Eastern Washington Eagles football

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The Eastern Washington Eagles football team represents Eastern Washington University in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. The Eastern Eagles are members of the Big Sky Conference and play at Roos Field, which is known for being the only stadium in college football with a red playing surface.

History

Conference Affiliations

Independent	1901–1919
Tri-Normal League	1920–1937
Independent	1938
Washington Intercollegiate Conference	1939–1947
Evergreen Conference	1948–1979
Div. II Independent	1980–1983
Div. I-AA Independent	1984–1986
Big Sky Conference	1987–present

Beginning & NAIA era

Eastern Washington University began fielding a football team in 1901, when the school was known at the time as the 'State Normal School' and the team mascot was the 'Savages'. Eastern's first national affiliation came with joining the NAIA.

Eastern competed in the NAIA until 1977, along the way advancing to the NAIA Football National Championship finals in 1967, losing to Fairmont State 28-21. This marked Eastern Washington's first appearance in a national championship game at any level of competition.

Identity changes

During this time period, the school underwent numerous changes to its identity. The school name changed in 1937 to the 'Eastern Washington College of Education', then again in 1962 to 'Eastern Washington State College'. The final change to the school name came in 1977 when the school was renamed 'Eastern Washington University'.

In 1973, the student body voted to make Eastern's mascot the 'Eagles'.^[2][3][4] Shortly before that, the Eastern Board of Trustees declared 'Savages', its mascot through its first 92 years, no longer acceptable. Eagles are native to Eastern Washington and thus a logical choice for a replacement.

Transition to NCAA and Big Sky

Eastern joined the NCAA in 1978, and participated at the Division II level as an independent until 1984, when they moved up to Division I-AA (now FCS), also as an independent.^[5]

Denied membership to the Big Sky Conference in May 1985,^[6][7] Eastern was extended an invitation in December 1986 to join, starting in July 1987.^[8][9] Eastern continues to participate in the Big Sky to this day and is now the sixth-most tenured member of the conference.

Red turf and national championship

The 2010 season marked a number of firsts for Eastern Washington's football program. The offseason saw a highly publicized move to install a red turf playing surface, the first of its kind in the country. Eastern utilized the excitement and energy surrounding the program to complete its finest season of competition in the program's history.

The 2010 season concluded with Eastern Washington's first appearance in the FCS Championship Game. Led by the head coach Beau Baldwin the Eagles defeated the Delaware Blue Hens 20–19 in Frisco, Texas to win the school's first national championship in football.

Championships

National championships

Eastern Washington has won one national championship in the FCS.

Year	Coach	Selector	Record	Opponent	Result
2010	Beau Baldwin	NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision	13–2	Delaware	W 20–19

Conference championships

Eastern Washington has won 26 conference championships since 1901, including ten in the Big Sky Conference.^{[citation needed]}

Year	Conference	Overall record	Conference record	Coach
1921	Tri-Normal League	3–3–0	3–0–0	A.A. Eustis
1923†	Tri-Normal League	5–2–0	4–1–0	A.A. Eustis
1925	Tri-Normal League	6–3–0	5–0–0	A.A. Eustis
1934	Tri-Normal League	6–1–0	2–0–0	W.B. Reese
1935	Tri-Normal League	4–2–1	1–0–1	W.B. Reese
1936	Tri-Normal League	7–1–0	2–0–0	W.B. Reese
1937	Tri-Normal League	6–1–0	2–0–0	W.B. Reese
1939†	Washington Intercollegiate Conference	5–3–0	2–0–0	W.B. Reese
1947†	Washington Intercollegiate Conference	6–1–1	4–0–1	A.H. Poffenroth
1948†	Evergreen Conference	8–1–0	5–1–0	A.H. Poffenroth
1949†	Evergreen Conference	7–2–0	5–1–0	A.H. Poffenroth
1950	Evergreen Conference	8–2–0	5–1–0	A.H. Poffenroth
1965	Evergreen Conference	8–1–0	4–1–0	Dave Holmes
1966	Evergreen Conference	7–1–1	4–1–1	Dave Holmes
1967	Evergreen Conference	11–1–0	6–0–0	Dave Holmes
1969†	Evergreen Conference	4–5–0	4–2–0	Brent Wooten
1992†	Big Sky Conference	7–4–0	6–1–0	Dick Zornes
1997	Big Sky Conference	12–2–0	7–1–0	Mike Kramer
2004†	Big Sky Conference	9–4	6–1	Paul Wulff
2005†	Big Sky Conference	7–5	5–2	Paul Wulff
2010†	Big Sky Conference	13–2	7–1	Beau Baldwin
2012†	Big Sky Conference	11–3	7–1	Beau Baldwin
2013	Big Sky Conference	12–3	8–0	Beau Baldwin
2014	Big Sky Conference	11–3	7–1	Beau Baldwin
2016†	Big Sky Conference	12–2	8–0	Beau Baldwin
2018†	Big Sky Conference	12–3	7–1	Aaron Best

† Co–champions

Playoff appearances

NAIA playoffs

Eastern Washington made one appearance in the NAIA playoffs in 1967. They advanced to the NAIA Champions Bowl in Morgantown, West Virginia,^[10][11] where they lost to Fairmont State.^[12][13] The Savages finished with a 1–1 record in NAIA playoff play.

Season	Round	Opponent	Result	Head Coach
1967	Semifinals Champions Bowl	@ New Mexico Highlands @ Fairmont State	W 28–14 L  21–28	Dave Holmes

Source:^[11][13]

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS playoffs

Eastern Washington has fifteen appearances in the I-AA/FCS playoffs since moving up to the division in 1984, with an overall record of 20–13 (.606). Their first appearance occurred the next year, when they advanced to the quarterfinals as an independent. The Eagles' best finish came during the 2010 season, when they won the national championship.^[14]

Season	Round	Opponent	Result	Head Coach
1985	First Round Quarterfinals	@ Idaho @ Northern Iowa	W 42–38  L 14–17	Dick Zornes (1–2)
1992	First Round	@ Northern Iowa	L 14–17
1997	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals	Northwestern State Western Kentucky Youngstown State	W 40–10 W 38–21  L 14–25	Mike Kramer (2–1)
2004	First Round Quarterfinals	@ Southern Illinois Sam Houston State	W 35–31  L 34–35	Paul Wulff (2–3)
2005	First Round	@ Northern Iowa	L 38–41
2007	First Round Quarterfinals	@ McNeese State @ Appalachian State	W 44–15  L 35–38
2009	First Round	@ Stephen F. Austin	L 33–44	Beau Baldwin (11–5)
2010	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship	SE Missouri State North Dakota State Villanova vs. Delaware	W 37–17 W 38–31OT W 41–31 W 20–19
2012	Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals	Wagner Illinois State Sam Houston State	W 29–19 W 51–35  L 42–45
2013	Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals	South Dakota State Jacksonville State Towson	W 41–17 W 35–24  L 31–35
2014	Second Round Quarterfinals	Montana Illinois State	W 37–20  L 46–59
2016	Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals	Central Arkansas Richmond Youngstown State	W 37–20 W 38–0  L 38–40
2018	Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship	Nicholls UC Davis Maine vs. North Dakota State	W 42–21 W 34–29 W 50–19 L 24–38	Aaron Best (4–3)
2020–21	First Round	North Dakota State	L 20–42
2021	First Round Second Round	Northern Iowa @ Montana	W 19–9 L 41–57

Head coaches

Coach	Years	Seasons	Record	Pct.	Conf. champs	Playoff Appearances	National titles
Unknown	1901–1902	2	3–3–2	.500	0	0	0
Claude Arthur	1903	1	3–2–2	.571	0	0	0
Henry E. Smith	1904–1905	2	5–9	.357	0	0	0
Paul Lienau	1906–1907	2	8–5	.615	0	0	0
Nick E. Hinch	1908, 1912	2	2–4	.333	0	0	0
Harry Goldsworthy	1909	1	0–2	.000	0	0	0
Albert Fertsch	1913–1916	4	4–9	.308	0	0	0
Vin Eustis	1920–1926	7	24–25–1	.490	3 (1921, 1923, 1925)	0	0
Arthur C. Woodward	1927–1928	2	7–8	.467	0	0	0
Brick Johnson	1929	1	4-4	.500	0	0	0
Red Reese	1930–1941, 1946	13	66–26–9	.698	5 (1934–1937, 1939)	0	0
Ralph Peterson	1942	1	3–4	.429	0	0	0
Abe Poffenroth	1947–1952	6	32–19–1	.625	4 (1947–1950)	0	0
Ed Chissus	1953–1962	10	29–52–4	.365	0	0	0
Dave Holmes	1963–1967	5	34–13–1	.719	3 (1965–1967)	1 (1967)	0
Brent Wooten	1968–1970	3	11–18	.379	1 (1969)	0	0
John Massengale	1971–1978	8	35–39–1	.473	0	0	0
Dick Zornes	1979–1993	15	89–66–2	.573	1 (1992)	2 (1985, 1992)	0
Mike Kramer	1994–1999	6	37–32	.536	1 (1997)	1 (1997)	0
Paul Wulff	2000–2007	8	53–40	.570	2 (2004, 2005)	3 (2004, 2005, 2007)	0
Beau Baldwin	2008–2016	9	85–32	.726	5 (2010, 2012–2014, 2016)	6 (2009, 2010, 2012–2014, 2016)	1 (2010)
Aaron Best	2017–present	5	44–25	.638	1 (2018)	2 (2018, 2020/21)	0

Note: Eastern Washington did not field teams from 1910 to 1911, 1917 to 1919, and 1943 to 1945.

Home stadium

The EWU football team plays at Roos Field, opened in 1967 and recently expanded and renovated in 2004 and 2010 to seat 11,702. The stadium was originally named Woodward Field in honor of former Eagles head football and basketball coach Arthur C. Woodward. It replaced the original Woodward Field, which was located near the present JFK Library.^[15]

Red turf installation and name change

On February 26, 2010, ESPN reported that Eastern Washington planned to remove the natural grass surface at Woodward Field and replace it with red SprinTurf, the first of its kind, at any level of American football. A funding drive was initiated in late January 2010, with EWU alumnus Michael Roos donating $500,000 toward the installation costs, and fellow alumnus and ESPN personality Colin Cowherd also making a donation.^[16]

On May 20, 2010 the Eastern Washington Board of Trustees approved a name change to Roos Field, scheduled for the 2010 season, upon the successful completion of the project.^[17] Installation of the red synthetic turf was completed in September 2010, in time for the first home game of the 2010 season against Montana.

The Inferno

Eastern Washington's red playing surface is known as The Inferno. The nickname was chosen through a vote conducted by Eastern on its athletic website, goeags.com. Voting began on August 4, 2010 and allowed fans to choose from seven proposed names: red sea, red zone, inferno, big red, red carpet, ring of fire and lava pit. Inferno finished as the top choice and the nickname was revealed at the first home game with the new field on September 18, 2010.

Rivalries

Montana

The EWU–UM Governors Cup is the game against conference rival Montana, usually played in mid-season in October, alternating between Roos Field in Cheney and Washington–Grizzly Stadium in Missoula. The Eagles currently trail in the overall series with 18 wins, 30 losses, and a tie; it became the Governors Cup in 1998 for the 25th meeting and Montana also leads that series at 13–8 (.619), through 2017. The Cup was originally contested between EWU and the University of Idaho, from 1984 through 1997.

Portland State

The Eagles also have a new rivalry with the Portland State Vikings in all sports, starting in 2010 called The Dam Cup. Eastern football won the first rivalry match between the two schools in 2010 with a score of 55-17. The purpose of the Dam Cup is to create a rivalry between Portland State University and Eastern Washington University and provide a sense of pride between alumni in the Portland and Spokane areas. Other goals include increasing attendance at events between both schools and building school spirit among each institutions' student body.

Team	Rivalry name	Trophy	Games played	First meeting	Last meeting	EWU win	EWU loss	Ties	Win %
Montana Grizzlies	EWU–UM Governors Cup	Governors Cup	49	1938†	2022, Lost 7–63	18	30	1	.378
Portland State Vikings	The Dam Cup	Dam Cup	44	1986‡	2022, Lost 35-38	22	21	1	.511

† The Governors Cup rivalry with Montana was officially established in 1998, but both teams have played against each other since the date listed above.
‡ The Dam Cup rivalry with Portland State was officially established in 2010, but both teams have played against each other since the date listed above.

Individual award winners

The following Eastern Washington players have been recipients of the noted conference and national award honors.^[18]

National award winners – players

Big Sky Conference honors

Eagles in the pros

The following former Eastern Washington players are currently playing in one of the two professional football leagues listed below.^[19][20]