Baldwin lands Central job
The dream takes life today.
Central Washington will introduce Eastern Washington offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Beau Baldwin as its 21st head football coach at 11 a.m.
“I’m excited,” said Baldwin, 34. “The challenge of being a head coach has been a dream of mine. It’s always tough to leave. I like the coaches I work with here, coach (Paul) Wulff has been good to me. The players in this program are great – not only talented players, they’re great individuals.”
Before spending the last four seasons at Eastern, Baldwin served 12 years with the Wildcats.
A 1990 graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Baldwin was a quarterback and two-year captain for the Wildcats, finishing with a school-record .614 completion rate. He then joined the coaching staff.
During his years he coached two of the best quarterbacks in CWU history. With Jon Kitna, a former Seattle Seahawk now with the Detroit Lions, Central won the NAIA national title in 1995. All-American Zak Hill, who was a graduate assistant at Eastern for two years, guided the Wildcats to an 11-1 record in 2002.
“That makes it that much sweeter from the standpoint of playing there, graduating there, coaching there,” Baldwin said. “It makes it neat to have that opportunity.”
Baldwin replaced Timm Rosenbach, who was also one of the four finalists at Central, at Eastern in 2003 when Rosenbach returned to Washington State, his alma mater, as quarterbacks coach. Rosenbach said he withdrew from the search Wednesday. He and his wife are expecting their first child later this month.
During his first three years at Eastern, Baldwin coached Erik Meyer, who concluded his career with a host of records, including a national record for pass efficiency (166.47), and the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in I-AA football.
The Eagles went 22-14 in those three years, the last two sharing the Big Sky Conference title and advancing to the I-AA playoffs.
Last fall EWU was 3-8, including a 21-14 home loss to Central.
“It would have been fun to see what I could do with this bunch after kind of a sour year, but I couldn’t pass this opportunity up,” Baldwin said.
Wulff, the Eastern head coach, was happy for Baldwin.
“It’s a great opportunity for Beau and his family,” he said. “Central hired a good coach. I’m always proud when we have coaches leave and are able to better themselves professionally. I’m very proud of our program.”
Replacing Baldwin will take a backseat to recruiting.
“I’m going to give it a little time. There’s no rush,” Wulff said. “There are a few scenarios we’re going to play through. We’re still heavy into recruiting. We want to make sure we’re solid there, then I’ll be making some phone calls.”