ELLENSBURG, Wash. (AP) - Central Washington University on Friday named Blaine Bennett as its head football coach.

Bennett, 43, son of former Ellensburg High School and Whitworth College head coach Blaine "Shorty" Bennett, replaces Beau Baldwin, who resigned this month to become head coach at Eastern Washington.

Terms of Bennett's contract were not immediately available Friday.

Bennett most recently was coach at Lafayette Jefferson, Ind., High School after serving as an assistant coach at Michigan State and Purdue the past seven years. Before that, he was head football coach at Western Oregon University.

Bennett, who earned a master's degree in physical education from Washington State in 1990, was one of three finalists who interviewed for the job. The others were former CWU player and assistant coach and current Missouri tight ends coach Bruce Walker, and former Washington State assistant Timm Rosenbach.

"Each candidate brought a particular strength to the table, but I believe that Blaine brought the whole package," CWU athletic director Jack Bishop said in a news release. "I look forward to him transitioning the football program back into Great Northwest Athletic Conference play for years to come."

While coaching at Western Oregon, Bennett helped the school move from the NAIA to NCAA Division II level.

Bennett spent nine seasons at Western Oregon., including six as head coach, finishing with a 27-32 record from 1995-2000. He also was an assistant at Idaho and Chico State, and a graduate assistant at Washington State when the Cougars went to the Aloha Bowl in 1988.

Bennett's father was the head football coach at Ellensburg High School during the 1970s, where he led the Bulldogs to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Class AA state championship in 1973.

The younger Bennett graduated from Walla Walla High School in 1983.

He was a one-year starter at the University of Idaho, then started two years at quarterback for his father at Whitworth College in Spokane. He graduated from Whitworth in 1987 with a degree in secondary education and math.