For Eti Ena, Washington State wasn’t some random stop on the coaching map. It had been hanging around his life for decades, long before Pullman ever came calling with a real job.
As a kid, Ena heard Washington State stories at home from his uncle, Tali, who would stay with the family and talk about his days playing with legendary Cougars quarterback Jack Thompson in the late 1970s before moving on to the Seattle Seahawks. Years later, when Ena was the one making a name for himself, WSU popped back into the picture again: after he led his high school team at Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation to a Class 1B championship in 1991, one of the schools showing recruiting interest was Washington State.
That door didn’t open then, and Ena spent nearly 35 roundabout years taking the long way toward Pullman. Last December, though, the path finally bent his direction when Kirby Moore was hired from Missouri to take over as the Cougars’ coach and offered Ena the defensive tackles job.
“There are different routes in this thing we call life,” said Ena, who is 52 now. “When I got into the coaching world, with my wife (Latona) and family being in the Spokane area, it was like, if we could work anywhere we wanted at the college level, this (WSU) is where we’d love to be.”
Ena’s coaching journey made him wait, but it also gave him a resume built across the Northwest and beyond. After high school, he played at two junior colleges before landing at Eastern Washington in Cheney, where he later coached two separate stints for a combined nine seasons, from 2003-05 and again from 2016-21.
He also got closer to Pullman once before, taking a defensive-line job under Robb Akey at Idaho from 2009-12.
“I knew Washington State was the place to get to,” Ena said.
Even after that, the route kept twisting. He spent three seasons at Cal Poly from 2013-15, returned to Eastern Washington, then moved on to Hawaii in 2022-23 and New Mexico State in 2024-25.
“There were a couple times earlier I thought (a WSU coaching position) was going to come around, but didn’t,” Ena said. “I wasn’t keeping my hopes up because I know how things go in this (business).”
The opportunity finally surfaced in a very coaching-world kind of way. After New Mexico State’s staff broke for the winter holiday following a 4-8 season, Ena and his wife were driving back to Inchelium when his phone started lighting up with calls from coaching friends. The message was the same: Moore was expected to get the WSU job after Jimmy Rogers.
“I had a lot of good people in my corner,” Ena said.
Those connections eventually reached Moore, and the new Washington State coach called Ena about a staff opening. Trent Bray, the defensive coordinator, followed up too.
“And then Coach (Trent) Bray (the defensive coordinator) called me,” Ena said. “And they offered me the job right when it was almost time to go back to New Mexico State.”
This time, the road didn’t keep going. Ena’s drive on US-195 South ended in Pullman, where he finally landed the job he’d been circling for most of his life.
In Other News...
Washington State's Season Pressure Builds In A Brutal Trip To Oregon State
Washington State heads into Reser Stadium still trying to find its footing, and the matchup with Oregon State arrives with the Cougars staring at a 1-5 record and plenty of pressure to show something different on offense. The Beavers, meanwhile, come in at 4-2 and dealing with their own injury concerns, a setup that makes this a useful measuring stick for both sides as the Cougars look for any sign of progress.
The intrigue for Washington State is the reset under center, a move designed to give the offense a jolt in a season that has sputtered too often. Oregon States availability report also matters here, especially with key injuries thinning the Beavers, and the Cougars will be hoping those gaps can help them stay competitive on the road while fans follow along with the broadcast details and the latest pregame updates. [Read more 🡒]
Washington State Turns To Owen Eshelman As Offensive Pressure Mounts
The quarterback shuffle in Pullman has finally arrived after Washington State spent the early part of the season searching for more consistency on offense. Owen Eshelman is now the starter, giving the Cougars a new direction after a stretch of uneven production with Caden Pinnick under center, and head coach Kirby Moore pointed to Eshelmans preparation, leadership and readiness as reasons for the move.
For a team that has been waiting for the offense to find its footing, the timing matters as much as the decision itself. Washington State does not have much margin for error now, and the change adds a fresh layer of urgency heading into the next game as the Cougars try to solve a problem that has lingered for weeks. [Read more 🡒]
WSU Heads Into Oregon State With Key Week 1 Decisions Looming
Washington States first injury report of the week offered an early look at how much shuffling might be needed before the Cougars head to Oregon State. Linebacker Jack Ellison is no longer on the report, a positive sign as the team starts sorting through availability for a game that could hinge on depth and flexibility across both lines and the secondary.
The bigger concern is the cluster of players still listed as questionable, a group that includes key pieces on the edge, in the defensive backfield, and up front at left tackle. Linebacker Nylan Brown is already ruled out for the season, leaving Washington State with at least one long-term hole to manage while it waits to see how the rest of the week unfolds. [Read more 🡒]