PULLMAN — Paul Wulff returned to his alma mater, Washington State University, as head football coach Tuesday, becoming the first WSU alumnus in almost 60 years to lead the Cougars.
Wulff, who was head coach at Eastern Washington in Cheney the past eight seasons, is the 31st Washington State coach and the first alum to hold the job since Phil Sarboe from 1945-49.
Wulff replaces Bill Doba, who stepped down last month at age 67 after posting a 30-29 record in five seasons.
The 40-year-old Wulff played center at Washington State from 1985-89, and played on the Cougars’ 1988 Aloha Bowl team under Dennis Erickson.
“Obviously this has been a dream of mine since I joined the coaching profession,” Wulff said. “It is my alma mater, a university with great tradition and a program I feel very strongly about.”
He has led Eastern Washington since 2000 and was Big Sky Conference coach of the year in 2001, 2004 and 2005. This year’s team was 9-4, losing 38-25 to Appalachian State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Doba’s assistants were retained temporarily but athletic director Jim Sterk has said it would be up to the new coach to decide whether he wanted to keep any of them. WSU quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach served as Wulff’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at EWU before taking the Pullman job in 2003.
The incoming coach takes over a 5-7 team that returns eight defensive starters and seven on offense. Despite beating cross-state rival Washington 42-35 in the Apple Cup last month, the Cougars missed a bowl game for the fourth consecutive year.
Wulff served as Eastern’s offensive coordinator in 1998-1999 and was offensive line coach at the school from 1994-1997. He has a 53-40 record as EWU head coach.
“Paul Wulff has had great success at Eastern Washington University and his Cougar roots rund deep,” WSU president Elson S. Floyd said.
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