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Cal hires Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin as offensive coordinator

Beau Baldwin won five conference titles and a national championship at Eastern Washington. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)
Beau Baldwin won five conference titles and a national championship at Eastern Washington. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

New Cal coach Justin Wilcox dipped into the FCS ranks to find his new offensive coordinator.

At a press conference Monday, Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin announced he was leaving the program to run Wilcox’s offense in Berkeley. Baldwin spent the last nine seasons as Eastern Washington’s head coach and had an 85-32 overall record, including the 2010 FCS National Championship.

The Eagles reached the playoffs in six of Baldwin’s eight seasons running the program, and won at least 10 games five times. EWU also won five Big Sky titles while running a high-powered offense with a standout passing game. Quarterback Vernon Adams set records at EWU before transferring to Oregon for his final season. EWU also had likely NFL draft pick Cooper Kupp at wide receiver, who finished his career with 428 catches for 6,464 yards and 73 touchdowns.

This season, Baldwin’s Eagles averaged 529.6 yards and 42.4 points per game, the second and third best numbers in the FCS.

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Baldwin said Monday he’s had “other opportunities” for jobs in the past, but the Cal offensive coordinator position was the right fit.

“Given this situation, it was right. That’s what I’ll say. There have been other opportunities in the last four or five years. And the reason they weren’t right is because this place is so special. I knew strongly that if I had any reservations I’m going to continue to fight like heck as an Eagle. But as hard as it is, this one’s right. It’s an incredible opportunity,” Baldwin said.

Hiring Baldwin to run Cal’s offense (which finished 2016 No. 10 nationally in total offense) allows Wilcox, who left his post as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator to become Cal’s head coach, to devote his full attention to the team’s defense. The Golden Bears gave up 42.6 points per game — No. 127 nationally (out of 128 FBS teams) — and 518.3 yards per game (No. 125) in 2016.

Cal went 5-7 in 2016.

At Eastern Washington, two of Baldwin’s assistants — run game coordinator Aaron Best and defensive coordinator Jeff Schmedding — will serve as co-interim head coaches.

For more Cal news, visit GoldenBearReport.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!