Sports Briefs

EWU’s Jois shares Big Sky Player of Week honors

 Eastern Washington’s Venky Jois and Idaho’s Mike Scott have been selected as the Co-Big Sky Conference men’s basketball Players of the Week.

 Jois, a 6-foot-9 junior forward from Boronia, Australia, tied his career-high with 38 points in the Eagles’ 87-75 road win over Seattle on Saturday, Dec. 6. Jois also pulled down eight rebounds, blocked three shots and had two steals. Jois made 13-of-18 shots from the floor and 12-of-15 from the free-throw line. It marked Jois’ second consecutive 38-point game. The victory moved Eastern Washington to 7-1.

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Five Eagles honored on initial 2014 All-America team

The first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All-America team has been announced, and five Eastern Washington Eagles have been selected to the squad selected by College Sports Madness.

Offensive tackle Jake Rodgers received his first All-America recognition by earning first team honors, joining repeat selections Vernon Adams Jr. and Cooper Kupp. Linebacker Ronnie Hamlin, an All-American in both 2012 and 2013, earned second team accolades, and safety Tevin McDonald picked up his first All-America honor as a third team pick.

All five players were recently selected as first team All-Big Sky Conference selections, with Adams selected as the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.

College Sports Madness also selected its own All-Big Sky Conference team, and Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin was selected as the Coach of the Year.

Adams was a first team selection, and was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Year in the league. Other first team selections included Rodgers, Kupp, Hamlin and McDonald; second team picks were offensive tackle Clay DeBord, defensive end Samson Ebukam and Kupp as a punt returner; and third team selections were center Jase Butorac, offensive guard Aaron Neary and punter Jake Miller.

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Baldwin honored by American Football Coaches

Association as District Coach of the Year

Eastern Washington University head football coach Beau Baldwin was named the American Football Coaches Association Region 5 Coach of the Year for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in an award announced Dec. 8.

This is the first time Baldwin has been honored by the AFCA, and comes on the heels of Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2012 and 2013. All three seasons Baldwin’s teams have won the Big Sky Conference title and advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.

“There are so many moving parts to a football team, so it’s a staff of the year award,” Baldwin said. “It’s actually a team of the year award — I told our players that.”

This season, Baldwin’s team is 11-2 and finished 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference to win the outright league title for a second-straight season. Interestingly, former Eastern player and assistant coach Jim McElwain was the District 5 Coach of the Year in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. McElwain recently was named head coach at Florida after previously serving at Colorado State.