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Dennis Erickson (born March 24 , 1947 , in Everett, Washington ) is the Head Coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils Football team. He has been the head coach of six College Football programs and two NFL franchises. EARLY LIFE Erickson was raised in Everett , twenty five miles north of Seattle . His father, Robert "Pink" Erickson, was a high school head football coach at Cascade High School. The younger Erickson played Quarterback at the rival Everett 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, senior Mike Price , another future college head coach. Price, the son of the head coach of Everett Junior College, was moved to defense (as a safety). When Erickson left Washington State in 1989, he recommended Mike Price as his replacement, who got the job, and rented Erickson's Pullman home. Erickson had beaten out Price for the job in 1987. Six years earlier in 1981, Price had beaten Erickson out for the job at Weber State in Ogden, Utah . While at Idaho, Erickson was 2-2 vs. Price's Weber teams. At Oregon State, Erickson was 2-1 against Price's Washington State teams, not playing in 2002. In 1965 , Erickson graduated from Everett High School and accepted a football scholarship to Montana State in Bozeman to play for head coach Jim Sweeney . Erickson was an effective undersized Quarterback (quick feet, marginal arm) from 1966 - 68 , earning all-conference honors in the Big Sky . Immediately after his senior season, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Bobcats in 1969 . In 1970 , at age 23, Erickson became the head coach at Billings Central Catholic High School , staying for just a single season. ASSISTANT COACHING From 1971-81, Erickson was a collegiate assistant coach, working with the offense. Beginning at his Alma Mater , Montana State , in 1971 under Sonny Holland, he became an offensive coordinator in 1974 at Idaho under newly promoted head coach Ed Troxel , and stayed for two seasons. When Erickson's college coach Jim Sweeney resigned from neighboring Washington State after the 1975 season, then hired at Fresno State in 1976 , Erickson followed him to Fresno be the offensive coordinator for Sweeney's first three seasons. When Jack Elway , a former Sweeney assistant at WSU, was hired at San Jose State in 1979 , Erickson joined him for three seasons, again as the offensive coordinator. Erickson was a finalist for the Weber State job after the 1980 season, but lost out to his high school teammate and friend, Mike Price . Erickson would finally get his chance following the next season. HEAD COACHING Idaho (I) Erickson's head coaching career began in December 1981 , at age 34, when he was hired at the University Of Idaho , succeeding Jerry Davitch . Building on his reputation as an offensive innovator, Erickson became Idaho's all-time winningest head coach in just four seasons with the and John Friesz . Erickson had revived Vandal football, turning it into a top I-AA program whose success was continued for another decade by Keith Gilbertson and John L. Smith . Wyoming and Washington State He took his "spread offense" with him to Division I-A Wyoming in 1986 for a single season, then returned to the Palouse with Washington State of the Pac-10 for the 1987 season, going 3-7-1. Erickson turned around the Washington State program quickly, going 9-3 in the 1988 season and leading the normally average Cougars to a win in the Aloha Bowl . This success led to his hiring by the University Of Miami the following season. Miami Expectations were very high at Miami, as Erickson replaced the successful Jimmy Johnson , who had led the Hurricanes to 10-win season in the previous four seasons as well as a national championship before departing for an NFL head coach position. Erickson lead Miami for six seasons (1989-94), winning two national championships in 1989 and 1991. Erickson's .875 winning percentage (63-9) at Miami remains the highest in the history of the program. However, he was receiving heat from many Miami fans near the end of his tenure. His 1993 team went 9-3 - the first season with fewer than 10 wins for Miami since 1985 - and lost its bowl game 29-0 to Arizona. In September 1994, the Hurricanes lost 38-20 to Washington at the Orange Bowl, snapping the Canes' NCAA record 58-game home win streak. NFL (I) - Seattle Erickson was then hired as an NFL head coach, staying with the Seattle Seahawks for four seasons (1995-98), going 8-8 in his final season before being fired to make room for the available Mike Holmgren . A hotly-contested officiating call in the Seahawks' final game against the Jets in 1998 cost the Seahawks' the game and knocked them out of the playoffs. Had the call been made correctly, the team would have gone 9-7 and Erickson's job might have been spared. Oregon State Erickson made an immediate "u-turn" back to the college ranks in had become one of three perennial "cellar dwellers" in the Pac-10 . Expectations were so low that, before his arrival in Corvallis, Erickson's predecessor, Mike Riley , earned a position as head coach of the NFL's San Diego Chargers after leading the Beavers to a 5-6 record. In his first season, Erickson directed the Beavers to a 7-5 record, the program's first winning season in 28 years. Although, Erickson cannot take full credit for the program's seemingly sudden transformation. Mike Riley handed many great recruits over to the incoming Erickson in 1999. In the following year, Erickson's Beavers posted their best season in the program's 105 year history. "Oregon State Football History Database", ''NCAA Database'', updated periodically During that 11-1 season, Erickson's coaching helped snap a 26-year losing streak to the University Of Southern California Trojans . The monumental win helped the Beavers earn a share of the Pac-10 conference championship and gave Erickson a reputation for doing the impossible."Oregon State flies high after years of futility" - ''Oregon Daily Emerald'', 17-Nov-2000 For the program, it was the first conference title since 1964. The last time the Beavers beat USC was in the infamous "Mud Bowl" of 1967, a legendary Pac-10 game in which USC's OJ Simpson played."Oregon State Football" ''Arcadia Publishing'', Kip Carlson, Published 2006 By that point in the 2000 season, Erickson was garnering national respect in the sports media for orchestrating a bruising defense, known for lighting-quick speed, and a penetrating offense, loaded with high-flying talent."Pac-10 football: The best teams of the past 20 years" ''Mercury News'', Jon Wilner, 6-June-2007 In fact, the Beavers barely missed a national title game appearance due to a late-in-the-game missed field goal opportunity against the against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish . Many today view the Beaver's BCS bowl game appearance as one of Erickson's crowning career achievements."Fiesta Bowl (Recap)" ''USA TODAY'', By Greg Boeck, 2-Jan-2001 Nationally televised, the Beavers drubbed the Fighting Irish 41-9. It was one of the most humiliating nights ever for college football's most storied programs."Beavers stuff Notre Dame in Fiesta rout" ''Sports Illustrated'' 1-Jan-2001 "Notre Dame can't handle Oregon St.'s team speed" ''Sports Illustrated'' 1-Jan-2001 At the close of the 2001 bowl games, Erickson's Beavers ranked fourth nationally in the Associated Press top 25 College Football Poll"Associated Press Top 25 College Football Poll" ''Sports Illustrated'' 4-Jan-2001 with several college football insiders publicly stating OSU would have been a favorite in the Bowl Championship Series (2001 Orange Bowl ) had their record positioned them for selection.Pac(-10) mentality - ''Sports Illustrated'', Stewart Mandel " Sports Illustrated " 18-Aug-2003 "Pac-10's 2000 success has East Coast media taking notice" ''Sports Illustrated'' 14-Aug-2001 "Missing Link (2001 BCS Championship Recap)" ''AP'' 4-Jan-2001 "Getting the job done (2001 BCS Championship Recap)" ''AP'' 4-Jan-2001 This attitude seems to have also been shared by the writers at Sports Illustrated (SI). The magazine's 2001 scouting report had Beavers ranked as the number one team in the nation."After going 11-1 last year, the even-better Beavers are eager to take a shot at the title" ''Sports Illustrated'' Austin Murphy 13-Aug-2001 Unfortunately, the ranking was based mostly on the previous season's record, dominating bowl performance and the combined lack of quality competition recorded in the higher 2001 BCS bowls. Erickson's program experienced a sparsity of returning talent in 2001, which greatly diminished the team's performance in the upcoming season. This critical detail appears to have been overlooked by SI. OSU went 5-6, failing to approach the lofty ranking at anytime during the 2001 season. NFL stars, Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh , are two of today's high profile athletes who hail from Erickson's high-octane offense and were drafted in the spring of 2001. Despite Erikson's many successes while coaching at Oregon State, his tenure with this program was far from spotless. Local critics coined OSU an "Outlaw Program" after two of Erickson's players were arrested for battery. The team also racked up record-setting penalties while on the field during the 2000 season. "Content in Corvallis" ''Portland Tribune'' 19-June-2001 Aside from his shortcomings as a disciplinarian, Erickson was named Sporting News National Coach of the Year in 2000 and his name came up for several high-profile college football positions, including the head coaching position at USC. "Erickson a competitor to coach" ''Portland Tribune'' 19-June-2001 David Wharton, "All Signs Point to Carroll", ''Los Angeles Times'', December 14, 2000. Erickson remained coach at Oregon State for a total of 4 seasons (1999-2002) before accepting another coaching position in the NFL. His early departure left many OSU fans angry with him for betraying his contract, but most still credit him with righting a sunken ship. NFL (II) - San Francisco He chose to return to the NFL in 2003 with the San Francisco 49ers , a team with salary cap problems, and lasted just two seasons before being released along with General Manager Terry Donahue , going 2-14 in 2004 . The hiring of Erickson was very surprising and highly criticized. The 49ers had three defensive-minded head coaches as finalists for their head coaching vacancy, but the offensive-minded Erickson ended up being hired. The 49ers' offense had mostly players who specialized in the West Coast Offense that the previous head coach, Steve Mariucci , ran. But the aggressive style of offense that Erickson is known for deviated greatly from that scheme and the hybrid scheme that Erickson employed in order to maintain parts of the West Coast Offense never worked out. Erickson did not coach during the 2005 season. Erickson, in just two seasons as the 49ers head coach, managed to turn a playoff team into the worst team in the NFL, as well as hand the 49ers their worst season in the history of the franchise. Idaho (II) On February 8 , 2006 , the University Of Idaho announced the re-hiring of Dennis Erickson as its head football coach. Erickson won 32 games in his four seasons as the Vandals' head coach (1982-1985), then a I-AA program in the Big Sky Conference . Idaho moved up to Division I-A in 1996 . The former head coach, Nick Holt , resigned after just two seasons to take an assistant's job with the NFL's St. Louis Rams , then took another job a few days later at USC . Arizona State Erickson jumped ship again in December 2006 after just ten months at Idaho, where he had signed a five-year deal in February. Arizona State athletic director Lisa Love hired Erickson to replace Dirk Koetter as the head football coach on December 9 , 2006 . The Arizona State job is the third program in the Pac-10 Conference that he has coached. Arizona State paid Dirk Koetter $2.8 million and a $150,000 buyout to Idaho to complete the hiring of Erickson. Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said he was "very disappointed" in the coach's decision, stating he would have "never gone down that road" had he known Erickson was going to leave after just one season. Spear hired Robb Akey on December 20 , 2006 ; Akey's buyout is $1 million during the first two seasons of his contract. HEAD COACHING RECORDS REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
REFERENCES "Out of Everett," '' The Seattle Times' '' ''Pacific Magazine'', Sunday, August 13, 1995, p.12-17.
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