Paul Wulff accepted responsibility for many of the violations, which
resulted in sanctions against the EWU football program that were
announced earlier in the day. However, Wulff was adamant in defending
the actions of himself and others at Eastern in many instances.
Wulff said the lack of NCAA compliance assistance available at Eastern
during the 2003-07 period factored heavily into some of the rules
violations. He also said the types of actions that resulted in the violations had been present under of Dick Zornes and Mike Kramer, whom Wulff assisted at Eastern
before serving as head coach from 2000-07.
“I just kind of followed what Mike Kramer had done and Dick Zornes had
done, kind of the culture of Eastern Washington,” Wulff said from
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Wulff added, “It is the coach’s responsibility (to know the rules) … I
can’t deny that, and I’m taking responsibility.”
Beau Baldwin, who replaced Wulff as Eastern’s coach last season after
assisting him from 2003-06, said he has “tremendous respect” for Wulff
and certainly does not hold Wulff solely accountable for the rules
violations.
“I don’t sit here and say, ‘Coach Wulff put us in a bad position,’”
Baldwin said. “When you look back on those years, everyone -- everyone
-- is to blame one way or the other. I think we’ve all acknowledged that. The NCAA acknowledged that.”
Wulff agreed with statements by Baldwin, the NCAA Division I Committee
on Infractions and Eastern athletic director Bill Chaves that a
personnel shortage in the EWU athletic department -- which has since
been addressed -- severely hindered the football staff’s ability to
properly adhere to rules.
At one time, Frank Nelson served as Eastern’s NCAA compliance director
and faculty athletics representative and also taught classes on campus.
The infractions committee said it was “simply not feasible for one
individual to hold three such diverse and responsible positions and be
able to devote the necessary time and attention to oversee an NCAA
Division I compliance program.”
“I think anyone who’s aware of Eastern Washington University and their
history as an athletic program, they would kind of know the financial
limitations that it’s always had to work under,” Wulff said.
“The people that have worked there have done a great job over all the
years since they’ve been a Division I sports program. They’ve done it
with the smallest budget in the (Big Sky) conference year in and year
out, and they’ve done it with everyone in the athletic department
wearing not one but two, three, four or five hats.”
Wulff said “the biggest problem” he had with the NCAA sanctions on
Eastern’s football program was the ban on postseason play this year.
Chaves and Baldwin said Eastern is strongly considering an appeal on
that ruling.
“I think that just went a little far,” Wulff said. “Eastern
Washington’s a little easier to kick around, I guess.”
Wulff also objected to a statement in an NCAA news release that said
Wulff “did not report various violations to the compliance office once
he learned of them.”
“I totally disagree … (but) I didn’t do it in a timely manner,” Wulff
said.
Wulff added, “The thing people aren’t looking at is we did thousands
and thousands of things right with limited resources in that area
(compliance). I’m pretty proud of that, to be honest.
“We’re not talking recruiting violations. We’re not talking the types
of violations that are truly competitive (advantage) violations.
“But they’re still violations. They’re secondary violations, all of
them, but when you put them in multiple years, it becomes a major
infractions case.”
Wulff and Washington State athletic director Jim Sterk expressed
confidence Wulff and his staff can avoid NCAA rules violations
because the Cougars have a superior compliance staff to that of Eastern
Washington.
Steve Robertello, WSU’s compliance director, said the Cougar football
coaching staff committed two secondary violations during the
just-completed recruiting period. One of those happened when a WSU student assistant picked up a recruit at Spokane International Airport and bought him a hamburger on the drive to Pullman. The second was an impermissible mailing to a high school prospect whose birth date had been incorrectly entered into the database, thus marking him a senior when he was only a junior.
“Basically, every university incurs secondary violations every year,”
Baldwin said. “No university is perfect.”
“I think I know as much as any coach out there (regarding NCAA rules) …
but if you’ve seen a rule book, there are so many rules in the book you
can’t help but break them,” Wulff said. “There isn’t a coach out there
who hasn’t broken rules.”
Later, Wulff stressed, “I obey the rules I know. I’m not the type of
person (who doesn’t). Never have been and never will be.”
Wulff said he did not know Eastern was violating a rule when
non-academic qualifiers engaged in “running hills” and other
fitness-related activities separate from the team when the Eagles were
practicing.
Wulff said he “didn’t have a way to monitor” student and graduate
assistant coaches who failed to take enough academic credits to qualify
for their positions. Wulff stressed that none of those people were
directly involved in coaching in a manner that violated NCAA rules.
Speaking in general terms about some of the rules violations that took
place under his watch, Wulff said, “You have to understand, at Eastern
Washington, this has gone on for two to three decades. You have to
understand this is nothing new.
“Things that slipped through the cracks are things that slipped through
the cracks for 15- to 20-plus years. That’s just the way it was.”
Before returning to WSU to coach his alma mater in December 2007, Wulff
had spent his entire 15-year coaching career at Eastern Washington. He
attended the NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu on Sunday as a guest of one of his
former Eastern players, Tennessee Titans star Michael Roos.
“Eastern Washington is a great institution and a great school,” Wulff
said. “It’s done a lot of great things for a lot of people and will
continue to do so.”
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