ASU Football: Reports indicate Cal Poly’s Beau Baldwin to take over as offensive coordinator

Less than a week after being named the 24th head coach of Sun Devil football, new head honcho Kenny Dillingham is moving fast to, as he puts it, activate the valley.

With the task of rebuilding the coaching staff as his first priority, Dillingham is pursuing his first big fish in the rough waters of college football. And he’s looking like he’ll reel in a shark in Cal Poly’s Beau Baldwin to serve as the Sun Devils’ new offensive coordinator, per Chris Karpman of Sun Devil Source.

An FCS coaching great, Baldwin was the head coach of an Eastern Washington program that claimed five Big Sky conference championships, six FCS playoff berths, and a national championship in 2010 in his eight-year tenure there. Baldwin’s Eagles also made some noise nationally when they defeated then-No. 25 Oregon State in 2013, and Washington State in 2016. His success earned him conference coach of the year honors in 2012 and 2013.

While his record at EWU is impeccable, Baldwin’s part in the development of the 2021 NFL receiving champion and Super Bowl 56 MVP is also notable. Cooper Kupp’s Eastern Washington career under Baldwin saw him set the NCAA record for career receiving yards, and the FCS high mark for career receptions and receiving touchdowns. It’s Baldwin’s work with Kupp that got him on the national map following the 2016 season, Kupp’s last at EWU.

Capitalizing on his FCS dominance, Baldwin made the move to Pac-12 rival Cal as the Bears’ offensive coordinator in 2017. While the talent pool certainly takes some of the blame, Baldwin’s offenses ranked last in two of his three years at Cal.

Needing a chance, Baldwin took his headset to Cal Poly starting in the 2020 season to be the head coach of the Mustangs. His troubles at Cal followed him into the head coaching position, where he went just 4-21 in his first three seasons there, before seemingly deciding to return to the offensive coordinator position at ASU.

As of Friday, only three coaches have been confirmed on ASU’s staff since the announcement of Dillingham taking the head position. Former interim head coach Shaun Aguano has been retained but his exact role is yet to be determined. New to the staff is Charlie Ragle, who comes from Idaho State to serve as an associate head coach and special teams coordinator, while former Sun Devil Vince Amey will hold the defensive linemen coaching duties.