In their inaugural season, the Salt Lake Stallions will have a College Football Hall of Fame inductee as their coach.
Dennis Erickson, a successful head coach at six schools, is a member of the class of 2019, which was announced Monday.
Erickson, 71, was a Utah assistant coach from 2013-16. He temporarily retired, before joining the Stallions in May when the Alliance of American Football was created. The team is in training camp in San Antonio, preparing for a Feb. 10 season opener.
Named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year at each of the three schools where he was the head coach, Erickson is best known for winning two national championships at Miami and reviving Oregon State’s program, taking the Beavers to a No. 4 ranking in 2000.
Erickson went 63-9 at Miami and 31-17 at OSU, giving him the best all-time winning percentage at each school. His overall record is 179-96-1 in 23 seasons at Idaho (two stints), Wyoming, Washington State, Miami, Oregon State and Arizona State. He also was an NFL head coach for six seasons with Seattle and San Francisco.
The Montana State alumnus is credited as an early practitioner of the one-back offensive scheme, now almost universally used at all levels of football. As Utah’s play-caller and co-offensive coordinator in 2013, he helped the Utes upset No. 5 Stanford, one of the program’s landmark wins in the Pac-12 era. He stayed on the staff as running backs coach the next three years as Utah posted winning records with three bowl victories, including a 10-3 season in 2015.
The other coach in the class of 2019 is Joe Taylor, who won four Black College national championships with Hampton and also was the head coach of Howard, Virginia Union and Florida A&M.
Players being honored are defensive back Terrell Buckley of Florida State, defensive back Rickey Dixon of Oklahoma, linebacker London Fletcher of John Carroll, defensive lineman Jacob Green of Texas A&M, receiver Torry Holt of North Carolina State, receiver Raghib Ismail of Notre Dame, running back Darren McFadden of Arkansas, quarterback Jake Plummer of Arizona State, defensive back Troy Polamalu of USC, offensive lineman Joe Thomas of Wisconsin, running back Lorenzo White of Michigan State, linebacker Patrick Willis of Mississippi and quarterback Vince Young of Texas.
HALL OF FAME MATERIAL
Dennis Erickson’s college coaching record:
Idaho (1982-85) – 32-15.
Wyoming (1986) – 6-6.
Washington State (1987-88) – 12-10-1.
Miami (1989-94) – 63-9.
Oregon State (1999-2002) – 31-17.
Idaho (2006) – 4-8.
Arizona State (2007-11) – 31-31.
Total – 179-96-1.
