Chavez optimistic about Eastern

Bill Chaves didn’t come into his new job blind to the recent turmoil that has plagued Eastern Washington University’s athletic department.

He had heard about the budget woes, the staff turnovers, the ongoing NCAA investigations into the school’s men’s basketball and football programs and the sky-is-falling mentality of many of EWU’s most loyal boosters.

So, like any serious and diligent job candidate, Chaves asked questions. Lots of questions.

And ultimately, he heard enough right answers to sign on as the Eagles’ new athletics director.

“In any scenario in this day and age, from the communications standpoint, there is always going to be a tendency for people to talk about what is wrong and, maybe, not what is right,” Chaves, 41, said Friday after being officially introduced to the media during an on-campus morning press conference.

“But there are so many things that the Eastern administration is looking toward in regards to athletics that it excited me. They understand that athletics can be a big piece of what the university wants to do in moving its mission forward.

“And that’s something we have to remind folks – of all the positive things that are going on.”

In introducing Chaves, who spent the last three years as an associate athletics director for external affairs at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, EWU president Dr. Rodolfo Arevalo noted that within the last five months the school has hired a new basketball coach, volleyball coach, a second assistant women’s soccer coach, a second strength and conditioning coach, a new academic coordinator and a compliance officer.

And he added the appointment of a new faculty athletic department representative should take place shortly.

All of that presumably factored into Chaves’ decision to step out from under the shadow of his long-time mentor and Baylor athletics director Ian McCaw and take over his own department for the first time in his 20-year career as an administrator in college athletics.

“Today’s an interesting day,” Chaves said. “It’s a culmination, in some respects, of a life-long journey to become an athletic director at an outstanding institution. But, truly, it’s really a beginning, the start, of a new and exciting journey – one that will be challenging, yet I know rewarding.”

In taking over for Mike Westfall, who stepped in as the school’s AD on an interim basis following the mid-March firing of Darren Hamilton, Chaves will oversee Eastern’s 14 Division I intercollegiate sports programs.

He met with his staff prior to Friday’s press conference and claimed he was “energized” by the enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment of its members.

When asked for his opinion on Eastern’s facilities, Chaves said he would like to see those of some other Big Sky Conference schools before commenting in detail.

“But when you first come in, the one thing you see is that you’re not land-locked here,” he added. “You certainly have the ability to dream big here, and I want to dream big. I know there’s no reason to be thinking in the biggest terms possible, but are there some things probably need to be looked at and at least refreshed?

“Absolutely. Absolutely.”

Chaves plans to spend a few weeks observing his department.

“If there’s an issue that needs to be addressed right away, I’ll address it,” he explained. “But I also need to do some evaluation. I need to do a lot of listening.”

“I understand that until you sit in the quote-unquote ‘chair,’ you really don’t know all the things that occur. But I think I’ve had enough mentoring from Ian to understand most of the issues that are going to come up, and I’m looking forward to starting something big.”