Former Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff returns to Roos Field

Ten years have passed since he left Cheney, but Paul Wulff still talks about the Eastern Washington football program in the ultimate term of endearment:

The first-person plural.

As in, “We built this program.”

And why not? Wulff ranks fourth in coaching wins in school history and was one of the architects of Eastern’s unlikely transformation into a national power at the FCS level.

If Eastern Washington ever decides to carve a football-themed Mt. Rushmore into a nearby hill, Wulff’s image would be there, alongside former head coaches Dick Zornes, Mike Kramer and Beau Baldwin.

That foursome represents 37 unbroken years of continuity, from NAIA also-ran to FCS power. Wulff was there for 16 of them.

“We tried to fight the good fight, doing more with less, and move the program forward. It was always about the people and community,” said Wulff, who went 53-40 in eight years as head coach.

This weekend in Cheney, Wulff will be on the Sacramento State sideline, coaching the offensive line and trying to help his friend and boss Jody Sears beat the juggernaut they helped build.

Best: ‘He believed in me’

Across the field will be Eastern coach Aaron Best, who barely 20 years ago was a high school kid from Tacoma trying to impress Wulff – a former center at Washington State – during one of Eastern’s summer camps.

“He believed in me. … He didn’t know me from anyone else, and by the looks of me I wouldn’t have recruited me either,” Best said.

Instead, Wulff brought Best to Cheney and turned him into an all-conference center.

“He’s a special mentor,” Best said. “He gave me my first chance of playing and coaching, and I’m forever indebted.”

Like many other coaches who started at Eastern, Wulff managed to do more with less.

He did that all his life, going from a barely recruited high school lineman in northern California to a four-year starter with the Cougars.

Toughness came naturally. Eighteen days after being hospitalized for appendicitis, he suited up for the Apple Cup. After three years of pro ball, Wulff was a grad assistant with the Eagles, living in a trailer and sharing a cubicle in Cheney with Kramer, then the Eagles’ offensive line coach.

Wulff filled Kramer’s shoes twice, as O-line coach in 1994 and head coach in 2000. He went on to win a share of two Big Sky titles and three berths in the postseason, and was conference coach of the year in 2001, 2004 and 2005.

His 53 wins at Eastern put Wulff behind only Zornes (89) Baldwin (85) and the legendary W.B. “Red” Reese (66).

Wulff succeeded despite personal tragedy. His mother Delores went missing from their rural California home when he was just 12. She was never found.

His father Carl was jailed and arraigned, but the case was eventually dismissed for lack of evidence. Carl died in 2005, estranged from his four children, Paul included.

In 2002, Wulff’s lost his wife Tammy, his sweetheart at WSU, after a five-year battle with brain cancer.

A winning formula

Giving deference to Zornes and Kramer, Wulff said they laid the groundwork of success with “evaluating people.”

“Some people misunderstand coaching – they think it’s about salesmanship” Wulff said. “No, it’s about evaluating your kids in terms of the philosophy you’re putting into the program.

“When you get them into the program, you become a mentor, and you have to get all of your assistants on the same page.”

On the field, one of the biggest moments came in Bozeman in 2005. The Eagles were 5-4 and needed two more wins to reach the playoffs. Trailing Montana State by 28 in the second half, quarterback Erik Meyer and the Eagles rallied for a 51-44 win.

“I think that was a turning point for our program,” Wulff said.

Two years later, the Eagles were back in the playoffs. The 2007 season – and Wulff’s time in Cheney – ended with a 38-35 loss at Appalachian State, the same team that made history by beating Michigan earlier that year.

While Baldwin took the EWU program even further, Wulff went on to Washington State as head coach. Fired after the 2011 season, he had stints at South Florida, Iowa State and the San Francisco 49ers.

He reunited with Sears last year at Sacramento State. His visit to Cheney will bring him full circle with Best.

“He’s been through a lot,” he said of Best. “I knew if I could get him into coaching he would be a success.”