Eastern Washington University Athletics

Former Idaho defensive lineman Brian Strandley returned to the Eastern football coaching staff in 2012 and enters his ninth season overall at EWU in 2020. He also serves as the school’s liaison with professional teams, and in 2018 added the role of defensive front coordinator.

After serving three seasons as EWU’s tight ends coach, in 2015 he returned to the defensive line where he coached one season in 2006 in his first stint with the Eagles.

His defensive tackle in 2019 included Dylan Ledbetter, who earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors. The senior co-captain finished with 49 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks, giving him 10 sacks in his 52-game career (33 as a starter). He had career totals of 168 tackles, five passes broken up, a school-record six blocked kicks, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. In addition, end Jim Townsend earned third team All-BSC accolades.

Eastern finished the 2019 season 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky to finish with at least five league wins for the 13th-straight season. Eastern's defensive highlights included a 48-5 victory at Idaho State in which EWU held the Bengal offense to just a field goal and out-gained ISU in total offense 689-416. Eastern allowed a season-low 352 yards in a 54-21 home victory over Northern Colorado.

In 2018, the Eagles finished 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference to share the league title with Weber State and UC Davis. The Eagles won their last four games of the regular season, then hosted three fellow conference champions in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs – knocking off Nicholls, UC Davis and Maine to advance to the NCAA Division I Championship Game versus North Dakota State.

The Eagle defense allowed just 22.7 points per game in 2018 for the team's best performance since 1997 and a mark which ranked 27th nationally. Eastern's nine games of allowing 20 points for fewer in 2018 equals the school record also set in 1997, 1981, 1964 and 1949. Eastern led FCS with six defensive touchdowns and was second in turnovers gained with 34. Eastern also was third with 22 interceptions and ranked 16th overall in turnover margin (34 takeaways, 24 giveaways, +0.67 per game). Eastern set a school record with 70 passes broken up, breaking the previous record of 67 set in the 2010 season. Eastern's defense was particularly impressive during league play, with EWU allowing only 135 points for a league-leading 16.9 average per game – with seven of those points coming on a punt return touchdown.

All four starting defensive linemen were honored on All-Big Sky Conference teams, including MVP and first team selection Jay-Tee Tiuli. Senior end Keenan Williams was a first team selection and Ledbetter earned honorable mention as a junior. In addition, end Mitchell Johnson was a second team choice and earned first team Freshman All-America honors.
 
In 2016, Strandley helped coach first team All-Big Sky Conference selection and All-American defensive end Samson Ebukam, as well as first team defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli. Eastern’s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents.
 
A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU’s 35-16 victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a 14-14 tie in 1984.
 
In their last seven victories of the season, the defense allowed just 113 points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern’s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, Eastern’s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings.
 
The Eagles in 2015 featured a pair of All-Big Sky Conference performers as juniors. Ebukam earned second team honors for the second-straight season, and tackle Matthew Sommer was on the third team after receiving honorable mention as a sophomore.
 
The tight ends he coached in 2014 included honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection Zach Wimberly. In 2013, Zack Gehring earned third team honors from the league. Gehring finished his 50-game EWU career with 34 starts, 44 receptions, 511 yards and five touchdowns.
 
Before returning to Eastern, Strandley coached at Idaho State under former EWU assistant and Central Washington University head coach John Zamberlin. Strandley spent four seasons there as the school’s defensive coordinator. After the ISU coaching staff was let go following the 2010 season, Strandley coached defensive linemen in 2011 at Eastern Illinois.
 
Prior to his single year at EWU in 2006, Strandley spent nine seasons as a defensive coach under Zamberlin at CWU. Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin was a fellow assistant at CWU with Strandley from 1997-2002, as well as at EWU in 2006. One of Strandley’s Idaho teammates was Josh Fetter, who is now linebackers coach at Eastern and was previously on the staff at ISU in 2010. Strandley was also on the CWU staff with current Eagle coach John Graham.
 
Strandley coached the leading tackler in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 2010 when Idaho State’s A.J. Storms had 146 (13.27 per game). As a team, ISU ranked 40th in the FCS in takeaways with 23.
 
In 2009 at ISU, despite a second-straight year of massive injuries, ISU’s defense was impressive. The Bengals allowed just 12 points against national runner-up Montana, and had 26 takeaways for the season – the most since the 2004 season when ISU had 30.
 
In 2008, ISU’s pass defense allowed 112 yards or less in three of the final four games of the season. In his first year with the school, the Bengal defense scored five touchdowns on the year, including game-changing fumble returns on back-to-back drives in a win over Portland State. In all, ISU nearly doubled their takeaways (23, up from 12 in 2006), and they increased their totals in sacks, tackles for loss, passes defended, and forced fumbles. Seven players earned honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors, including three defensive linemen coached by Strandley.
 
In his lone season at EWU in 2006, the youthful Eagles finished 3-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference. He coached All-Big Sky honorable mention selection Greg Peach, who went on to win the 2008 Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision.
 
Strandley was hired at CWU when John Zamberlin - a former EWU assistant coach from 1992-94 - took over as head coach in 1997. He helped the Wildcats compile a 57-36 record in nine seasons, including an 8-2 record in the 2005 season. Central won its last seven games and was undefeated in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The 2002 Central team, which finished 11-1 after an unbeaten regular season, was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2013.
 
Strandley lettered four years from 1991-94 at Idaho as a defensive lineman. He was Idaho’s 1993 defensive captain, and finished his career with 101 tackles. When he was a junior, the Vandals advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (then known as I-AA), and in 1994, Idaho led FCS in rushing defense (65.3 yards per game). He helped Idaho to a 35-14 record, three playoff berths and one Big Sky Conference title in four seasons under head coach John L. Smith.
 
Included were three victories in four games versus Eastern. Idaho lost to the Eagles 34-31 in overtime his freshman season, but then won the next three meetings by a combined score of 127-46. He had seven tackles, a sack and a pass broken up in four career games versus EWU.
 
After he graduated from Idaho, Strandley coached at Potlatch (Idaho) High School where he served as defensive coordinator and head junior varsity coach.
 
He’s a 1990 graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash. Strandley lettered in football and baseball, earning All-State honors as a defensive tackle when he and Baldwin led Curtis to the State AAA title in 1989. Eagle offensive line coach Aaron Best is also a Curtis grad (1996), and helped lead his school to a State title in 1995.
 
Strandley was born June 7, 1971, in Tacoma, Wash. He and his wife, Erika, have a daughter named Brianna (10) and a son named Owen (6, born Oct. 29, 2013).