EWU notebook: Marc Anderson to take over as offensive coordinator; Michael Wortham transfers to rival Montana

In his 14 seasons at Eastern Washington, Marc Anderson’s job description has included six official roles.
On Thursday, he officially added another two: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
“When you’re a video student assistant, you never really think you’re going to be the coordinator of the offense at some point,” Anderson said. “It means a ton. It’s special to me.”

The move is a promotion for Anderson, who will no longer be the tight ends coach. That role he handed off to Austin York, who played the position at Eastern for each of the past three seasons.
But Anderson will still retain the title of associate head coach, a role he first assumed in 2022. An EWU graduate, Anderson first joined the football program as a student intern and at various times since has been the director of football operations, recruiting coordinator and pass game coordinator.
Anderson said “there’s a lot of work to be done” and that his “flavor” as a coordinator will come out over time.
For now, he said, it’s been a rush, meeting with players and helping head coach Aaron Best fill out an offensive coaching staff that lost coordinator Jim Chapin (who also coached EWU’s quarterbacks) and offensive line coach Hayden Mace to the same positions at Central Michigan, and wide receivers coach Jeff McDaniels to Cal, where McDaniels will be an offensive assistant coach. Special teams coordinator Danny McDonald is also no longer on the staff.
Replacements for McDaniels’ and McDonald’s spots on the coaching staff have not been announced.
Anderson said that when he and Best met about hiring a new tight ends coach, they almost said York’s name at the same time.
“(I admire) how he thinks about the game and how beyond his years he is,” Anderson said of York. “I leaned on him in the tight end room. He is a guy I trust a ton … we’re super fortunate to have him with us.”
Chad Germer is Eastern’s new offensive line coach. The most recent of Germer’s 29 years of coaching experience came at Montana State University-Northern, where he was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach.
Germer has also coached the offensive line at Montana, Wyoming and UNLV and was an All-America center at Montana in 1991.
“We’re so fired up about coach Germer,” Anderson said. “He’s been in the region for a long time, and he’s done it at a high level in our conference.”
Eastern Washington’s offense averaged 444.2 yards per game last season, sixth most in the FCS.
Wortham chooses EWU rival
Two more former Eastern Washington players recently found new homes via the transfer portal this offseason. Most notably, all-purpose player Michael Wortham announced he is using his extra season of eligibility to play at Big Sky rival Montana.
“Let the games begin,” Wortham posted on X. “Some (will) hate it but my family comes first, #gogriz.”
Wortham was a second-team All-America selection by Stats Perform as an all-purpose player. He set an EWU single-season record with 1,093 kickoff return yards in 2024. He also ran for 313 yards, caught 25 passes for 209 yards and scored seven touchdowns while throwing for two scores.
A senior last season, Wortham appeared to be out of eligibility. But in December, the NCAA granted another year to players in a situation like Wortham’s, who previously played at a junior college and exhausted four years of eligibility in 2024-25.
Eastern is scheduled to play at Montana this season on Nov. 8.
Running back Tuna Altahir also announced his intentions to transfer to Stanford with one year of eligibility remaining. Altahir played 36 games for the Eagles during the past four seasons, redshirting with two games played in 2021. He ran for 1,702 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Eagles.
His departure leaves the Eagles with four running backs on their roster: fifth-year senior Malik Dotson, redshirt juniors Talon Betts and Marceese Yetts, and redshirt freshman Kevin Allen III.
Eagles fill nonconference schedules for 2026, 2027
Eastern also announced home-and-home matchups with South Dakota in 2026 and 2027, rounding out its nonconference schedules for each of the next three football seasons.
This fall, the Eagles will open at Incarnate Word on Aug. 30 before playing at Boise State (Sept. 6) and at Northern Iowa (Sept. 13). They will play their first home game – and the last of four nonconference games – on Sept. 20 against Western Illinois.
Their home schedule in 2025 includes Big Sky games against Portland State, Idaho, Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, as well as road games at Montana State, Weber State, Montana and Cal Poly.
In 2026, when the calendar allows for three nonconference games, the Eagles will host Northern Iowa and visit South Dakota and Washington.
In 2027, they will have two home games against FCS schools South Dakota and Incarnate Word, as well as a road game at Oregon.