 Erickson in 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1947-03-24)March 24, 1947 (age 78) Everett, Washington, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | Everett |
| College | Montana State |
| Career history | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season | 40–56 (NFL) 2–4 (AAF) |
| Postseason | 5–7 (bowl) 1–2 (D-I-AA playoffs) |
| Career | 179–96–1 (college) 40–56 (NFL) 2–5 (AAF) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an Americanfootball coach who most recently served as the head coach for theSalt Lake Stallions of theAlliance of American Football (AAF) league. He was also the head coach at theUniversity of Idaho (1982–1985, 2006), theUniversity of Wyoming (1986),Washington State University (1987–1988), theUniversity of Miami (1989–1994),Oregon State University (1999–2002), andArizona State University (2007–2011). During his tenure at Miami, Erickson's teams won twonational championships, in1989 and1991. A coach who won conference championships with four different programs, his record as acollege football head coach is179–96–1 (.650).
Erickson was also the head coach of two teams in theNational Football League (NFL), theSeattle Seahawks(1995–1998) and theSan Francisco 49ers(2003–2004), and tallied a mark of40–56 (.417).
Erickson first retired on December 30, 2016, after 47 years in coaching.[1] In 2018, theAAF named Erickson as the head coach of the Salt Lake Stallions, bringing him out of retirement until the league disbanded after eight games of what was meant to be a ten-game season.[2]
Erickson was raised inFerndale, Washington, 100 miles (160 km) north ofSeattle, and inEverett, 25 miles (40 km) north ofSeattle.[3][4]His father, Robert "Pinky" Erickson,[5] was the head football coach atFerndale High School and later atCascade High Schoolin Everett.[6]The younger Erickson playedquarterback at the rivalEverett High, coached by next-door neighbor, Bill Dunn. This "made for some quiet dinners on game day." As a junior, Dennis was the starting quarterback, beating out the former starter, seniorMike Price, another future collegehead coach.[7]
Price, the son of the head coach ofEverett Junior College, was moved to defense as a safety. When Erickson leftWashington State forMiami in 1989, he recommended Mike Price (who got the job) as his replacement, and Price rented Erickson'sPullman home. Erickson had beaten out Price for the Washington State job in 1987. Six years earlier in 1981, Price had beaten Erickson out for the job atWeber State College inOgden, Utah. While atIdaho, Ericksonwas 2–2 in conference play against Price's Weber teams, and atOregon State, hewas 2–1 against Price's Washington State teams.
Erickson graduated from EHS in 1965 and accepted a football scholarship toMontana State inBozeman to play for head coachJim Sweeney,[8] and was a member of theSigma Alpha Epsilonfraternity.[9] He was an effective undersizedquarterback from1966 to1968, earning all-conference honors in theBig Sky.[10] Immediately after his senior season, Erickson began his coaching career as agraduate assistant for theBobcats in 1969. In 1970 at age 23, he was the head coach atBillings Central Catholic High School, staying for just a single season.
From 1971 to 1981 Erickson was a college assistant coach, working with the offense. Beginning at hisalma mater MSU in1971 underSonny Holland, he became anoffensive coordinator in1974 at theUniversity of Idaho under newly promoted head coach,Ed Troxel, and stayed inMoscow fortwo seasons.[11]
Erickson's college coach,Jim Sweeney, resigned from neighboringWashington State after the1975 season, soon moved toFresno State, and Erickson joined him as offensive coordinator for 1976.[12] After two years, Sweeney left to become an assistant with the NFL'sOakland Raiders underJohn Madden, and Erickson continued at Fresno in1978 under new head coachBob Padilla.
WhenJack Elway, a former Sweeney assistant at WSU, was hired atSan Jose State in1979, Erickson joined him for three seasons, again as the offensive coordinator. They instituted thespread offense, which Elway had picked up from his sonJohn's high school head coach,Jack Neumeier.[13] Erickson was a finalist for theWeber State job after the 1980 season, but lost out to high school teammate and friendMike Price; he finally got his head coaching chance following the1981 season.
Erickson's head coaching career began at age 34 at theUniversity of Idaho on December 11, 1981, succeedingJerry Davitch, who had been fired nine days prior to his final game (a one-point home loss against rivalBoise State). A pre-season playoff pick in Davitch's fourth season, Idaho finished1981 with six consecutive losses, winless in all seven games in theBig Sky. Erickson was hired by UI athletic director Bill Belknap and accepted a one-year contract at $38,001.[14][15][16]
Building on his reputation as an offensive innovator, Erickson became Idaho's all-time winningest head coach in just four seasons with theVandals (1982–85), taking them to theI-AA playoffs in his first and fourth seasons. In his first season of1982, Erickson took an underachieving (and injured) 3–8 team in 1981 and immediately turned it into an 8–3 playoff team, led bydecathlete quarterbackKen Hobart. Erickson's overall record with the Vandals was 32–15 (.680), 31–13 (.704) in the regular season and 1–2 in post season. He went 4–0 in therivalry game withBoise State, a team which had dominated the series by winning the previous five games.[17] (The winning streak against the Broncos reached 12 games; it was broken in1994 whenBSU advanced to theI-AA finals.)
His most notable recruits at Idaho were hisquarterbacks – futureNFL head coachScott Linehan, who had future Oakland Raiders head coachTom Cable blocking for him, and futureCollege Football Hall of FamerJohn Friesz, who hadMark Schlereth blocking for him. Erickson revived Vandal football and quickly turned it into a top I-AA program, whose success was continued for another decade by former assistantsKeith Gilbertson (1986–88) andJohn L. Smith (1989–94).
Before 1982, the Vandals had posted only four winning seasons in over four decades, and had not had consecutive winning seasons since1938. Idaho had three consecutive winning seasons only once (1903–05), and never had four. With Erickson's arrival as head coach, the program embarked on 15 consecutive winning seasons (1982–96), and eleven trips to the Division I-AA playoffs in fourteen seasons, including two appearances in the semifinals (1988,1993).
Erickson's compensation for his fourth and final year at Idaho in1985 was $47,940.[18]
In 2018, he was inducted into the University of Idaho Athletics Hall of Fame.[19]
On December 2, 1985, Erickson was introduced as the head coach of theWyoming Cowboys. His four-year contract included a base annual salary of $60,000 plus $20,000 from radio and television, and the rent-free use of a home inLaramie.[18] TheDivision I-A Cowboys had just concluded 3–8 season in1985, tied for seventh in the nine-teamWAC.
Erickson installed his "Air Express" form of thespread offense and led the Cowboys to 3–1 start in September, with road wins atAir Force andWisconsin. Wyoming finished at 6–6 season in1986, tied for fourth in the WAC with a 4–4 record. Erickson was approached by several teams during the winter. When the Washington State job opened up with Jim Walden accepting the head coaching job at Iowa State, Erickson decided to agree to join the Cougars in early January; the news broke out before Erickson could tell his players, which he later stated was among his big regrets.[20][21]
When introduced as the head coach of theWashington State Cougars of thePac-10 on January 7, 1987, Erickson stated that it was his lifelong goal to be the head coachat WSU.[22]His contract at WSU in1987 was a five-year deal at an annual base salary of $70,000, with up to $30,000 from radio, television, and speakingengagements.[23]He returned to thePalouse after just 13 months in Wyoming, then led the Cougars to3–7–1 in his first year, the same record the Cougars had the year before underJim Walden. Erickson turned around the Washington State program quickly, going9–3 in1988 with a post-season victory in theAloha Bowl, WSU's first bowl win since the1916 Rose Bowl. Erickson's continued success led to his hiring by theUniversity of Miamiin March1989,[24][25][26] although a week before he stated he was not leaving WSU.[23]
Expectations were very high at Miami, as Erickson replaced the successfulJimmy Johnson, who had led theHurricanes to ten or more wins each the previous four seasons and a national championship in 1987 before departing for the NFL'sDallas Cowboys. Erickson led Miami for six seasons (1989–1994), winning an undisputed national championship in 1989 and sharing the title with Washington in 1991. That gave Erickson more national championships than any other Miami coach. Erickson's .875 winning percentage (63–9) at Miami remains the highest in the history of the program.
Erickson's tenure crested with the 1991 shared title. A year later, the Hurricanes rolled through the regular season undefeated for the second year in a row behindHeisman Trophy-winning quarterbackGino Torretta. They went into the1993 Sugar Bowl, the firstBowl Coalition national title game, as heavy favorites againstAlabama. However, Alabama routed Miami 34-13, ending Miami's 29-game winning streak dating to 1990. His 1993 team went 9–3, the first season with fewer than ten wins for Miami since 1985. That team was drubbed 29–0 by Arizona in the1994 Fiesta Bowl. In September 1994, the Hurricanes lost, 38–20, to Washington at the Orange Bowl, snapping the Canes' NCAA record 58-game home win streak dating to 1985.
Moreover, in 1991 Miami self-reported rampant violations of NCAA rules dating back to 1985, Johnson's second year. However, when it emerged that an academic adviser had helped players fraudulently obtainPell Grants, the federal government asked Miami to stop its probe so the Department of Education could conduct an investigation of its own. Ultimately, Miami was placed on three years' probation not long after Erickson left the school, banned from postseason play in 1995 and docked 31 scholarships over three years. Erickson himself was not implicated in wrongdoing.[27]
In 2005, he was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame. Erickson was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentaryThe U, which premiered December 12, 2009, onESPN.[28][29]
After turning down offers from both theDenver Broncos andPhiladelphia Eagles, Erickson accepted an offer to coach theSeattle Seahawks in January1995 for about $1 million per year, compared to the estimated $700,000 in his final year at Miami.[30] In his first season, he switched starting quarterbacks from the #2 overall pick in the1993 NFL draft,Rick Mirer, and went toJohn Friesz, whom he recruited toIdaho in1985. Friesz guided the Seahawks to their second[31] biggest comeback win ever in a game, rallying from 20–0 down at the half after Mirer had started, and took the Seahawks to the final week of the season with an 8–7 record after starting 2–6 and a playoff berth on the line only to lose to Kansas City and finish 8–8. In 1996, the Seahawks finished 7–9, Erickson's worst record with the team.1997 saw an ownership change in Seattle, in which Microsoft co-founderPaul G. Allen purchased the team from then ownerKen Behring and helped pass a referendum for a new stadium to be built; that season, the Seahawks had one of the best passing offenses in the league, only to finish 8–8 after an 0–2 start in which they were outscored 76–17 in two home losses. After the season, Erickson, who had been told by new owner Paul Allen that he would return in1998, had to fire longtime friend and assistant the special teams coachDave Arnold and replace him withPete Rodriguez.
With a revamped lineup led by 1997 passing leaderWarren Moon, the Hawks flew out of the gate in 1998 with a three-game winning streak (including a Kickoff Weekend shutout of the Eagles atVeterans Stadium), but stumbled and lost their next three games. Later in the year, with the team playing at .500, he turned toJon Kitna to lead the offense, and they responded with a close win at home against theTennessee Oilers before going on the road to New York to play the Jets. In a hotly contested game that many viewed as the best combined offensive performances of 1998, the game came down to a blown call on a short touchdown run by Jets quarterbackVinny Testaverde (where he was ruled to have scored despite replay evidence clearly showing his forward progress had been stopped short of the goal line), which cost Seattle the game and Erickson his job. This game would be cited as one of the main reasons the NFL restored its instant replay review system following the season.
The final year of Erickson's NFL contract for1999 was valued at $1.3 million.[32]
In January1999, Erickson returned to the college ranks when he was hired atOregon State University inCorvallis,[33][34] with a five-year contract at $300,000 per year.[35][36][37] TheOSU Beavers had become one of three perennial "cellar dwellers" in the Pacific-10 Conference;[38][39][40] expectations were so low that Erickson's predecessor,Mike Riley, was promoted to an NFL head coaching position with theSan Diego Chargers after leading the Beavers to a 5–6 record in1998.
In his first season, Erickson directed the Beavers to a 7–5 record, the program's first winning seasonin 29 years. They secured an invitation to theOahu Bowl—their first bowl appearancein 35 years, and Erickson received an improved contract.[41]
Thefollowing year, Oregon State went 11–1, snapped a 33-year losing streak to theUSC Trojans, and earned a share of the Pac-10 conference championship for the first time since the conference expanded to ten teams in 1978. It was the first time the Beavers won at least a share of a conference championship since1964. Oregon State began to develop a national reputation for its high-powered offense and a swarming defense.[42] In fact, the team barely missed an invitation to play in the national BCS title game due to a late-in-the-game missed field goal againstWashington. The win over USC did, however, help Erickson's crew clinch a spot in theFiesta Bowl against theNotre Dame Fighting Irish—the Beavers' first major-bowl appearance since the1965 Rose Bowl. Oregon State won 41–9, in what is generally considered to be one of Erickson's crowning career achievements.
At the close of the 2000 season's bowl games, the Beavers were ranked fourth nationally in theAP Poll, their highest final ranking ever.[43] Some media outlets suggested Oregon State would have been a favorite to win the BCS Championship at theOrange Bowl had they been selected.[44][45][46][47]
Before the2001 season,Sports Illustrated ranked Oregon State as the number one team in the nation.[48] However, a lack of returning talent from the 2000 team took its toll, and the Beavers went 5–6. Among the players who hail from Erickson's high-octane 2000 team areNFL starsChad Johnson andT. J. Houshmandzadeh; both were selected in the2001 NFL draft by theCincinnati Bengals.
Erickson was namedSporting News National Coach of the Year in 2000, and his name came up for several high-profile college football positions.[49] In late 2000, Erickson was a primary choice to fill the vacant position atUSC, however he spurned a $7.2 million, five-year contract to remain with the Beavers, and the position eventually went toPete Carroll.[50][51]
Erickson remained coach at Oregon State for four seasons (1999–2002) before accepting another coaching position in the NFL. His early departure left some OSU fans angry with him for not finishing-out his contract, but he is still credited with playing a leading role in reviving the Beavers football program.Mike Riley returned to Corvallis to succeed Erickson as head coach in2003.
In 2020, he was inducted into the Beavers Athletic Hall of Fame.[52]
Erickson returned to the NFL in February2003 with theSan Francisco 49ers, and received a five-year contract at $2.5 million per year.[53][54]The 49ers had serious salary cap problems, and Erickson lasted just two seasons before being fired, along withgeneral managerTerry Donahue, after a 2–14 season in2004.[55] The hiring of Erickson was very surprising and highly criticized by the fans and the media after a longer-than-usual coaching search to replace the fired coachSteve Mariucci. This move was the first strong indicator that the fans believed thatJohn York was not cut out to be the owner of the team after taking over the franchise from his brother-in-lawEdward J. DeBartolo, Jr. in 2000. The search began without much direction and several candidates in the coaching search withdrew from consideration. When the 49ers had reportedly named their finalists, threedefensive coordinators were named. But the offensive-minded Erickson ended up being hired and due to the timing of the hiring, Erickson did not have the time to properly assemble his coaching staff. The 49ers' offense had mostly players who specialized in theWest Coast Offense that Mariucci ran. But the aggressive style of offense that Erickson is known for deviated greatly from that scheme and the hybrid scheme that Erickson tried to employ in order to maintain parts of the West Coast Offense and ease the transition to his offense never worked out. After two seasons, Erickson was fired with three years remaining on his contract; he did not coach during the 2005 season.
On February 8,2006, theUniversity of Idaho announced the re-hiring of Erickson as its head football coach. Erickson had won 32 games in his first four seasons as a head coach (1982–85) to establish Idaho as a top I-AA program in theBig Sky Conference. The Vandals moved up to Division I-A in 1996 but had not had a winning season since 1999. Idaho had just completed its first season in theWAC in2005 when previous head coachNick Holt resigned in early February, after just two seasons. He left to take a higher paying assistant's job in the NFL, as thedefensive line coach for theSt. Louis Rams under new head coachScott Linehan, a former Vandal quarterback and offensive coordinator. After a few days, Holt reconsidered and accepted another job back atUSC, asdefensive coordinator underPete Carroll for even more money, more than double his salary at Idaho.[56]
When asked at his introductory press conference if Idaho was indeed a long-term arrangement, Erickson responded, "You want to look at the age on my driver's license?...This, hopefully, is going to be my last job."[57] Erickson's rejuvenated2006 Vandals broke to a 4–3 record and were and 3–0 in the WAC, then lost the final five conference games to finish at 4–8 overall and sixth in the WAC. Erickson was paid $215,000 by Idaho and nearly $2.3 million by the 49ers for the fourth year of his NFL contract.[58]
After just ten months back at Idaho, Erickson left again for the opportunity to lead his fourthBCS program.Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love hired him on December 9 to replace recently firedDirk Koetter, who had finished the2006 regular season at 7–5. Arizona State was Erickson's third head coaching stint in the Pac-10, after Washington State and Oregon State.
Arizona State paid $2.8 million to Koetter and a $150,000 buyout to Idaho to complete the hiring of Erickson to a five-year contract. He immediately paid dividends at ASU, leading the Sun Devils to a 10–2 regular season record in2007, a share of the Pac-10 title, and a berth in theHoliday Bowl. Erickson was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year; the first to ever win the award at three different Pac-10 schools. He also coached another major award winner; placekickerThomas Weber was named theLou Groza Award winner. Erickson worked for the relatively low salary of $500,000 from ASU in his first season, with another $2 million paid by the 49ers for the last year of his NFL contract. The remaining four years of the original ASU contract paid $1.275 million per year.[59] In 2008 the Arizona Board of Regents had approved a contract extension to keep Erickson at Arizona State through June 2012.[60]
Erickson's early success at ASU was not sustained, as the Sun Devils failed to have another winning season and lost three of fourTerritorial Cup rivalry games againstArizona. In his final four seasons, Erickson was 21–28 overall and 14–22 in conference. After opening the2011 season with a promising 6–2 record, Arizona State suffered four straight Pac-12 defeats in November to end the regular season, and Erickson was fired on November 28.[61] He was allowed to coach in theirbowl game on December 22, but ASU was soundly beaten 56–24 byBoise State in theMaaco Bowl inLas Vegas for their fifth consecutive loss.
In February 2013, Erickson came out of retirement to join the staff at theUniversity of Utah as the co-offensive coordinator withBrian Johnson under head coachKyle Whittingham. In announcing the hire, Erickson is quoted "Being around football players and coaches has been my life and that's why I am coming out of retirement, I will do whatever I can to help the players and coaches at Utah be successful and I am excited to get back out on the football field." Erickson retired on December 30, 2016, after 47 years of coaching.[62]
In 2018, Erickson was named the head coach of the Salt Lake Stallions, a team part of the Alliance of American Football, set to play in 2019.[2] On April 2, 2019, the AAF suspended operations, and went bankrupt on April 17.[63]
Erickson and his wife, Marilyn,[64] have two sons: Bryce and Ryan.[65] Erickson hired Bryce to the Arizona State staff, as a graduate assistant for his first two seasons.[66] In 2012, Bryce became the head coach atSouth Albany High School in Albany, Oregon.[67] Later that year, he was hired as an assistant coach forIdaho.[68]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| SEA | 1995 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA | 1996 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 4th in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA | 1997 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA | 1998 | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3rd in AFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SEA Total | 31 | 33 | 0 | .484 | - | - | - | |||
| SF | 2003 | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 3rd in NFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SF | 2004 | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 4th in NFC West | – | – | – | – |
| SF Total | 9 | 23 | 0 | .281 | - | - | - | |||
| Total[69] | 40 | 56 | 0 | .417 | ||||||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| SL | 2019 | 2 | 5 | 0 | .286 | |||||
"Out of Everett,"The Seattle Times'Pacific Magazine, Sunday, August 13, 1995, p. 12–17.
| International | |
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| National | |
