Eastern Washington football loses two defensive coaches, hires Greg Hardin as wide receivers coach
The Eastern Washington football coaching staff is certainly going to look much different this fall than it did last year.
In the past week, two defensive coaches have left the program and one offensive coach has joined .
The latest departure is Allen Brown, the Eagles’ cornerbacks coach since 2019. Brown announced Thursday on Twitter his gratitude for his time in Cheney, where he also played from 2009 to 2013.
“To the whole team, my energy always gon’ be on 10,” Brown wrote. “I hope I’ve impacted you guys in a positive light. Keep the tradition alive, win and have fun!”
Safety Calin Criner was one of many Eastern players who took to Twitter to share his appreciation for Brown, who played cornerback for the Eagles from 2009 to 2013 and spent the following year with the program as a strength and conditioning intern.
“I thank you Coach,” Criner wrote, “not only for your ability to get the best out of us as players, but for your guidance, mentorship, friendship and invaluable lessons of life.”
The departure of Brown – whose tweet did not mention whether he had a new coaching job – comes one week after defensive coordinator Eti Ena left his position at Eastern to become the defensive line coach at Hawaii. Ena retweeted a post by the Hawaii Football account that welcomed him to the program.
On the Rainbow Warriors staff, Ena will join former EWU offensive coordinator Ian Shoemaker, who resigned in November. Shoemaker is the OC and quarterbacks coach for Hawaii under new head coach Timmy Chang, who was hired there in January.
Eastern has not announced replacements for Ena or Brown, or how their duties would be otherwise absorbed.
But the offensive staff seems to now be settled as of Monday, when the Eagles hired Greg Hardin to coach the team’s wide receivers.
Hardin coached most recently at Oregon State, where he was a graduate assistant. Before that, Hardin coached wide receivers at Robert Morris University and Millersville University. Both of those schools are in Pennsylvania.
As a player, Hardin was a Big Sky first-team receiver in 2012 and 2013 at the University of North Dakota. He holds the Big Sky’s single-game receiving record with 333 yards (on 12 receptions) in a 40-34 victory over Montana in 2012.
On Jan. 19, the Eagles announced they hired Jim Chapin as the team’s new offensive coordinator, a position held on an interim basis by wide receivers Pat McCann since Shoemaker’s departure.
The Eagles went 3-1 with McCann as the interim coordinator, including one victory in the FCS playoffs.
McCann left the program in December to become the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Fresno State.