Dennis Erickson

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Lifestyle

Family

American coach. Although he briefly coached in the National Football League, he was primarily known as one of the most successful college football coaches in history. A native of Everett, Washington, he was the son of a highly successful high school coach in both the Ferndale and Everett school districts. Erick attended Everett High School, where he played both football and basketball, and continued his education at Montana State University, where he was the starting quarterback from 1966-68. He earned first-team All-Big Sky Conference honors in 1967 and 1968, and set several state records. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education. Through his first 13 years of coaching at the collegiate level, Erickson experienced only one losing season. That came in 1987 in his first year at Washington State. During his career, he gave Idaho its first Big Sky Title in 14 years, took Washington State to the Aloha Bowl and coached the University of Miami team to two national titles. After a stint coaching for the Seattle Seahawks, he was let go with one year remaining on his contract, and on 1/12/1999, he was hired by Oregon State. At that time, he expressed his excitement about the upcoming challenge and stated that money isn’t a major motivator for him. In his first season with the Beavers, he coached them to their first winning season since 1970. He and his wife Marilyn have two sons, Bryce and Dennis. Link to Wikipedia biography