© Craig Ehlo (right) will be an assistant coach under new head coach Jim Hayford at EWU (Photo: SWX)Craig Ehlo, a fixture on televised Gonzaga basketball games over the past several years in Spokane, has a new job. The former Washington State and NBA player has taken the position of assistant coach at Eastern Washington, the school announced Tuesday.
Ehlo played 14 seasons in the NBA. He also coached basketball at Rogers High School for three years before providing color commentary for the Zags alongside Greg Heister. His TV career began in 2003 as a sideline reporter for Gonzaga games in 2003 and has been a part of KHQ, SWX and FSN broadcasts for the last five years.
Ehlo will work under new Eagles head coach Jim Hayford, who recently left Whitworth to coach in Cheney. Hayford replaces Kirk Earlywine who was fired by the university after four seasons.
Eastern Washington also announced Tuesday the hiring of Craig Fortier and Shantay Legans.
"I thkink we have a fantastic staff in place to try and take our program to the next level," said Hayford in a statement.
Fortier was Hayford's lead assistant over the past four years at Whitworth where he helped the Pirates win 98 of 116 games. His wife is on the coaching staff at Gonzaga.
"Every game we won the last four years at Whitworth we did with Craig Fortier, so that's a big start there. Obviously, Craig Ehlo played in some legendary playoff games," added Hayford.
Legans is the lone holdover from Earlywine's staff. He'll be entering his third season as an assistant at Eastern Washington. He played basketball at both California and Fresno State and made it to the NCAA tournament twice.
