The last time Dennis Erickson was on a college football sideline, it was as Arizona State’s coach in a Las Vegas Bowl loss to Boise State. But he could be back in the coaching ranks in the not-too-distant future.
Erickson confirmed to the Salt Lake Tribune that he recently interviewed for an assistant coaching job at Utah under Kyle Whittingham.
“I enjoyed it,” Erickson told the paper. “They have good people there and a good staff; obviously Kyle has a good staff there so we will see.”
The former head coach said no offer was made, and exactly what role he would fill isn’t clear yet. Former Utes quarterback Brian Johnson was promoted to the team’s offensive coordinator last year after Norm Chow left to become the head coach of Hawaii, but Whittingham could shuffle coaches around to make room for Erickson.
For what it’s worth, the Utes had the 75th-best scoring offense, 93rd best rushing offense and 100th-best passing offense during last year’s 5-7 season. Erickson is considered one of the best coaches of the spread offense.
Erickson has college coaching experience at places like Idaho, Washington State, Oregon State and Miami. He also held two brief NFL jobs with the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. He’s been out of coaching for a year, but interested in getting back into the game.