Eastern Washington University Athletics

Having spent four previous seasons at Eastern and graduating from nearby University High School, Heath Pulver returned in 2017 to serve as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator. He enters his fourth season in that role in 2020 after previous stints at Colorado State and Cal.

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. As tight ends coach, he helped senior Jayce Gilder receive third team All-Big Sky honors in 2019. Gilder caught 25 passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns.

As special teams coach, redshirt freshman kicker Seth Harrison earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors after going a perfect 12-of-12 kicking field goals to lead FCS in accuracy. He went on to earn first team Freshman All-America accolades after a season in which he also made 50-of-53 extra points and earned Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week honors once. Eastern also had a freshman punter in Nick Kokich, and senior Dre' Sonte Dorton returned a kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown.

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.

He coached a trio of players who earned a total of four All-Big Sky Conference honors. Roldan Alcobendas earned first team honors as both a punter and kicker on his way to winning the Fred Mitchell Placekicker Award and earning consensus FCS All-America honors. Long snapper Curtis Billen and tight end Henderson Belk earned third team honors from the league after stellar senior seasons. Belk, junior Jayce Gilder and two others combined to catch 38 passes for 537 yards and 12 touchdowns from the tight end position in 2018.

Alcobendas set a FCS record with the best perfect season kicking field goals, finishing 16-of-16 to be the only FCS player to be perfect on the season. He finished with a school-record 119 kick scoring points to rank second in Big Sky history, and also had a school-record 320 career points (sixth in Big Sky history). His streak of 70-straight extra points broke his own single season record of 63 consecutive in 2016, and he also set the career record for extra points in a row with 85 from 2016-17. In addition, he established new EWU season and career records for punting average – both at 44.9 per kick.
 
Led by the offensive line and tight ends, Eastern finished with a school-record 6.62 average per rushing attempt to break the previous record of 6.41 set in 2001. The Eagles also added to previous team records they broke for rushing yards (3,839) and rushing touchdowns (41).

The Eagles set school records in 2018 offensively for total points (647) and most games of 50 points or more (6, tied with the 2014 team), Eastern finished as the only school to rank in the top 20 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense, rushing and passing. The Eagles averaged 528.2 yards on offense to rank third in FCS, averaging 255.9 rushing (10th), 272.3 passing (20th) and 43.1 points per game (fourth).

In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). On special teams, Eastern was ninth in FCS at 24.3 per kickoff return in 2017 and ranked 16th in net punting (38.24). Eastern allowed just 3.50 yards by opponents on punt returns in 2017 to rank seventh nationally.
 
Punter Jordan Dascalo, on his way to becoming the lone Eagle to earn first team All-Big Sky honors in 2017, led the league and was 14th in FCS in average per punt (42.6). Thanks to a career-long 33-yard return in EWU's final game of the season against Portland State, junior Zach Eagle ranked 31st in FCS with an average of 6.8 yards per punt return.
 
Third team All-Big Sky selection Anfernee Gurley, who a year prior was leading his high school team (Archbishop Murphy in Everett, Wash.) to the State 2A Championship, closed his true freshman season in 2017 with 37 tackles, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. He went on to earn first team Freshman All-America honors from Hero Sports.
 
Before returning to EWU, Pulver had a short stint at Cal with former Eagle coaches Beau Baldwin and Nicholas Edwards. Previously, he spent five seasons at Colorado State working with special teams, including the 2012-14 seasons under former Eagle assistant coach Jim McElwain.
 
Before that, Pulver was tight ends coach and special teams assistant for the Eagles in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and two additional years as a student assistant working with the defense. He received his bachelor’s degree from EWU in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in art and history in 2009, and was part of EWU’s national championship team in 2010.
 
In the 2010 season, he coached honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference tight end Matt Martin, as well as a pair of young freshmen – Zack Gehring and Ryan Seto. That trio combined for 30 catches for 349 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern went on to finish 13-2 and win the NCAA Division I title.
 
A 2000 graduate of University High School in Spokane, Wash., Pulver redshirted as a defensive tackle at Eastern Oregon University in fall 2000. He returned and coached running backs at University High School from 2001-2002, then spent five years at Montana. He was a student manager for the Grizzlies in 2003, and from 2004-2007 he was a student assistant coach for the offense and special teams. He returned to Spokane and transferred to EWU in 2008.
 
Pulver was born May 24, 1981. He married Brittany Koehler on July 7, 2017. She was previously an athletic trainer at Colorado State.