Why Washington State was always the dream job for assistant coach Eti Ena

Nearly 35 years after first drawing interest from the Cougars as a player, Ena finally found his way to Pullman as a member of Kirby Moore's staff

Washington State Cougars defensive tackles coach Eti Ena. | Robert Hubner

From a young age, Eti Ena’s life always had a Washington State Cougars football presence in it.

His uncle, Tali, would come to stay at the family house and tell stories about playing alongside legendary Cougars quarterback Jack Thompson in the late 1970s before going off to the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks.

When Ena’s father, Pat, landed a high school principal job at Inchelium on the Colville Indian Reservation, one of the universities that showed recruiting interest in the teenager after he led the high school team to a Class 1B championship in 1991 was WSU.

It didn’t work out then - and it took nearly 35 roundabout years for Ena to have another opportunity to come to Pullman.

But last December, after Kirby Moore was hired from Missouri to become the new Cougars’ coach, Ena was offered to join the staff as the defensive tackles coach, which he gladly accepted.

Sep 6, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Washington State head coach Kirby Moore on the sidelines against the Washington State Cougars during the fourth quarter at Husky Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“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.”

It just took a while to get there.

Out of high school, Ena played college football at two junior colleges before eventually ending up at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, where he also coached in two separate stints for nine combined seasons (2003-05; 2016-21).

He ended up closer to WSU, taking a defensive-line coaching position under former coach Robb Akey at Idaho from 2009-12.

September 15, 2012; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; Idaho Vandals head coach Robb Akey talks with Idaho Vandals safety Thaad Thompson (5) against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Idaho 63-14. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I knew Washington State was the place to get to,” Ena said.

For 15 more years, that was as close as he got to Pullman. After Idaho, Ena went to Cal Poly (2013-15), back to Eastern Washington, and then on to Hawaii (2022-23) and New Mexico State (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).”

After the New Mexico State coaching staff took off for the winter holiday break following last year’s 4-8 season, Ena and his wife were driving home to Inchelium when his phone began blowing up with calls from coaching friends.

They kept telling him the same thing: Moore looked like he was going to get hired at WSU to replace Jimmy Rogers.

Oct 25, 2025; Pullman, Washington, USA; Washington State Cougars head coach Jimmy Rogers looks on against the Toledo Rockets in the first half at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I had a lot of good people in my corner,” Ena said.

Apparently, enough mutual coaching friends reached out to Moore about Ena’s sterling reputation as an interior defensive line coach, because the newly hired WSU coach reached out to him days later to discuss a staff opening.

“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.”

Except Ena’s next drive down US-195 South stopped in Pullman - his new coaching home.

“In a lot of ways, it was surreal,” Ena said.