At the crossroads: EWU football showed gains in 2024, but are Eagles trending up or treading water?
Eastern Washington has been part of the Big Sky Conference in football for 39 seasons, and throughout that nearly four-decade history the Eagles have consistently been one of the conference’s better programs.
During the tenures of five head coaches, all but one – the first, Dick Zornes – has a winning record in Big Sky games, and even Zornes’ was just under .500 (26-28).
All five of them won at least one Big Sky championship and reached the playoffs. Under Mike Kramer (24-22 in the Big Sky), Paul Wulff (32-24) and Beau Baldwin (58-14), the Eagles progressively climbed to a perch atop the conference that peaked in a national championship following the 2010 season. No Big Sky team has won a national FCS title since.
In that company, Aaron Best’s eight-year tenure fits right in: The Eagles are 39-24 in Big Sky play with Best as head coach, they’ve won the Big Sky once and finished among the top three spots in the conference standings four other times. At the pinnacle, Best guided EWU to the FCS championship game in the 2018 season, a 38-24 loss to North Dakota State.
But over the past three seasons, the Eagles have fit more into the nebulous middle of the standings, with finishes of 2-6, 3-5 and, following a Nov. 23 season-ending loss to Northern Arizona, 3-5 again. It’s the same record held by Idaho State, Weber State and Portland State, good enough for a sixth-place tie in the Big Sky standings.
Best received the vote of confidence from EWU athletics director Tim Collins last week. Best is also under contract through the 2027 season.
According to a copy of the contract obtained by The Spokesman-Review through a public record’s request, Best signed his most recent contract in June 2021, canceling and superseding a previous contract he signed in February 2019 that ran for five years, through February 2024. The terms of this new deal continued until February 2026, making it a five-season contract that ran through the 2025 football season.
But the contract also contains an automatic rollover extension clause that is activated each February. That occurred in February 2022 and again in February 2023, Collins said. Collins replaced retiring athletics director Lynn Hickey in summer 2023.
Collins said he gave written notice, per the parameters of the contract, to end the rollover clause following Eastern’s 2023 season, giving the current contract a termination date of Feb. 28, 2028.
Collins could still choose to terminate Best’s contract earlier, but it would require payment of one year’s salary ($232,357) plus payment for unused vacation time.
Collins said last week that no one is “more Eastern” than Best, who has been with the program as a player and coach for every season but one since 1996. Over the past three seasons, though, the Eagles have won fewer Big Sky games than they have during any stretch since going 7-15 during Kramer’s first three seasons as head coach, from 1994 to 1996.
Still, the 2024 Eagles were more competitive than previous years and boasted one of the best offenses – and in some aspects, special teams – in the FCS while again fielding one of the subdivision’s worst defenses.
Here, then, is a look back and a look forward at each of those groupings as the Eagles enter the offseason and prepare for 2025.
Offense
All-Big Sky selections: WR Efton Chism III (first team), OL Wyatt Hansen (first team), All-purpose Michael Wortham (first team), FB Austin York (second team), TE Jett Carpenter (honorable mention), OL Jack Seelye (honorable mention), OL Luke Dahlgren (honorable mention)
The takeaway: The offense is in good hands with Jim Chapin.
Eastern’s history of producing great quarterbacks and receivers has given it a reputation as a pass-happy offense, but in many of its best years it has also churned out plenty of yards on the ground. This year, the Eagles ran for 2,752 yards, second in the Big Sky behind Montana State (3,815) and fifth most nationally (MSU ranked first).
What was unusual about Eastern’s rushing game was that it featured five players who finished with at least 300 rushing yards – but no more than Tuna Altahir’s 718. That’s a credit to third-year offensive coordinator Chapin, Best said.
“He uses his personnel better probably than anybody I’ve been around,” Best said. “We were down a couple receivers (Nolan Ulm and Miles Williams), so we had to pivot midseason, and we didn’t skip a beat. We gained a beat.”
Not to be overlooked: Chism still set a program record with 120 receptions despite defenses knowing the Eagles were going to target him on almost every other play.
The question: How do the Eagles replace this offensive line?
Unquestionably, this was Eastern’s best year of offensive line play in at least the last three, and it is probably no wonder why. The Eagles started four seniors – Hansen, Dahlgren, Seelye and Brendan Rivera – every game, and their right tackle spot was held about half the time by Matthew Hewa Baddege, another senior.
Replacing them becomes the question. Following the depth chart, the tackle spots would be filled by Dylan Conner and Noah Stewart, both of whom played in multiple games this year (Conner was injured for half the season). But the inside spots are less certain, mostly because Dahlgren, Seelye and Rivera remained healthy enough to play all year.
Defense
All-Big Sky selections: DT Matthew Brown (second team), S Derek Ganter Jr. (second team), DaJean Wells (honorable mention)
The takeaway: The secondary is talented but raw in spots.
In the loss to NAU, redshirt freshmen cornerbacks Jonathan Landry and Zion Jones played more than they had at any point this season, largely due to the absence of starting cornerback Wells (who is expected to return next season). The Lumberjacks particularly tried to exploit Landry, who made his share of good defensive plays but was also beaten by a few deep passes.
Still, the Eagles like the talent they have in the secondary, with good reason. Redshirt freshman safety Ganter led the Eagles with 95 tackles. Safeties McKel Broussard, Kentrell Williams Jr. and Armani Orange still have at least another year of eligibility remaining. The one spot they will need a replacement is at nickelback, where senior Cage Schenck was the primary player over his 53-game career.
The question: How do they get more pressure on the quarterback?
For the third year in a row, Eastern’s sack leader had fewer than six (Brock Harrison had four) and as a team it finished with 14, the fourth fewest in the conference (Montana, UC Davis and NAU each had 24 to lead the Big Sky).
The Eagles finished among the bottom five of the nation’s 123 FCS teams in total defense (476 yards per game, 119th), third-down conversions allowed (53.7%, 123rd) and first downs allowed (293, 119th).
That didn’t quite translate into as many points against – the Eagles ranked 112th nationally in that category, allowing 36.2 points per game – but even their offense could not always make up for that.
Much of the struggles came down to allowing quarterbacks too much time to throw or scramble. It’s something the Eagles will likely try to address in the transfer portal as they also look to count on some players like Samarai Anderson, Tylin Jackson and Dishawn Misa who saw more time as redshirt freshmen.
Special teams
All-Big Sky selection: KR Michael Wortham (second team)
The takeaway: It’s a good idea to have a special teams coordinator.
Danny McDonald was brought in this season to give the Eagles one voice for all their special teams units, and for the most part it was a good year for them. They led the conference in kickoff return average (26.2 yards) and were one of three Big Sky teams to return a kickoff for a touchdown. Wortham set a single-season program record with 1,093 return yards and also led the FCS in that category.
They also finished fifth in the Big Sky in kickoff average and avoided making any damaging mistakes in the punting and place-kicking game.
The question: Can they maximize their personnel?
Junior punter Landon Ogles was good but not great, averaging 42.4 net yards per punt, seventh in the conference. Even with Chism fielding punts, they still finished with just 67 punt return yards, third fewest in the conference. And in kicking field goals, the combo of Soren McKee and Jackson Cleaver made just 8 of 12 kicks all season. All but two other Big Sky teams made at least 11 field goals.
Cleaver, Chism and Wortham will all be gone, but McKee and Ogles are expected back. How well the Eagles can replace and coach up this unit – to maintain its performance on kickoffs and improve it elsewhere – is something to watch heading into spring ball and the 2025 season opener at Incarnate Word on Aug. 30.