Fast Break

College football

Bennett named Central coach

Central Washington University on Friday named Blaine Bennett as its head football coach.

Bennett, 43, son of former Ellensburg High School and Whitworth College head coach Blaine “Shorty” Bennett, replaces Beau Baldwin, who resigned this month to become head coach at Eastern Washington.

Terms of Bennett’s contract were not immediately available.

Bennett most recently was coach at Lafayette Jefferson, Ind., High School after serving as an assistant coach at Michigan State and Purdue the past seven years. Before that, he was head football coach at Western Oregon University.

Bennett, who earned a master’s degree in physical education from Washington State in 1990, was one of three finalists who interviewed for the job. The others were former CWU player and assistant coach and current Missouri tight ends coach Bruce Walker, and former Washington State assistant Timm Rosenbach.

Bennett spent nine seasons at Western Oregon., including six as head coach, finishing with a 27-32 record from 1995-2000. He also was an assistant at Idaho and Chico State, and a graduate assistant at Washington.

Bennett graduated from Walla Walla High School in 1983 and was a one-year starter at the University of Idaho, then started two years at quarterback for his father at Whitworth College in Spokane.

Soccer

GU’s Josten 20th pick in MLS

Gonzaga University senior forward George Josten has become the second Bulldog drafted in the history of Major League Soccer, going in the second round as the 20th pick overall to the Columbus Crew in the MLS SuperDraft.

Josten joins 2001 second-round draft pick Brian Ching as the only Bulldogs to be drafted. Ching was drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy, played for the San Jose Earthquakes and plays for the Houston Dynamo.

Josten was the second player from the West Coast Conference selected in the draft. San Francisco’s Rob Valentino was taken as the 13th selection of the first round by the New England Revolution.

The Idaho Falls, Idaho, native is in Baltimore to receive the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Men’s Soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year award at today’s awards luncheon.

Josten was a three-time All-West Coast Conference selection, a three-time NSCAA/adidas All-Far West Region selection and was a NSCAA/adidas third-team All-America selection this past season, the first All-America honor in Gonzaga soccer history. He is the first Gonzaga player to earn NSCAA/adidas Scholar Athlete of the Year honors, maintaining a 3.83 GPA in mechanical engineering.

He closed his career ranked third in school history in career goals (34) and assists (17) and fourth in career points (85).