Wulff works wonders

Having been presumptuous enough to tell Washington State who its next football coach shouldn’t be, suggesting who it should be is probably pushing it.

So this isn’t that.

But it is about Paul Wulff – obviously a prominent name in that derby – and the odd sense of underappreciation for his achievements in his current job at Eastern Washington University, even as the Eagles continue their third appearance in four years in the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision playoffs this Saturday at Appalachian State.

This is no bulletin to that hearty knot of Eastern zealots who think everything about the school is unappreciated. Of course, the fact that attendance this playoff season dropped by nearly 2,000 people per game from a year ago does seem to blunt the notion of a public clamoring for Eagle details.

But then, that also speaks to this startling indifference to Wulff’s success – on a public level, but curiously from the school itself, too.

Some of it, naturally, is the company that Eastern keeps. That a school 220 miles east has won outright or shared the last 10 Big Sky Conference championships tends to dull the acclaim for any other program, even one as admirably consistent as Eastern. In a bottom-line – or rather, top-line – endeavor, no one is going to indulge much in relativism or mitigations.

Except maybe other coaches.

“It’s because he does it too easily, in a way,” offered Jim Walden, by way of explaining Wulff’s lack of renown.

Walden, you probably have heard by now, is championing Wulff loud and fast – the only way he knows how – for the Wazzu position. That’s not surprising – he recruited Wulff to play there, and has followed his Eastern accomplishments closely. But Walden can file his recommendations to the WSU search committee himself.

“To me this is the most impressive thing he’s done,” Walden said. “He had a great team with a senior quarterback (Erik Meyer). Now you go through a down year doing what you’ve been doing, with new players, a brand new quarterback. So this year he does something new. They go to a no-huddle spread, which is a modern-day concept. He’s 9-3 with a sophomore quarterback who’s the player of the year.

“I love a curious coach. He saw the need to do something different. He didn’t have to change every pass route, but he thought, ‘What can we do to dictate to the defense?’ That’s what offenses are all about. It’s what Oregon and West Virginia do. That was my biggest argument with the Cougars the last couple of years – I never felt they were dictating to the best defenses, they were only beating up the bad ones.”

But neither is it all about offense, either.

Ron McBride’s Weber State team absorbed a 38-16 drubbing in Cheney, and came away impressed by EWU’s defensive preparation and technique.

“They’re always in the right gap,” he said. “They know exactly what coverage they’re in and how to play it. When you look at film, you look to see where you can attack a guy, if he doesn’t slant correctly or scrape correctly, if there’s a crease to attack. They don’t leave a gap exposed, which means you’re physically going to have to knock them off the ball, and that’s a harder way to win.”

So … flexible, innovative, fundamental. Anything else? Well, this Eastern team won three Big Sky games and a first-round playoff game on the road.

“Every time I hear how hard it is to win on the road, I go back to 1997 and Jim Tressel at Youngstown State,” said Wulff’s EWU predecessor, Mike Kramer. “They played the entire run on the road all the way to a national championship. And the hallmark of any Paul Wulff team is not the offense numbers or defensive ability – it’s always been mental toughness.”

No discussion of Eastern football is complete without touching on bang for the buck. The program’s budget is not the lowest in the Big Sky – $1.75 million – but it is just more than half of what is spent at Montana, and considerably less than four other schools who in the last four years have exactly one playoff appearance among them.

Penury comes at a price, if you will. Last year, Wulff was obliged to play two BCS teams – Oregon State and West Virginia – with an overmatched young team for the financial guarantees they would make. Now there’s talk that it’ll happen again in 2008 – Eastern needing the cash to help pay off the press box and suite project at Woodward Field.

“We’re still trying to complete the schedule,” athletic director Bill Chaves said, “but I’m not going to rule anything out.”

That’s a psychological and competitive nightmare for an FCS coach, especially in the Big Sky, where Montana’s dominance has made it harder to get an automatic berth to the playoffs – and where more than three losses might keep you out. If the Eagles are again poised for a playoff run – and they should be – that’s hardly a fair concession.

“Paul has been part of a great continuum,” said Kramer, “of guys who understood what it took to be a success at Eastern – in Paul’s case understanding his resources, understanding his strengths and applying his strengths.”

In time – this year or another – that will be recognized more widely. At Eastern, that seems to be viewed as an inevitability.

“If there are opportunities in life,” Chaves noted, “it’s the individual who has to weigh those.”

Paul Wulff will understand that, too.