Wulff gets new 5-year contract
Paul Wulff, who has been the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year twice in his five years as the head man at Eastern Washington University, has agreed to a new five-year contract.
“Our intent is to keep Paul here as long as we can and continue to build on the success we have had,” EWU athletic director Scott Barnes said. “We hope this new contract will help do that.”
The Eagles have had a winning record every year Wulff has been head coach, just concluding a 9-4 season in which they advanced to the quarterfinals of the I-AA playoffs. That included a 6-1 record to share the league title and a road win over the No. 1-ranked team to open the playoffs.
“When I first came here in 1993 as a volunteer assistant, a lot of people thought I would be moving on,” Wulff, 37, said. “A lot of reasons have kept me here – family, friends, the school. I’ve built such a great loyalty to this place. I have strong feelings toward the community, the school and the program.”
Wulff had one year left on the second three-year contract he signed after replacing Mike Kramer in 2000. The new deal, with a base salary of $100,000, eliminates the final year of the previous contract.
“I started working on this a couple of weeks prior to the end of the season. Obviously things take time,” Barnes said. “We wanted to show him our confidence in him for what he’s done and reward him for building a program how we view as the right way.”
Wulff, the offensive line and strength coach for six years under Kramer, has a career record of 34-23, 20-16 in league games. The five straight winning seasons is unprecedented since Eastern moved up to Division I-AA in the early 1980s. Only W.B. “Red” Reese had a longer run in the 1930s.
Wulff was also the offensive coordinator in Kramer’s last two seasons, including 1997 when the Eagles led the nation in offense and advanced to the I-AA semifinals. Eastern also had the No. 1 offense in 2001, the first time Wulff was Big Sky Coach of the Year.
Barnes said the new contract was not in response to other schools checking into Wulff’s availability.
“I felt it was real important for us to move forward with this prior to anything taking place,” Barnes said. “We wanted to be proactive.”
Wulff, from Davis, Calif., played at Washington State (graduating in 1990) and a couple of years of professional football before joining the EWU program in Dick Zornes’ last season.
“In this business, coaches do leave, but not all coaches,” Wulff said. “I’m very content getting this program to a level it’s never been. I definitely feel we’re getting there.”