‘It hurts more … as an alum’: After two straight losing seasons, coach Aaron Best looks to ignite an Eastern Washington football resurgence

Late afternoon heats into one of those blistering triple-digit early evenings in eastern Washington. Carrying smoke from a wildfire, the breeze feels like an acetylene torch.

It’s mid-July in Cheney, and those with sense are at a lake or within arm’s reach of unlimited cold beverages.

But in a small, windowless office on the Eastern Washington campus, Aaron Best is grinding. It’s what he does.

And toward the end of this day, he makes time for an interview, even though he has to know that the guy with the notebook and tape recorder is going to ask him why the EWU football team, with such a proud tradition of success in the FCS ranks, has won only seven of 22 games in the last two seasons.

After some chitchat, the question is posed delicately, as if merely out of mild curiosity. Does he have any “theories” on the causes for the dipping win totals?

“ ‘Theories’ can be disguised as excuses,” Best said, then pre-empted a logical follow-up. “(And) if you were to ask me what has to be fixed, then some would say, ‘Why didn’t you fix it while it was going on?’ “

An uncomfortable coaching conundrum, to be sure. To elaborate on problems might come across as affixing blame, and to outline solutions amounts to empty words until evidence is displayed.

So, as Best heads into his eighth season as EWU head coach, here’s a point that is real and relevant and indisputable: Nobody wants the Eagles to have football success more fervently than head coach Aaron Best.

And witnessed by the sight of the coach laboring in his bunker-like office deep into a mid-summer day, it becomes obvious that Best is giving EWU everything he has.

Everything except excuses. He doesn’t go there.

He believes that his Eagle forebearers and brethren deserve that level of utmost effort.

“I try to make those guys proud,” he said. “You want to do it every second of every day.”

Best, 46, has spent more than half his life on the EWU campus. Out of Curtis High, Best walked on to the EWU team in 1996, eventually started as a center and deep snapper, and served as an assistant coach for 16 years before taking over for Beau Baldwin in 2017.

Twenty-eight seasons. And as head coach, he’s mounted the second-highest win percentage in school history. In 2018, he took the Eagles to the national championship game.

Winning elevates expectations of winning.

And because of his long and deep attachment to the school, “losses are more painful,” Best said. “It hurts more, sure, as an alum, you want to do well for everybody who’s been in the halls and are still walking the halls. The losses hurt deeper, but the wins are a little sweeter, too.”

Replacing Baldwin was going to be a challenge for anyone. Baldwin took EWU to its first national title in 2010, along with three national semifinal appearances and five Big Sky conference titles or co-titles.

Historically, Eastern has competed at a funding deficit relative to conference opponents. The transfer portal and name-image-likeness payments for players might seem to exacerbate those challenges.

Best doesn’t subscribe to that, calling it “low-hanging fruit” as an excuse.

“Don’t tell me what we don’t have, do what we need to do to get it done.”

Best sees improvement, but knows the standings and win totals don’t reflect it. “We made great strides even though it wasn’t what we were used to, but we battled, and had more of that mentality. We’ve got to be more opportunistic. We’ve got to coach better. We’ve got to be more intentional.”

The target is to return to the level of competitiveness in their recent golden age.

“We have 115 kids and I have to put everything I have into them,” he said. “Emotionally, mentally, psychologically.”

And, yes, physically. He’s always been a paradigm for Eagle toughness.

For a perspective on Best from someone now external to the program, former coach Mike Kramer was reached. He was Best’s head coach as a player, and spent 19 seasons as head coach in the Big Sky Conference.

“He’s faced a little uphill battle with where the record has been the last couple years, but it’s amazing how the standards have changed,” Kramer said. “He’s doing a helluva job with a lot of in-state and local talent, and I’m really proud of him.”

Best’s attitude on the field helped change Kramer’s notion of what should be expected in the way of toughness from an offensive lineman. “He came in with a nasty attitude and was the consummate football player in terms of being wicked and tough. Not in a bullying way, but he’s a tough, tough cat, and he’s not going to allow anybody to cut any corners. He’s carried that temperament over to his coaching.”

Kramer said Best’s attitude “… was infectious, and it changed us. We really started looking for the kind of guy with that kind of attitude. He was always the first one on the bus and the last off the practice field. When you watch a kid practice like that all those years, you know he’s going to be successful in whatever he tries to do.”

But the last couple seasons?

Being retired, Kramer said he doesn’t have to be cautious with his opinions.

“I can say this, because I love Eastern so much: When they’re really good at quarterback, they’re a really good program. Beau changed them into a pass-oriented team. Fans want throwing the football. But finding a great quarterback in the Big Sky is catching lightning in a bottle, you just never know.”

Kramer thought critics should remember the early success Best’s EWU teams enjoyed. “I think the consistency (over the years) bodes well for Aaron and his future, and it should be fun to see how far he takes them this season.”

Best and Kramer and every other coach in the country knows that hard work and good intentions and inherent toughness don’t always produce winning records.

But they certainly make it easier to pull for them in the process.