Wulff returns to WSU as head coach

PULLMAN -- Paul Wulff has nine months to adjust to having a secretary for the first time.

Nine months to prepare for his first game.

Nine months to remember who signs his checks.

"It takes hard work at Eastern Washington -- I mean, Washington State," Wulff said to laughter at the Tuesday afternoon news conference where he was introduced as WSU's new football coach.

Wulff can be excused for the faux pas. He starred at Washington State in the 1980s, but he has spent his entire 15-year coaching career at Eastern Washington, including eight years as head coach.

Wulff, 40, has agreed to a five-year contract with financial terms that athletic director Jim Sterk said will be "similar" to those of outgoing coach Bill Doba. Various clauses all but guaranteed Doba at least $500,000 to $600,000 per year.

Wulff, 40, said he is fulfilling a longtime ambition by returning to his alma mater as head coach. If there were any doubts about Wulff's loyalty to the Cougars, those doubts were erased when he wore a WSU tie and cap at the news conference and took a verbal shot at the Washington Huskies.

"I really don't like purple," he told an audience of about 200 media, fans, players and school employees. "That is going to be very clear. That is a battle that we will win. We are going to go after those guys and we're going to attack them.

"Dawgs hunt and bark, but Cougars fight and kill."

Sterk said Wulff was deemed "far and away" the best of six candidates interviewed by Sterk and an advisory group last week in Salt Lake City. Sterk declined to identify the other five coaches, but Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin and former Michigan State coach John L. Smith are known to have interviewed.

Wulff, 53-40 at Eastern Washington, said the Cougars will operate a no-huddle spread offense and 4-3 base defense. Wulff is bringing five assistants from Eastern, and he said one or two of his other four assistants will be holdovers from Doba's staff.

George Yarno, the respected offensive line coach of the Cougars, said he's had no contact with Wulff and has "no idea" if he will retained. Phone messages left for other 2007 Cougars assistants, all of whom have contracts that run through June 2009, were not returned.

If he is let go, Yarno said he would be interested in replacing Wulff at Eastern. Yarno said he expects WSU quarterbacks coach Timm Rosenbach to pursue the Eastern job. Rosenbach applied for head coaching jobs at Western Washington and Central Washington the past two years.

Rosenbach is a good friend, ex-WSU teammate and former assistant of Wulff's. However, Eastern enjoyed great success this season after adopting the no-huddle offense of first-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Todd Sturdy.

Sturdy is coming to WSU with Eastern defensive coordinator-defensive ends coach Jody Sears, tight ends coach-recruiting coordinator Rich Rasmussen, defensive tackles coach Malik Roberson and linebackers-special teams coach Travis Niekamp.

Wulff said coaching duties have not been completed, but Sturdy's arrival would not seem to bode well for Rosenbach, and Rasmussen had the same two jobs at Eastern that Greg Peterson has held at WSU.

Doba served as his own defensive coordinator and linebackers coach this season, when the 5-7 Cougars failed to post a winning record or play in a bowl game for the fourth consecutive year. Wulff guided the Eagles to a 9-4 record, and Eastern played in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) national playoffs for the third time in four years.

Wulff is one of 16 finalists for FCS coach of the year. He won or shared coach of the year honors in the Big Sky Conference three times.

Doba and many observers have cited poor recruiting as a key factor in WSU's recent struggles. Wulff, who relied heavily on in-state talent at Eastern, said he plans to do the same at Washington State without neglecting states like his native California.

"My goal is to turn this program into the state of Washington's football team," Wulff said.

The Cougars return 14 starters. Wulff said discipline has been an issue.

"There is some building we need to do and some culture changes we need to make," Wulff said.

Wulff said he will join his staff on the road recruiting Wednesday through Sunday, after which contact between coaches and recruits will be limited to a weekly phone call over the holidays. The Cougars have only three verbal commitments from recruits, and Wulff said WSU will try to sway some players who have made verbal commitments to other schools.

"We're not always going to get the five-star recruit. ... We want to have the best walk-on program in the West, period," Wulff said.