Paul Louis Wulff (born February 25, 1967) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
coach and former player. In December 2022, he was appointed head coach at
California Polytechnic State University. Wulff previously served as the head coach at
Eastern Washington University from 2000 to 2007 and at
Washington State University
Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...
from 2008 to 2011, compiling an overall record of 62–80. As a student-athlete, he played on the
offensive line
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...
at Washington State during the late 1980s, earning honorable mention
All-American honors following his senior season in 1989.
Early life and playing career
Born in
Woodland, California
Woodland is a city in and the county seat of Yolo County, California, located approximately northwest of Sacramento, and is a part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. The population was 61,032 at the 2020 census.
Woodland's origins date to 1 ...
, Wulff graduated from
Davis Senior High School in
Davis in 1985. Following his senior year, Wulff was selected to the Optimist All-Star Football Game held in
Hughes Stadium. He accepted a scholarship from head coach
Jim Walden
Jim Walden (born April 10, 1938) is a former American football player He was the head coach at Washington State University from 1978 to 1986 and at Iowa State University from 1987 to 1994, compiling a career college football record of over
Pl ...
to attend Washington State University in
Pullman, and
redshirted
Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...
his first year in 1985.
Wulff started four games at
guard
Guard or guards may refer to:
Professional occupations
* Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault
* Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street
* Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning
* Prison ...
for the
Cougars
The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...
as a redshirt freshman in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
. Later a
center
Center or centre may refer to:
Mathematics
*Center (geometry), the middle of an object
* Center (algebra), used in various contexts
** Center (group theory)
** Center (ring theory)
* Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...
, he was a starter on the offensive line from 1986 to 1989 under three different head coaches: Walden,
Dennis Erickson
Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ...
, and
Mike Price.
During his junior year in
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, the Cougars were led by Erickson and quarterback
Timm Rosenbach
Timm Lane Rosenbach (born October 27, 1966) is an American college football coach and former professional gridiron football player. Rosenbach was the head football coach at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado, taking the position at t ...
, and scored an upset over top-ranked
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
on the road, the first of five consecutive wins to close out the season. WSU tied for third in the
Pac-10, and won the
Apple Cup
The Apple Cup is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Washington Huskies and Washington State University Cougars, the two largest universities in the state of Washington. Both are members of the North Division of th ...
and the
Aloha Bowl
The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium.
History
The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Mack ...
. It was Washington State's first bowl game in seven years and their first post-season victory in 63 years, since the
Rose Bowl in January
1916
Events
Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix.
January
* January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled.
* J ...
.
WSU finished at 9–3 and sixteenth in both major polls.
In his senior year under Price, the Cougars won six of their first seven games and were ranked fifteenth in mid-October.
After two close losses,
Wulff had an emergency
appendectomy on Halloween and missed the final two games,
both defeats, and WSU finished at 6–5 with no bowl.
Still, Wulff was selected for All-Pac-10 Second Team status and ''
Sporting News'' All-America honorable mention in 1989.
Following graduation in 1990, Wulff signed as an undrafted free agent with the
New York Jets of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL), but was released during the 1990 preseason. During the spring of 1991, he played for the
Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks in the newly created
World League of American Football
NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...
(WLAF). The team went winless (0–10) in its inaugural season and was folded. Wulff continued to play for another season in the league with the
New York/New Jersey Knights
The New York/New Jersey Knights was a franchise in the World League of American Football for the 1991 and 1992 seasons. They played in the North American East division, which they won in the 1991 season. They were coached by Mouse Davis, an archit ...
, before ending his active career.
Coaching career
Wulff began his coaching career in 1993 as a volunteer assistant under head coach
Dick Zornes
Dick Zornes (born June 15, 1944) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He was the head football coach at Eastern Washington University in Cheney from 1979 to 1993, compiling a record. Zornes also serve ...
at
Eastern Washington University in
Cheney. Zornes retired after that season and assistant coach
Mike Kramer
Michael David Kramer (born July 25, 1955) is a former American football coach and former player, most recently the head football coach at Idaho State University of the Big Sky Conference. Kramer was previously the head coach at two other schools ...
was promoted to head coach, who hired Wulff to a full-time position.
After four seasons as the Eagles' offensive line and strength coach, Wulff added offensive coordinator duties in 1998. When Kramer departed for conference rival Montana State after the 1999 season, the school named Wulff his successor. During his eight seasons as EWU's head coach, Wulff compiled an overall record of 53 wins and 40 losses; the Eagles won two Big Sky Conference
The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...
co-championships (2004 and 2005) and appeared three times in the Division I-AA (FCS) playoffs. Wulff earned Big Sky Coach of the Year honors in 2001, 2004, and 2005.
Wulff returned to his alma mater after the 2007 season when he was named the 31st head football coach at Washington State on December 10.[ He was the second alumnus to head the Cougar football program, after ]Phil Sarboe
Philip John Sarboe (August 22, 1911 – November 19, 1985) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at the State College of Washington—now Washington State University—and professionally in National Football League ...
in the late 1940s.[ After compiling a 9–40 record during four losing seasons at WSU, Wulff was fired on November 29, 2011, and left with the lowest winning percentage () in school history. His teams only won four games in Pacific-10 Conference play, including a winless 0–9 conference mark in 2009—part of an overall record of 1–11, the worst in the school's modern football history.
In May 2012, Wulff joined former Pac-10 foe Jim Harbaugh as an offensive assistant with the ]San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
, with multiple duties on that side of the ball. In January 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
, he was hired as the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at the University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...
in Tampa.
Following almost three years as an offensive line assistant for the Mustangs
The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...
, Wulff was named head coach at Cal Poly in December 2022.
Personal life
As a youth, Wulff's mother went missing. Although her body was discovered in 1979, 48 days after her disappearance, it was not correctly identified until 2020. The youngest of four children, he went to live with relatives, first with an uncle, then with his oldest brother.
Wulff met his first wife Tammy Allen at WSU and they married in 1993. Diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in early 1997, she battled for over five years, but succumbed in March 2002. Wulff and his second wife Sherry have three children.[
]
Head coaching record
References
External links
Sacramento State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wulff, Paul
1967 births
Living people
American football centers
Eastern Washington Eagles football coaches
New York/New Jersey Knights players
Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks players
Sacramento State Hornets football coaches
San Francisco 49ers coaches
South Florida Bulls football coaches
Sportspeople from Greater Sacramento
Washington State Cougars football coaches
Washington State Cougars football players
Davis Senior High School (California) alumni
People from Woodland, California
Coaches of American football from California
Players of American football from California