EWU's Wolff goes to WSU

catsrback76 · Post by **catsrback76** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:46 am

Here is the story:

WSU to hire Wulff as new football coach
By Craig Smith
Seattle Times staff reporter
Related
Talk about it in the Cougars forum
Paul Wulff bio
Washington State has found its next head football coach, 70 miles up the road in Cheney.

Paul Wulff, coach of the Eastern Washington University Eagles, will be introduced at a news conference this afternoon as the new coach of the Cougars.

Wulff, 40, was an offensive lineman at WSU under coaches Jim Walden, Dennis Erickson and Mike Price from 1986-89 after redshirting in 1985. He was center on the 1988 Cougars team that upset No. 1 UCLA, beat Washington in the Apple Cup, then won the Aloha Bowl.

Wulff has been the coach at Eastern for eight seasons and has a 53-40 record. Three of his past four teams have made the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, including this year's team that finished 9-4 after losing in the national quarterfinals to defending champion Appalachian State, 38-35.

Appalachian State will play for the national title against Delaware on Friday.

Wulff has been named Big Sky Conference coach of the year three times.

Wulff was spotted at the WSU basketball game Sunday against Portland State and reportedly had been interviewed earlier in the day by WSU President Elson S. Floyd.

Wulff is the choice of WSU athletic director Jim Sterk, whose past major hires include Dick Bennett and then his son, Tony, as men's basketball coaches, June Daugherty as women's basketball coach and the promotion of Bill Doba to succeed Mike Price as football coach late in 2002.

Doba, 67, stepped down after five years as Cougars coach Nov. 26 in what was termed a "mutual decision."

Wulff was the favorite candidate of former WSU coach Jim Walden, now the color commentator for Cougars broadcasts.

"He'll be a good choice for the Cougars," Walden said Monday night.

Walden has praised Wulff's creativity, his familiarity with WSU, close relations with Washington high-school football coaches and potential to recruit in California as a California native.

Wulff grew up in Davis, Calif., and has been called "a survivor" by some admirers.

His mother disappeared when he was 12 and his father was the suspect but Wulff said there never was enough evidence to bring him to trial. Wulff was raised by relatives and an older brother after his mother disappeared.

Wulff's first wife, Tammy, a Bainbridge Island native, died of brain cancer in 2002. He has remarried and he and his wife Sherry have two young sons plus her 12-year-old daughter.

Wulff is the third WSU coach in the past 20 years to have head-coaching roots in the Big Sky Conference. Erickson's first head-coaching job was at Idaho and Price's first job was at Weber State.

Price, 61, now coach at Texas-El Paso, was interested in returning to WSU but withdrew this past weekend, citing a desire to remain at UTEP. Sterk had indicated before the Apple Cup that Price wasn't the front-runner for the job if it opened.

The Cougars are known to have interviewed Wulff, John L. Smith, 59, a former WSU defensive coordinator under Erickson who has been head coach at Idaho, Utah State, Louisville and Michigan State, and Kevin Sumlin, 43, a former WSU graduate assistant who has risen through the coaching ranks and is now co-offensive coordinator at Oklahoma.

The final decision is believed to have come down to Wulff or Smith.

Wulff is almost sure to retain some current WSU assistants on his staff but which ones he keeps remains unknown. He was teammates with current WSU assistants Timm Rosenbach, who coaches quarterbacks, and Steve Broussard, who coaches running backs."

gtfcat84 · Post by **gtfcat84** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:48 am

Looks like Kramer may have a job next year....

SteelheadBum · Post by **SteelheadBum** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:29 am

Congrats to Coach Wulff!! He is a good guy and deserves to move up. I must admit that this is surprising considering all the press regarding Coach Hauck moving up to the next level but nothing on Coach Wulff. I don't care what anyone says; moving up to the PAC 10 from the Big Sky is a huge career step. A much nicer paycheck too.

I really hope Coach Mike Kramer gets on the Coug. staff. He deserves another shot and will do a good job at WSU. Good luck, Coach K!!! GO Cats!! Cougs?!?!

remember the SCOOP! · Post by **remember the SCOOP!** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:05 am

any predictions on what this will do to the Eagles next year?

Post by **kmax** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:54 am

Very Nice!!! Happy to see Wulff get rewarded for the excellent work he has done with such poor support in Cheney. One more reason for me to pull for the Cougs.

PDXKat · Post by **PDXKat** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:22 am

Wulff will be new WSU coach
Press conference scheduled for today at 3 p.m. in Pullman
By Vince Grippi
Staff writer
December 11, 2007

PULLMAN – After a nationwide search, Washington State University found the football coach it wanted 80 miles up U.S. Highway 195.
Eastern Washington head coach Paul Wulff is the school's choice to replace Bill Doba, The Spokesman-Review has learned.
Washington State has scheduled a press conference for 3 p.m. today to make the official announcement.
"We will announce the new football coach at (today's) press conference," said Bill Stevens, WSU's director of athletic media relations, adding the school would not comment on whether Wulff was its choice.
However, sources close to the process said athletic director Jim Sterk decided upon Wulff after interviews of prospective candidates Thursday and Friday in Salt Lake City. Those candidates included former Idaho, Louisville and Michigan State coach John L. Smith and Oklahoma assistant Kevin Sumlin.
Wulff was invited to Pullman to interview with WSU President Elson S. Floyd and others Sunday and attend the WSU basketball game. Following the campus meetings, Sterk offered the position, according to the sources, and a contract was agreed upon Monday morning. Final approval of Wulff's hiring came from Floyd the same afternoon.
Though Wulff, 40, did not return calls asking for comment, sources close to the former WSU offensive lineman also confirmed the hiring.
As a player, Wulff labored from 1986 to 1989 under three of WSU's most prominent coaches: Jim Walden, Dennis Erickson and Mike Price.
After a short professional career, Wulff began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant under Dick Zornes at EWU. He has been in Cheney for 15 years, moving up the coaching ladder from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator under Mike Kramer in 1998 and then replacing Kramer in 2000 when he moved on to Montana State.

"Paul really had an idea of what he wanted to do at the twilight of his playing career, and he was willing to undergo as much hardship as it took to get into the profession," Kramer said. "For him to have come from (an unpaid coach) to this, you know, a Pac-10 head coaching job is one of the pinnacles of the profession, that's a long journey.
"When you add into all the things that have happened to him, all the people he's positively affected, I think we all join in a great chorus of people who say 'Wow, congratulations.' "

Wulff's life has been touched by tragedy, with his mother's disappearance and presumed murder when he was 12 and the death of his first wife, Tammy, from brain cancer in 2002. He has remarried, and he and his wife, Sherry, have two sons, Max, 4, and Sam, 1, along with her daughter Katie, 12.
In his eight years as head coach, the Eagles are 53-40 and have appeared in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs three of the last four seasons.
After suffering their only losing season in the Wulff era in 2006, when they posted a 3-8 record, the Eagles bounced back this year. They finished 9-4, losing a FCS quarterfinal playoff game 38-35 to two-time defending champion Appalachian State, which will play in the finals Friday.
WSU's decision to hire Wulff comes just days prior to an NCAA-mandated recruiting dead period for high school students. Such a period means there can be no contact with recruits from Dec. 17 through Jan. 3. Recruits are allowed on campus the first two weekends of January, but all other days are off-limits until Jan. 13.
Wulff will be 31st head coach in the school's history and the first to lead his alma mater since Phil Sarboe, who coached the Cougars from 1945-49.
He also continues a recent tradition of Big Sky Conference coaches moving on to Washington State, following Erickson, who coached at Idaho before spending a year at the University of Wyoming, and Price, who came to WSU from Weber State.

Hopefully coach Wulff rewards his old coach and Krames gets another job. Will WSU have a roll punter next year?

GFCatFan · Post by **GFCatFan** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:50 am

Wulff is a great coach. I'm glad we don't have to go against him next year. How about Coach Kramer back at EWU?

bobcatbob · Post by **bobcatbob** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:07 am

What'sthe chances of McEndoo going as an assistant to the Cougars? That's his alma mater!

crazycat · Post by **crazycat** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:09 am

Great comment from Kramer. One of the reasons so many of us miss him. Hopefully something will break his way soon.

bobcatbob · Post by **bobcatbob** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:46 am

Wulff is a class act and has really earned this prmotion to WSU. He has done a tremendous job at EWU. That's one team that has dominated us over the past few years. Congratualtions!!

bozechiro · Post by **bozechiro** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:36 pm

Hopefully that means that the cats can finally beat EWU. Just as MSU had a drop-off with a new coach, EWU probably will too. This will help MSU because it looked like EWU was the team to beat heading into next season.

AGRBobcat · Post by **AGRBobcat** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:04 pm

Maybe Eastern Washington will get reaquainted with Kramer and make him the new head coach. I could see it happening. What are your thoughts?

bozechiro · Post by **bozechiro** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:31 pm

I just dont see Kramer back at EWU. More likely an assistant to Wulff at WSU.

wasacatfan · Post by **wasacatfan** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:04 pm

I for one would like to see Kramer get a shot at EWU or with Wulff. He deserves it!

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:28 pm

wasacatfan wrote:I for one would like to see Kramer get a shot at EWU or with Wulff. He deserves it!

I'm with ya, we'll have to see how it all plays out.

Go Cats!!!

AGRBobcat · Post by **AGRBobcat** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:31 pm

I think it is a good fit. I think Kramer is going to struggle finding a job unless he goes to a school that knows him and understands him. I liked Mike, but I don't think anyone can say that there were not some issues of concern when his MSU stint was over. Not just everyone is going to gamble on that. As the Kramer conversation came up this fall, I heard the comparison to a used car salesman come up a lot. I would like to see him do what he loves doing, I just think his options for a second chance as a head coach are limited.

94VegasCat · Post by **94VegasCat** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:30 am

Kramer took care of Wulff in the past, let's hope that Wulff will return the favor to his long time friend.

GrizinWashington · Post by **GrizinWashington** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:08 am

I'm too lazy to research it; does anyone know if Wulff brought with him his O-Line coach from Eastern?

GOKATS · Post by **GOKATS** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:56 am

GrizinWashington wrote:I'm too lazy to research it; does anyone know if Wulff brought with him his O-Line coach from Eastern?

This was as of yestrday.

The Spokesman-Review has confirmed through conversations with multiple sources, that Wulff will take five of his Eastern assistants – including offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy and defensive coordinator Jody Sears – with him to Pullman.

In addition, defensive tackles coach Malik Roberson, linebackers coach Travis Niekamp and tight ends coach Rich Rasmussen will become members of Wulff’s staff at WSU.

HelenaCat95 · Post by **HelenaCat95** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 11:58 am

GOKATS wrote:
GrizinWashington wrote:I'm too lazy to research it; does anyone know if Wulff brought with him his O-Line coach from Eastern?
This was as of yestrday.

The Spokesman-Review has confirmed through conversations with multiple sources, that Wulff will take five of his Eastern assistants – including offensive coordinator Todd Sturdy and defensive coordinator Jody Sears – with him to Pullman.

In addition, defensive tackles coach Malik Roberson, linebackers coach Travis Niekamp and tight ends coach Rich Rasmussen will become members of Wulff’s staff at WSU.

Wasn't Kramer an O-Line coach earlier in his career?
Is that what you were hinting at?

EWU's Wolff goes to WSU

EWU's Wolff goes to WSU

Another article - quotes from Kramer