Dennis Erickson

Early life

Erickson was raised in Ferndale, Washington, 100 miles (160 km) north of Seattle, and in Everett, 25 miles (40 km) north of Seattle. His father, Robert "Pinky " Erickson, was the head football coach at Ferndale High School before becoming the head coach at Cascade High School in Everett. 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 for Miami in 1989, he recommended Mike Price (who got the job) as his replacement and rented Erickson's Pullman 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 at Weber State College in Ogden, Utah. While at Idaho, Erickson was 2-2 in conference play against Price's Weber teams. At Oregon State, Erickson was 2-1 against Price's Washington State teams, not playing in 2002.

Erickson graduated from Everett High School in 1965 and accepted a football scholarship to Montana State in Bozeman to play for head coach, Jim Sweeney. There, he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Erickson was an effective undersized quarterback from 1966 to 1968, earning all-conference honors in the Big Sky. Immediately after his senior season, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant for the Montana State 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 to 1981 Erickson was a college assistant coach, working with the offense. Beginning at his alma mater, Montana State University, in 1971 under Sonny Holland, he became an offensive coordinator in 1974 at the University of Idaho under newly promoted head coach, Ed Troxel, and stayed for two seasons.

Erickson's college coach, Jim Sweeney, resigned from neighboring Washington State after the 1975 season. He then moved to Fresno State in 1976, and Erickson followed him to be the offensive coordinator for Sweeney's first three seasons. When Jack Elway, a former Sweeney assistant at Washington State, was hired at San Jose State in 1979, Erickson joined him for three seasons, again as the offensive coordinator. They instituted the spread offense, which Elway had picked up from his son John's high school coach, Jack Neumeier. 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 head coaching chance following the next season.

Idaho

Erickson's head coaching career began at age 34 at the University of Idaho. He was hired on December 11, 1981, to succeed Jerry Davitch, who had been fired nine days prior to his final game (a one-point home loss against rival Boise State). A pre-season playoff pick, Idaho finished the disappointing 1981 season with six consecutive losses, and were winless in seven games in the Big Sky. Erickson was hired by UI athletic director Bill Belknap and accepted a one-year contract at $38,001.

Building on his reputation as an offensive innovator, Erickson became Idaho's all-time winningest head coach in just four seasons with the Vandals (1982–85), taking them to the I-AA playoffs in his first and fourth seasons. In his first season of 1982, Erickson took an underachieving (and injured) 3–8 team in 1981 and immediately turned it into an 8–3 playoff team, led by decathlete quarterback Ken 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 the rivalry game with Boise State, a team which had dominated the series by winning the previous five games. (The winning streak against the Broncos reached 12 games; it was broken in 1994 when BSU advanced to the I-AA finals.)

His most notable recruits at Idaho were his quarterbacks - future NFL head coach Scott Linehan, who had future Oakland Raiders head coach Tom Cable blocking for him, and future College Football Hall of Famer John Friesz, who had Mark 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 assistants Keith Gilbertson (1986–88) and John 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 since 1938. 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 11 trips to the Division I-AA playoffs in 14 seasons.

Erickson's compensation for his fourth and final year at Idaho was $47,940.

Wyoming

Erickson was introduced as the head coach of the Division I-A Wyoming Cowboys on December 2, 1985. 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 in Laramie. The Cowboys had just concluded 3-8 season in 1985, tied for seventh in the nine-team WAC. He installed his "Air Express" form of the spread offense and led the Cowboys to 3–1 start in September, with road wins at Air Force and Wisconsin. Wyoming finished at 6–6 season in 1986, tied for fourth in the WAC with a 4–4 record. He left Wyoming without notice after accepting the head coaching job at Washington State in early January.

Washington State

When Erickson was introduced as the head coach of the Washington State Cougars of the Pac-10 on January 7, 1987, he stated that it was his lifelong goal to be the head coach at WSU. His contract at WSU in 1987 was a five-year deal at an annual base salary of $70,000, with up to $30,000 from radio, television, and speaking engagements. He returned to the Palouse after just 13 months in Wyoming, then led the Cougars to 3–7–1 in his first year, the same record the Cougars had the year before under Jim Walden. Erickson turned around the Washington State program quickly, going 9–3 in the 1988 season and leading the Cougars to a post-season victory in the Aloha Bowl, their first bowl win since the 1916 Rose Bowl. Erickson's continued success led to his hiring by the University of Miami in March 1989, although a week before he stated he was not leaving WSU.

Miami

Expectations were very high at Miami, as Erickson replaced the successful Jimmy Johnson, who had led the Hurricanes to ten or more wins each the previous four seasons and a national championship in 1987 before departing for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. Erickson led Miami for six seasons (1989–1994), winning national championships in 1989 and 1991. That gave Erickson more national championships than any other Miami coach. Erickson's 0.875 winning percentage (63–9) at Miami remains the highest in the history of the program. However, his 1993 team went 9–3, the first season with fewer than ten 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.

Moreover, in 1991 Miami self-reported rampant violations of NCAA rules dating back to 1985. However, when it emerged that an academic adviser had helped players fraudulently obtain Pell 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.

Erickson was interviewed about his time at the University of Miami for the documentary The U, which premiered December 12, 2009, on ESPN.

Seattle

After turning down offers from both the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles, Erickson accepted an offer to coach the