[Vision2020] Idaho Statesman: Erickson in

[Ron Force]

Article published Feb 8, 2006

Vandals hire Erickson to lead football program

The University of Idaho has scheduled a press conference for 6:30 p.m. MST
today to announce Dennis Erickson as their new football coach.

The popular Erickson is returning to the Moscow campus, where he won 32
games and a Big Sky Conference championship in four previous seasons with
the program (1982-85).

He went on to win two national championships at the University of Miami and
became a head coach in the NFL with San Francisco and Seattle.

A public reception is scheduled for tonight, following the press conference
on campus.

Erickson, 58, replaces Nick Holt, who resigned Sunday after two seasons with
the program. He left to become the defensive line coach with the St. Louis
Rams of the NFL, then changed his mind Tuesday and took a job as defensive
coordinator at Southern California.

Erickson did not coach last season after being fired by the 49ers, who are
paying him $2.5 million per year as part of a contract buyout.

Holt earned about $205,000 a year with the Vandals.

“It’s not about the money, it’s about coaching 
 I’m a coach,’’ Erickson
said earlier this week. “It’s all I’ve done all my life. Making me sit out
last year made me appreciate it even more.”

Erickson has been living outside San Jose, Calif., and maintains a vacation
home on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The only football coaches with better career records at Idaho were two
former Erickson assistants: Keith Gilbertson (28-9, .757) from 1986-88 and
John L. Smith (53-21, .716) from 1989-94.

Erickson guided the University of Miami to national championships in 1989
and 1991. He coached in the NFL for six years, posting a 40-56 record with
Seattle and San Francisco.