In brief: Kramer selected to coach Bengals

College football: Former Montana State and Eastern Washington coach Mike Kramer is making his third stop in the Big Sky Conference.

Kramer was named the 25th head coach at Idaho State, athletic director Jeff Tingey announced Monday.

“We are excited to have Mike Kramer join our athletic department,” Tingey said. “He is one of the most successful coaches in Big Sky football history. He has proven himself on the field of competition and he is a coach who is very charismatic.”

Kramer takes over for John Zamberlin, who was fired last week after four seasons.

During a press conference announcing his hiring, Kramer promised an upbeat, fast-paced offense, a dominating defense and a high graduation rate.

Kramer coached at Eastern Washington from 1994-99 and at Montana State from 2000-06. He led EWU to its first Big Sky football title in 1997, while MSU shared the crown under him in 2002, 2003 and 2005.

He has been out of coaching for the past four seasons after being fired by Montana State in the spring of 2007.

Kramer filed a lawsuit against MSU and settled for $240,000 last August, with neither side admitting fault. This season, Kramer is a football operations assistant at WSU.

Kramer is a native of Colton, Wash., and played football at Idaho, where he graduated in 1977.

Associated Press

Sherritt wins Big Sky award

College football: Eastern Washington senior linebacker J.C. Sherritt has been selected the Big Sky Conference defensive player of the week for the third time this season and the fifth time in his career for his performance in EWU’s 34-7 victory over Idaho State on Saturday.

Sherritt, a Pullman High grad, led the Eagles with eight tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass break-up against ISU. Sherritt needs just 19 tackles to break the school career tackles record of 399.