West Plains Chamber hears the best of Best

Let’s hope it does not happen anytime soon, particularly here in Cheney at Eastern Washington University, but if Aaron Best were to step away from football there’s a backup opportunity in his grasp.

The Eagles second-year head football coach might just dabble in motivational speaking, standup comedy, or a little of both, as he seemed to exhibit in front of a full room at the annual West Plains Chamber of Commerce August breakfast.

Originally scheduled for the red turf at Roos Field each August in advance of the start of football season, this year’s edition was hastily relocated to the stately interior of Eastern’s Hargreaves Hall due to smoke from wildfires.

The only thing that might have been missed was swatting yellowjackets away from the ham, eggs, fruit and scones.

But as Best recounted the words of his onetime boss, former athletics director Bill Chaves (now at North Dakota), “Great ones adjust.”

If anyone came to the event expecting a true X’s and O’s discussion of Eastern football, they could not have gone away disappointed with anything that transpired in Best’s 20-minutes of roaming in front of the podium.

Because Best not only told priceless stories, but philosophized about the sport that brought him first to Eastern as a player in 1996, later as an assistant coach following playing days and a dream-come-true elevation to head coach 20 years later when Beau Baldwin bolted to Berkeley for an offensive coordinator gig.

Surveying the scene, Best began, “People in this room I’ve played with, had blood, sweat and tears with.”

That was literally when he broke into the little-told tale about an awkward moment following EWU’s 20-19 national championship win over Delaware in Frisco, Texas on Jan. 7, 2011.

“A quick story triggered my mind when Marc Hughes was up here,” Best said. Hughes, who recently left an assistant AD role at Eastern to take over Doug Nixon’s Farmers Insurance business, was a sponsor of the breakfast.

After the game Best was asked “Did you think this was ever going to come?”

“The obvious answer is yes, you always believe, but you’re in Cheney in 1996, grass field, you’ve got a broken down Dairy Queen for a concession stand, light bulbs are out in the scoreboard; no I didn’t think this was going to happen,” Best admitted.

Suddenly, it was all for real at Pizza Hut Park and Best had Hughes under one arm, and a good friend beneath the other. He’s so elated that Best suddenly gathers to two together and accidently bangs their heads together.

BAM, something snaps, Best said. Turns out it was Hughes’ nose, in two places no less.

“We’ve gone from ‘We’ve just won a national championship to I’ve got to call my insurance company,’” Best said. The ensuing celebration soothed any pain and the fix ultimately never needed a doctor, although Hughes’ nose reportedly has a slight crook in it.

But so did Best’s inaugural season on the job where his team finished a very respectable 7-4 — good if not great when Best was an EWU offensive lineman, but not up to current standards. Add to that missing the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, and it left a notable sour aftertaste.

Picked to return to the top of the Big Sky Conference standings this year, Best said this year still has the some pressure. But unlike last year’s firehose, 2018 is more of the PSI of a garden house, and one he’s able to control better with his thumb.

“The hose has gotten smaller and the pressure coming out is a little less,” Best said.

Picked first in a pair of Big Sky Conference preseason polls, “The coaches think we’re going to do really good, the media thinks we’re really good,” Best said. “A lot of time the coaches don’t know squat and the media don’t know squat.”

But some numbers gave voters basis for predicting Eastern will be pretty good. There are 28 seniors back, and among that group are 10 starters on offense and eight on defense.

After an 0-2 start, losing to Big 12 Texas Tech and eventual FSC champion North Dakota State, Eastern reeled of an impressive string of seven wins in their next nine games. “(It was) arguably the best five-game run in (program) history offensively, and that’s after losing three NFL receivers,” Best said.

But in 2017 the fate of the Eagles in the playoffs was decided off the field and left to anonymous voters who filled the bracket and left the Eagles home.

This year they approach the season with the mantra, “Leave no doubt,” and their Sept. 1 opener with Central Washington will be a test of that.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].