Baldwin next EWU coach

Less than 12 hours after being snubbed by Jim McElwain, Eastern Washington has hired Central Washington’s Beau Baldwin as its next head football coach.

A source within the EWU athletic department confirmed late Thursday night that Baldwin had met with Eagles athletic director Bill Chaves and accepted the job.

The source said it was likely the school would make the official announcement today.

Baldwin was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Paul Wulff for four seasons before taking over the CWU program this past fall. Wulff was hired as Washington State’s head coach last month.

Baldwin did not return messages left on his cell phone earlier Thursday.

When McElwain, the Fresno State offensive coordinator, was first contacted about the possibility of becoming Eastern Washington’s next head football coach, he told Chaves that even if he wasn’t offered the job he would still do whatever he could to make sure his alma mater hired the right guy.

But Thursday morning, after being offered the chance to take over the Eagles’ football program he had once been a part of for almost 15 years, McElwain said no, forcing Chaves to look elsewhere to replace Wulff.

“It’s just something that’s not going to work right now,” McElwain, 45, said after meeting with Chaves for a second time and then rejecting the contract he was offered. “Maybe at a different time … but at this point of my career and this stage of my life, it’s not the right fit.”

McElwain, who earned two letters as a backup quarterback for Eastern and later spent 12 years as an Eagles assistant under Dick Zornes and Mike Kramer, refused to go into specifics about what prompted his decision.

But prior to meeting with Chaves and EWU president Dr. Rodolfo Arevalo on Wednesday he had expressed concerns about whether the move from Fresno would make financial sense for himself and the assistant coaches he might want to hire.

Wulff, who left after eight seasons as the Eagles’ head coach to take over at his alma mater, WSU, was making a base salary of $103,000 at Eastern, and his assistants – five of which he took with him to Pullman – were thought to be the lowest paid in the Big Sky Conference.

McElwain’s salary as the offensive coordinator at Fresno could not be immediately verified, but sources close to the college coaching scene said it is probably between $135,000 and $150,000 a year.

Chaves, who has stood firmly by his word to not comment on the job search until after a new coach is hired, did not return a message left on his office phone Thursday afternoon.

But McElwain said, after meeting with Chaves and Arevalo, he feels “more strongly than ever” that his alma mater is “headed in the right direction.”

“I was greatly impressed with both of them,” he added. “And I can tell you, as a person who still bleeds Eagle red, that the program is in good hands.

“I’m confident the two guys making the (coaching) call will do what’s right for the university.”