WULFF IS NEW COACH, PRESS CONF TUES 3 PM

BREAKING NEWS: CF.C has learned Washington State has chosen Paul Wulff to replace Bill Doba as the Cougars' head football coach. A 3 p.m. press conference has been scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 11, to introduce WSU's new head man.

WSU Director of Athletics Jim Sterk and the new head coach will be in attendance.

One answer that could be answered at the press conference is whether Wulff would retain any of the current assistants.

With Eastern's roster built primarily on in-state talent, Wulff would presumably need to assemble a staff to win their fair share of recruiting battles in California. One candidate who would seemingly make sense for Wulff to retain would be Steve Broussard, who played with Wulff at Washington State, and recruits the L.A. area in California.

Wulff guided his Eastern Eagles to a 9-4 record this season, including a huge first-round upset win over No. 3 McNeese State. In his eight years at Eastern, Wulff has compiled a 53-40 record.

Cougar color commentator and former Cougar coach Jim Walden has said that Wulff has done a standout job building EWU despite having one of the smallest budgets in the conference and would be an excellent choice in Pullman.

Wulff, 40, played for three different coaches at Washington State. He redshirted in 1985 and started four games at guard in 1986 under Walden. He became the starting center under Dennis Erickson in 1987 and '88 and earned second-team All-Pac-10 and honorable mention All-America honors playing for Mike Price in 1989.

Phone calls over the weekend and this evening to Wulff have not been returned at press time.