Eastern Washington assistant coach Zach Bruce promoted to defensive coordinator
Every year since Zach Bruce first returned to Cheney as a football coach in 2020, he’s added a title or a duty to his responsibilities.
And on Friday, when the role of defensive coordinator became his latest – and most prominent – new title, Bruce noted the symmetry between his coaching career and his decorated playing career at Eastern Washington from 2012 to 2016.
“It really mirrored my playing career, coming in as a walk-on, having to pay for school, and by the end of it I’m a captain and a full-scholarship player,” he said. “It just took one more year this time.”
Bruce, who has coached Eastern’s safeties each of the last six seasons while also filling at various times the roles of recruiting coordinator, special teams coach and defensive pass game coordinator, will now lead a defensive staff for the first time in his college coaching career.
“We have really good players on our roster right now, and we have 10 legit starters (returning) on defense,” Bruce said. “We’ve got all-league caliber players.”
Bruce is replacing Eric Sanders, who left last week to take the defensive coordinator position at Montana. Sanders had been with the program for three years, two of which as coordinator.
The promotion still leaves the Eagles in need of three coaches, after defensive line coach Jaylen Johnson and cornerbacks coach Wes Nurse left to join Sanders on the Grizzlies staff.
But it does solidify the Eagles’ top defensive coaching spot. Bruce is the team’s second-longest tenured assistant, second only to offensive coordinator Marc Anderson, who has been at Eastern since 2014.
Aaron Best is entering his 10th season as Eastern’s head coach, but he was an assistant with the Eagles when Bruce was a player with the program from 2012 to 2016. Bruce coached at Mead High School in 2017 and 2018 before spending a couple of seasons in Helsinki, Finland.
Since joining the Eagles staff, Bruce has coached four All-Big Sky selections at safety, including first-team players Anthany Smith (2020-21 spring season) and Jaylon Jenkins (2025).
Bruce said many alumni have reached out to congratulate him and that he plans to develop the connections between former and current players.
He also expressed confidence in the direction of a defense that last season showed significant improvements over the previous three years. Eastern finished 5-7 overall and 4-4 in Big Sky Conference play last season, each their best records since 2021.
“Since coach Sanders took over, we started building a good foundation of what the right kind of work looks like,” Bruce said. “… I don’t think we’ll be too much different tactically. If anything it’s going to be a lot simpler. I want that balance of being simple and letting the kids play free and giving them the opportunity to feel the game out and go make plays.”