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Eastern Washington University Football

Eastern football staff complete with hire of North Dakota running backs coach Maurice

New Eastern Washington running backs coach Kevin Maurice. (University of North Dakota)
By Jim Allen jima@spokesman.com

Two months after the departure of football coach Beau Baldwin and several of his assistants, Eastern Washington’s staff is whole again.

The last piece of the puzzle is new running backs coach Kevin Maurice, who spent the last three years at Big Sky Conference rival North Dakota.

While in Grand Forks, Maurice coached one of the top running games in the conference. However, he believes that it’s a step up to go to Cheney.

“It means a lot to me because historically Eastern has been really successful at a national level,” Maurice said. “To be part of the football program at Eastern is justifiable in my career and I’m here to accept the challenge.”

Part of that challenge will be to instill a more balanced offense, something new coach Aaron Best promised when he was named in January to succeed Beau Baldwin.

Last year the Eagles passed the ball 620 times and ran on 442 plays. However, 134 of those were on keepers by quarterback Gage Gubrud; the Eastern running backs combined only 58 carries and 1,083 net yards.

Meanwhile, North Dakota shared the Big Sky title with Eastern by keeping the ball on the ground; the Fighting Hawks ran the ball 546 times (for 2,501 yards) and passed it 293 times.

“He’s been a part of some very successful programs and teams,” Best added. “The production of his running backs has been top-notch and has been witnessed by our staff for the past three years. “

Maurice, 34, also coached All-America running back John Santiago, a first-team all-conference back in the last two years.

Santiago began fall camp in 2015 playing wide receiver, but by the end of the campaign was an All-America running back.

He set UND Division I records for rushing yards (1,459) and rushing touchdowns (16), and broke a single-season program record for all-purpose yards, finishing with 2,159.

Maurice native played collegiately at UTEP for two seasons in 2003 and 2004 and finished his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at St. Joseph’s (Ind.) College in 2006.