NORTHWEST NOTES: March 25, 2021
Eastern to face
Florida in 2022
The Eastern Washington at Florida football game is back on the schedule.
The Eagles will travel to play the Gators on Oct. 1, 2022, at 88,548 seat Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., the two schools jointly announced on Wednesday.
The meeting was originally announced in 2016, but the game on Sept. 7, 2020, was unable to be played because of the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be the first-ever game for the Eagles, a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, versus the Southeastern Conference.
"Florida has been a great partner throughout this process," Eastern Washington Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey said. "We are glad it worked out to re-schedule the game, because our program was looking forward to the challenge of playing a SEC opponent."
At the time it was first announced, the Gators were coached by Jim McElwain, a former Eagle. The Montana native spent 15 years in Cheney, Wash., from 1980-94 first as a player and then as a coach. He received his bachelor's degree in 1984 from EWU and also worked on his master's degree while an Eagle.
McElwain departed Florida during the 2017 season, and has been the head coach at Central Michigan since 2019.
Eastern is 10-27 all-time versus members of the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, and have lost its last three after a 47-14 loss at Washington in 2019. But prior to that, the Eagles had won three of their last seven.
St. Maries native Spooner
tabbed for WSU football post
Jim Spooner, a native of St. Maries, has joined the Cougars' Athletic Training staff as head football athletic trainer, Washington State Athletic Director Pat Chun announced.
“I’m excited to return to the area and be part of a tremendous program at Washington State University,” said Spooner. “I was raised not far from Pullman and have great memories of the region, and specifically, Cougar Athletics. My wife and I look forward to raising our family here and contributing to the success of Cougar Football.”
Prior to arriving in Pullman, Spooner served as a consultant in Boise, Idaho, where he worked with businesses in the health care industry focusing on product design, client relations and customer education. He served as the director of sports medicine for Boost Treadmills from 2018-2020, where he oversaw customer relations and sales in 21 Western states and the National Hockey League.
Spooner spent seven years (2011-18) at his alma mater, Boise State, first as an assistant athletic trainer before ascending to head football athletic trainer in 2013. There he managed the overall sports medicine operations for the Broncos football program.
“I was impressed with Jim throughout the interview process,” said Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich said. “His passion and concern for the student-athletes are evident and I believe his past experiences will be a great addition to our program.”
Prior to arriving back in Boise, Spooner spent two years as the head football athletic trainer at New Mexico State. He served in the same position during 2007 season.