Seemingly in a blink, 10 years have passed since a moment in time during the most proficient period in history for the Eastern Washington football program.
In a span of three years between 2012 and 2014 Eastern were back-to-back-to-back Big Sky Conference champions. (Sure, in 2012 the Eagles shared the crown with Montana State and Cal Poly.)
And twice they were just a handful of minutes away from returns to Frisco, Texas and the Football Championship Subdivision national championship.
At the heart of that run were head coach Beau Baldwin and his quarterback, Vernon Adams, Jr.
And while their paths have wandered widely since, they are suddenly reunited.
Baldwin left Eastern as its head coach following the 2016 season to pursue big-time offensive coordinator jobs at Cal and Arizona State — with a head coaching pit stop at Cal Poly. He is now the quarterbacks coach for the Canadian Football League Calgary Stampeders.
Adams exited Cheney after 2014 and played his final year of college eligibility at Pac-12 Oregon. He was hoping to improve his NFL draft status after having spent four years at Eastern and inches away from his degree he completed in Eugene.
On Nov. 26, Adams’ road also led him to Calgary — and the coach who recruited him out of Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, California — following a trade by the CFL’s British Columbia Lions.
Adams was traded to B.C., the team that
originally had his draft rights, from Montreal in 2023 and started 2024 winning five of his first six starts. Then an injury knocked Adams out of the next half-dozen games.
The Lions did a free-fall in advance of Vancouver hosting the Grey Cup, dampening the notion of the hometown team being part of things.
As reported by the Canadian Press, it seemed somewhat serendipitous that Adams might land in Calgary.
The 31-year-old Adams had been talking to Calgary cornerback Demario Houston about what might lie ahead after B.C. re-signed NFL discard Nathan Rourke as QB?
“We were just talking scenarios and things like that,” Adams told the CP. “And I told him, I was like, ‘Hey, I would love to come over there and be a piece to the puzzle and help us get back to where we need to be.’”
And boom, just like one of “Big Play V.A.s” many memorable moments at Eastern, Adams’ future moved 600 miles east to Alberta.
Besides being back with Baldwin, Adams comes full circle with Stampeders’ coach and general manager, former Montana Griz quarterback, Dave Dickenson.
In the CP story, Adams said, “I’ve always wanted play for Dave. I’ve known him since I was in college.” Dickenson came spoke in Cheney one season.
It was Baldwin, however, that was immensely impactful on his career, Adams told the CP.
“When I came to Eastern Washington, I was a raw, just super raw young QB, just more athletic, just doing it with my legs,” Adams recalled.
For two seasons at Eastern, a guy by the name of Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp was one of Adams’ most prolific pass catchers.
Acquiring Adams is one of the pieces that Dickenson hopes will help restore Calgary to the status it had not that long ago when the Stampeders were led by another ex-Eagle, Bo Levi Mitchell.
Calgary played in three consecutive Grey Cups — the CFL’s Super Bowl — between 2016 and 2018. The Stamps won in 2018 with Mitchell named the game’s MVP twice, once on the losing end. Mitchell and his contract were dealt to Hamilton in 2023.
The Stampeders, however, have suddenly struggled with back-to-back losing seasons, including a last-place Western Division finish in 2024 with former UC Davis QB, Jake Maier. They missed the playoffs for the first time since 2004, prompting the need for a change.
Calgary is Adams fifth CFL stop in his pro career that began in 2016 with brief stays in Saskatchewan and Hamilton. In eight CFL seasons Adams has a 38-22 record as a starter.
“I woke up (Tuesday) morning, and I felt we were going to get something done,” Dickenson said in a press conference. “To get V.A. as part of our community now, I think you guys are going to be impressed, and he’s going to help our city, and he’s going to help our team.”
Perhaps with Adams and Baldwin back doing business together they can re-kindle some of that same magic the two once had in the not-so-distant past?
— Paul Delaney is a sports writer at the Cheney Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
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