Missouri tight ends coach Bruce Walker is no stranger to the Central Washington head coaching job. He interviewed for the position last year.

Walker was supposedly the runner-up to Beau Baldwin last year, and is considered the favorite – at least in-house - going into this year’s round of interviews.

Walker, 47, has strong ties to Central Washington. He played for CWU’s winningest coach, Tom Parry, before he was the offensive and defensive line coach for eight years. He also severed as the offensive coordinator during the 1994 and 1995 seasons. Walker’s best known for overseeing a 1995 NAIA national championship team that totaled a school-record 6,446 yards in 14 games.

Blaine Bennett, the head football coach at Lafayette Jefferson High School in Lafayette, Ind., is the fan favorite according to a poll on the Ellensburg (Wash.) Daily Record website. Bennett has no ties to the university except that he is the son of Shorty Bennett, a successful high school coach who led Ellensburg High School to the 1973 WIAA Class AA state championship.

All interviews will take place on the Central Washington campus this week and an offer will be extended after the interviews are completed.

Here’s a little six degrees of separation for you…

Beau Baldwin left Central Washington to become the coach at Eastern Washington. Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff accepted the Washington State job, the same job that Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen interviewed. Had Christensen gotten that job, Walker probably would not be interviewing for CWU.

If you’re a Mizzou fan, I suppose losing Walker is the lesser of two evils