Feb. 18—Just a couple of weeks after finalizing its 2026 recruiting class, Eastern Washington’s football program is now looking to fill three vacancies on its coaching staff.
The three departing coaches — Eric Sanders, Jaylen Johnson and Wes Nurse, whose names have all been removed from the Eagles’ 2026 roster — are headed to Montana, sources confirmed.
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Sanders will be Montana’s defensive coordinator, and Johnson will coach the defensive line. Those are the same roles they held at Eastern. Nurse will coach safeties.
The moves were set in motion when Montana head coach Bobby Hauck announced his retirement from head coaching on Feb. 4, which happened to be National Signing Day for college football programs.
That led to a reshuffling of the Grizzlies coaching staff, starting with the promotion of wide receivers coach Bobby Kennedy to the head coach position. All but one of Montana’s defensive coaches then departed, some leaving to join Hauck at Illinois, which officially named Hauck as its new defensive coordinator on Feb. 9.
With spots to fill, Montana started by choosing Sanders as its own new defensive coordinator, with Johnson and Nurse joining as assistants. The moves have not yet been officially announced by either program.
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Sanders spent the past three years on the Eagles staff, the last two as defensive coordinator. After the Eagles ranked in the Big Sky Conference’s bottom third from 2022 to 2024 in nearly every defensive category, they improved across the board under Sanders in 2025. During conference play last season, Eastern’s defense ranked sixth in scoring defense (29 points per game), seventh in total yards (412.5 per game), 10th in rushing (192.8) and fourth against the pass (219.8).
Johnson joined the Eagles staff in 2024; Nurse had coached Eastern’s cornerbacks since 2022 and last year added the duties of recruiting coordinator.
Eastern has not announced how it plans to fill the vacancies. Two defensive coaches remain: Zach Bruce, who coached the safeties and some special teams units last season while also holding the title of co-defensive coordinator with Sanders; and Caleb Padilla, who joined the staff 12 months ago to coach the team’s linebackers.
Bruce is entering his seventh season on the Eagles coaching staff. He played safety for the Eagles from 2012 to 2016.
