Former EWU, WSU head coach Paul Wulff promoted to same position at Cal Poly
College football’s coaching carousel continued to spin along the periphery of Eastern Washington on Tuesday, as Cal Poly promoted assistant Paul Wulff to head football coach.
Wulff, the former head coach at Eastern Washington and at Washington State, is replacing Beau Baldwin, another former EWU head coach. On Friday, Baldwin accepted an offer to be the offensive coordinator at Arizona State. In Cal Poly’s three seasons under Baldwin, it went 4-21 overall and 2-17 in Big Sky games.
At ASU, Baldwin is joining former WSU defensive coordinator Brian Ward, who will fill the same role for the Sun Devils under new head coach Kenny Dillingham.
For the 55-year-old Wulff, this will be his third head coaching job but first since 2011, when he was fired after going 9-40 in four seasons with the Cougars. Wulff played football at WSU as an offensive lineman from 1986 to 1989.
Wulff’s coaching career began at Eastern in 1993, and he worked there in different capacities until becoming head coach in 2000. He was much more successful with the Eagles, who went 53-40 in his eight years and reached the FCS playoffs three times with Wulff as head coach.
Baldwin, then Eastern’s offensive coordinator, succeeded Wulff heading into the 2008 season and led the Eagles to nine consecutive winning seasons – including a national title and an 85-32 overall record – before leaving to become Cal’s offensive coordinator before the 2017 season.
But Baldwin and Wulff were reunited at Cal Poly in 2020, when Baldwin, by then the Mustangs’ head coach, hired Wulff to coordinate the Mustangs’ running game and coach their offensive line.
After Northern Colorado announced Tuesday it has hired BYU assistant head coach Ed Lamb to replace Ed McCaffrey as its head coach, one such position remains open in the Big Sky, at Idaho State.
Charlie Ragle, who went 1-10 in his only season as Bengals head coach, left last week to become Arizona State’s assistant head coach and special teams coordinator.
Eastern Washington’s football staff, under sixth-year head coach Aaron Best, remains unchanged so far this offseason.
Best, a long-time Eagles’ assistant coach, succeeded Baldwin after the 2016 season.
In the 2023 football season, the Eagles are scheduled to host Cal Poly on Nov. 4 in Cheney.
Jerome joins Roberson, Weed in portal
Josh Jerome, the defensive tackle who played 44 games for Eastern Washington since the start of the 2018 season, has entered the transfer portal, according to his posts on social media.
He joins cornerback Tre Weed and wide receiver Freddie Roberson who similarly announced that they had entered the portal earlier this week. Each has one year of eligibility remaining.
Roberson, a team captain who led Eastern with 797 receiving yards and seven touchdowns during last season’s 3-8 record, has tweeted about a number of offers from other programs. Among them are offers from Washington State, Arizona State, Virginia Tech, Tulane, Hawaii and South Alabama.
Weed has posted about offers from Hawaii and Portland State. Last season, the cornerback Weed tied for the team high with three interceptions and made 30 tackles. He appeared in 47 games over the last five seasons.
As of Tuesday night, Jerome also had an offer from Hawaii, according to social media. Hawaii’s coaching staff includes Ian Shoemaker and Eti Ena, who previously were on the staff at Eastern Washington.