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Eastern Washington University Football

Eastern Washington interim OC Pat McCann added to Fresno State’s staff

Eastern Washington interim offensive coordinator Pat McCann, standing, is leaving to become the wide receivers coach at Fresno State University. (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)
By Dan Thompson For The Spokesman-Review

Pat McCann, Eastern Washington football’s interim offensive coordinator, has accepted a position on the Fresno State coaching staff, a move that was announced Thursday.

McCann will be the Bulldogs’ wide receivers coach under head coach Jeff Tedford, who earlier this month began his second stint as Fresno State’s head coach.

“Leaving Eastern Washington and passing up that opportunity to have the full-time (OC position) is tough,” McCann said, “but at the same time, overall in the grand scheme, this is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

This will be McCann’s first stint at an FBS program in his 13-year coaching career. Before his time at Eastern, McCann was an assistant at FCS programs Northern Iowa and UC Davis.

After first joining the Eastern staff as wide receivers coach in 2019, McCann was promoted to interim offensive coordinator in November when Ian Shoemaker resigned from that position. The Eagles led the FCS in total offense this season at 554.5 yards per game. With McCann as OC, the Eagles went 3-1.

McCann is already familiar with California, as among his recruiting areas for the Eagles was the stretch of the state from Sacramento to Fresno to Bakersfield.

Following Eastern’s just-completed 10-3 season, three of its receivers were named to HERO Sports FCS All-America teams, including Efton Chism III (all-freshman team), Freddie Roberson (all-sophomore team) and Talolo Limu-Jones (third-team offense).

“The opportunity at Fresno was created by what we were able to accomplish these last three years (at Eastern),” McCann said. “I’m incredibly grateful to (Eagles head) coach (Aaron) Best for multiple opportunities at Eastern. The players are incredible: really talented and unbelievable off the field, too. The hardest part is leaving the personal relationships with the players and with coach Best.”

The Eagles are without an offensive coordinator, receivers coach and quarterbacks coach.

Eastern Washington is scheduled to play at Fresno State during the 2023 season.

Recruiting update

Since originally announcing their early signings on Dec. 15, the Eagles have added three more football recruits, including two transfers.

Among them is senior linebacker Lamin Touray, who played at Nevada after graduating from Bishop Alemany High School in California in 2017. That’s the same school as Eagles safety Ely Doyle, who graduated from high school a year later.

Touray played in 11 games for Nevada last season and had 14 tackles as well as a fumble recovery. He provides the Eagles with an upperclassman at linebacker, a position from which the Eagles graduated their top four players from last season.

Offensive lineman Seth Carnahan also signed with the Eagles as a transfer from Idaho with two years of eligibility remaining. The Sumner (Washington) High graduate played in eight games for the Vandals last season, including the Oct. 16 game between Eastern and Idaho in Cheney.

The Eagles also officially signed Rainier Beach (Seattle) High School senior Jaelin Green, a 6-foot-5 receiver listed as a three-star recruit by 247Sports.com.

Yet to officially sign is Graham-Kapowsin quarterback Joshua Wood, who was named the 2021 MaxPreps Washington High School Football Player of the Year and led his team to a 14-0 record and State 4A championship this fall. He orally committed to Eastern in October, before the departures of Shoemaker and McCann.