SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) -Eastern Washington coach Paul Wulff will become Washington State's new football coach, a person familiar with the hiring process told The Associated Press on Monday.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make the announcement, confirmed Wulff was picked from about seven candidates interviewed to replace Bill Doba.

Washington State has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday to introduce its new coach.

An athletic department spokesmen did not immediately return phone calls for comment and Wulff was not immediately reachable by phone.

Wulff, 40, has made no secret he wanted to return to coach at his alma mater, where he was an offensive lineman from 1985-1989 and played on the Cougars' 1988 Aloha Bowl team under Dennis Erickson.

Wulff has been coach at Eastern Washington, located about 90 miles north of Pullman in Cheney, since 2000 and was Big Sky Conference coach of the year in 2001, 2004 and 2005. EWU went 9-4 this season, losing 38-25 to Appalachian State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Dec. 1.

Wulff was 53-40 and was also the Eastern Washington's offensive coordinator (1998-1999) and offensive line coach (1994-1997).

Doba stepped down last month after a 5-7 season with the Cougars. He was 30-29 in five seasons as Washington State head coach after replacing Mike Price.