EASTERN 2016 FOOTBALL CELEBRATING 30 YEARS IN THE BIG SKY & 50 AT ROOS (WOODWARD) FIELD! of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1984. The Eagles closed the year by limiting Weber State’s high-powered offense to 26 points in a 33-26 Eagle victory over the league champions. Defensive end Greg Peach, who would go on to win the Buchanan Award given to the top defensive player in the FCS, led the nation in sacks (1.64 per game) and tackles for loss (2.1) in 2008. A graduate of nearby Reardan (Wash.) High School, Graham spent his final 12 seasons at Central as the defensive coordinator while coaching defensive backs and linebackers. He served as secondary coach in 1995, and in 1997 served as interim head coach for a three-month period. He also served as recruiting coordinator, travel coordinator and camp coordinator at different times during his tenure, as well as serving as an assistant to the athletic director in charge of fundraising and the department’s alumni golf tournament. As a defensive coordinator, Graham helped coach Central to an 89-51 overall record with five conference championships and the NAIA title in 1995. As a defensive backs coach, two Wildcats earned All-America honors, three were conference defensive players of the year and 18 earned first team all-conference accolades. The 1995 Central team was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2005, and the 2002 squad followed in 2013. Graham spent two previous seasons (1993-94) as head coach at DeSales High School in Walla Walla, Wash., where his teams compiled a 13-6 record overall and 8-2 mark in league play. In 1993, his team was undefeated in the league and advanced to the semifinals of the State B Playoffs as he earned Southeast District 9 coach of the year honors. He also served as athletic director and as an assistant basketball and track and field coach at DeSales. In addition, he spent one year (1992) as an assistant coach at Kent-Meridian High School in Kent, Wash. Graham is a 1992 graduate of CWU, earning a bachelor of science degree in business education. He played as defensive back for the Wildcats in 1990 and 1991, earning honorable mention all-conference honors as a senior. In 1991, Graham had 30 tackles and three interceptions. Prior to enrolling at CWU, he played two seasons at Walla Walla CC where he earned first team all-conference honors as a defensive back and received his associate of arts degree in 1989. Graham graduated from Reardan High School in 1987. He earned four letters each in football, basketball and track. He was a three-time allleague linebacker and two-time all-league quarterback, as well as serving as team captain and earning most inspirational honors. He was student body president at Reardan. Graham was born on Feb. 7, 1969, in Ellensburg. His wife’s name is Becky and they have two football-playing sons, Andrew, 20, and Ty, 18, and a daughter named Sara. Andrew, who redshirted at Montana Tech in the fall of 2014 and is now at Central Washington, was a second team All-Great Northern League quarterback for Cheney High School as a junior in 2012. He received honorable mention as a senior in 2013, while Ty earned second team All-GNL honors that same season as a sophomore defensive back. As a junior in 2014, Ty earned first team honors as defensive back and second team as a running back. As a senior, Ty led Cheney to a 9-2 record and the State 3A Playoffs, and was the league MVP on both offense and defense. Now at Idaho, Ty also saw action in the secondary as a freshman in 2012 at Cheney, where his head coach was former Eastern player Jason Williams (1993-94). John’s father, Dan Graham, was inducted into the Washington State Football Coaches Hall of Fame in January 2008. The long-time head coach at Reardan High School directed his team to State B-11 titles in 2002 and 2003.
Aaron Best Running Game Coordinator/ Offensive Linemen/ Academic Coordinator 16th Season Eastern Washington ‘01 Aaron Best enters his 20th year as an Eagle, including four years at Eastern (1996-99) as an All-America center and 15 previous seasons as an assistant coach (2000-2006, 2008-2014). An academic honor student as an undergraduate at Eastern, Best is the team’s offensive line coach, its running game coordinator and also handles the team’s academic coordinator duties. Eastern’s offense in 2015 led FCS in passing offense with an average of 353.3 yards per game, and were eighth in total offense (478.5). In the last 12 seasons (2004-15), EWU has now ranked in the top 10 in passing 10 times and in total offense on eight occasions. Three of his offensive linemen were honored on the All-Big Sky Conference team, including first team selections Aaron Neary (guard) and Clay DeBord (tackle) and honorable mention choice Thomas Gomez (guard). DeBord finished his career with a school-record 51 games started, and both he and Neary were selected to play in the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) Collegiate Bowl. They eventually signed free agent contracts in the NFL with Arizona (DeBord) and Denver (Neary). Neary and DeBord also earned a several All-America honors following the end of the 2015 season. In the last 23 years (1993-2015), the Eagles have now had 22 different offensive linemen earn All-America accolades while winning 26 first team All-Big Sky Conference honors (1993-2015). The 2014 season was punctuated by a high-scoring offense for the Eagles, who broke school and Big Sky records with 618 points and 84 touchdowns. The Eagles established a school record for average points per game with a mark of 44.1 to rank first in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. En route to finishing 11-3 overall and winning the outright league title at 7-1, EWU also ranked third in FCS in total offense (513.4) and second in passing offense (328.6). His offensive line in 2014 featured consensus All-American Jake Rodgers, who was eventually drafted in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons (now with the New York Giants). Neary also earned All-America recognition and joined Rodgers on the All-Big Sky first team list, while two other Eagles (DeBord and center Jase Butorac) earned honorable mention. In 2013 in his fifth season as offensive coordinator, EWU led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in passing efficiency (school record 182.6), and was fourth in total offense (533.5 per game), fourth in passing (349.8), 41st in rushing (183.7) and seventh in scoring (39.5). The Eagles finished 12-3 and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs for the third time in four seasons after finishing with the school’s first-ever undefeated Big Sky Conference season at 8-0. Center Ashton Miller, quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. and wide receiver Cooper Kupp earned All-America honors for the Eagles. Other offensive linemen earning All-Big Sky honors included guards Steven Forgette and Brandon Murphy, and tackles Clay DeBord and Cassidy Curtis. That group allowed 27 sacks in 15 games – 1.8 per game and just one for every 13.0 pass attempts. In 2012, Eastern’s offense ranked seventh in the FCS with an average of 318.9 passing yards per game, and was also 14th in total offense (442.0) and 17th in scoring offense (33.7). The Eagles featured AllAmerica offensive linemen Will Post and Forgette, and All-America wide
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