Earlywine gets the Birds
Kirk Earlywine is the new men’s basketball coach at Eastern Washington University.
EWU president Rudolfo Aravelo made the announcement late Thursday afternoon through a press release.
Earlywine, an associate coach at North Carolina-Wilmington, replaces Mike Burns, who was fired May 30.
“This has always been my goal and I’ve prepared myself for this for 22 years,” Earlywine said in the release. “It’s very humbling because there are only 325 NCAA Division I jobs and not everyone gets this opportunity. I’m very excited to work at a school I’m so familiar with.”
Earlywine was an assistant coach for Joe Cravens at Weber State for seven years until the staff was fired in 2006. The Indiana native and Campbell University graduate started his career in 1987 as an assistant under Rick Majerus, spending two years at Ball State and four at Utah.
“After making several rounds of reference calls, it solidified in my mind the final selection,” Aravelo said in the release. “Kirk’s experience with coach Rick Majerus and his success at Weber State, coupled with the caliber of recommendations we received, made this a great choice for Eastern.”
The school release included comments from Illinois coach Bruce Weber and former Portland State coach Heath Schroyer, who is now at Wyoming, and said Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and Utah Valley State Dick Hunsaker endorsed Earlywine.
Earlywine will sign a three-year contract at $90,000 a year with a rolling option for future years. Burns was making more than $95,000 when he was fired with two years left on his contract.
A press conference on campus at 10 a.m. today will introduce Earlywine, who left Wilmington Thursday afternoon, according to Seahawks head coach Benny Moss.
“He’s pretty excited,” said Moss, who was an assistant to Earlywine at Pfeiffer University in 1996-95, Earlywine’s only experience as a head coach. “He’s pretty good. He’ll do a great job.”
Earlywine was one of five finalists, although former San Diego coach Brad Holland pulled out last week before interviews and Washington assistant Jeff Shaw withdrew earlier in the day.
The search committee, headed by interim athletic director Michael Westfall, also interviewed Seattle Pacific head coach Jeff Hironaka and UNC-Greensboro assistant and former Boise State head coach Rod Jensen.
Earlywine left Utah to join the staff at Central Michigan in 1994, where Westfall was on the staff.
“That has absolutely nothing to do with it,” Westfall said earlier this week. “You don’t get ahead or where I’m at by hiring your friends. You have to hire the best person for the job.”
Westfall did not return calls after the school’s release.
After one season at CWU, Earlywine took the Pfeiffer job, going 21-8 and making the NCAA Division II tournament. He returned to Division I as an assistant at Wisconsin-Milwaukee for three seasons before going to Weber State.
The Wildcats won 116 games in those seven years, including a 14-0 Big Sky Conference record in 2002-03 when they beat Eastern in the conference tournament to make the NCAAs. WSU was 39-47 the next three seasons and after a 10-17 mark Cravens and his staff were fired last March.
On the Web: Check out Dave Trimmer’s EWU blog at spokesmanreview.com/blogs/