football coach

ELLENSBURG – Central Washington University hired Ian Shoemaker as head football coach, director of athletics Dennis Francois announced Thursday.

“We are very excited to bring Ian back to the state of Washington, and proud to welcome him as the new head football coach,” Francois said. “He has an incredible football mind and I am confident he will be a great mentor for our student-athletes both on and off the field.”

Shoemaker joins the Wildcats after six seasons as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Shoemaker led the Huskies to the Division II national playoffs three times in the last four seasons.

Under Shoemaker’s leadership, Francois said CWU hopes to continue its dominance of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and compete at the national level on a consistent basis. CWU has won the conference championship in seven of the 11 football-playing seasons of the conference.

“I am looking forward to this opportunity and contributing to the storied football tradition at Central Washington University,” Shoemaker said. “I want to continue the upward momentum of the program and get back to winning on a national level, which I believe we can do here.”

Shoemaker, a native of Graham, Wash., graduated from Orting High School.

He graduated from Grinnell (Iowa) College and continued his studies in sport psychology at Western Washington University. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Vikings from 1997-99.

Shoemaker’s appointment at CWU begins Thursday.