Comments about ‘Utah Football: Utes hiring Dennis Erickson’

Kyle must really be desperate to get a mentor for Brian Johnson to hire someone with the baggage Dennis Erickson brings.

National Championship coach wanted to come to Utah!

I love my BCS membership.

Great hire K Whit!

Kyle must be really clever to get a mentor for Brian Johnson with the amount of experience that Dennis Erickson brings!

I wonder if such a wanted coach would have jumped at the chance to join a "non-AQ"?

I'm guessing no.

We hired one of the architects of the spread for our future QBs.(Wilson, Cox, and Hansen)

It's nice to know that we will be running an offense tailored to the skill set of these kids, can't say the same for Anae and T. Hill though...

inb4 R. Nielsen v 2.0

Heres to 4 in a row next year!

"Erickson will begin his duties at Utah on Feb. 19, sharing coordinator duties with the 25-year-old Johnson." That's a good one. I wonder who'll take the lead on this "co-OC" set-up. My money is not on Johnson!

"co-offensive coordinator"? Move BJ to the sideline where he can send in signals and use those jumbo cartoon cards and extreme hand gestures. Let someone else call the plays please!

What a joke. Erickson peaked at OSU and has been going downhill ever since.

Hopefully, this hire will free up Kyle to spend more time with the defense as they really slipped last year. And with numerous key positions on the defensive line and corner-backs needing to be filled, Utah will have to work hard to get back to defensive excellence.

Regardless of what "baggage" Dennis Erickson brings, he can only help. Some of the "baggage" Erickson had was undisciplined players at ASU. But since Erickson is not the head coach, that shouldn't be an issue.

This makes sense. Good hire.

Whittingham is taking a huge gamble in hiring someone with as much baggage as Dennis Erickson.

Erickson brings a disturbing history with him. His Miami teams were constantly in trouble with police. No fewer than a dozen scholarship players were arrested in 1994, his final season there. Eleven months into Erickson's tenure with the Seattle Seahawks, the NCAA levied severe sanctions against Miami's football program, stripping 34 scholarships, placing the university on probation for three years, and banning the team from appearing in a bowl game.

If this blows up in Whittingham's face, he has only himself to blame.

Is this a Ute article or a BYU article? Come on guys, are you so insecure that TDS is still the measuring stick by which you judge your program!

Whit's an absolute genious to bring in a volunteer High school coach to mentor BJ. I see a Championship coming up this year. No need to delay it any further.

Utes Fan

"Regardless of what "baggage" Dennis Erickson brings, he can only help."

Undisciplined players are only the tip of iceberg as far as the off-the-field issues that plagued Erickson's six seasons in Miami. Gun play, unmentionable escapades, police raids, arrests, drug abuse, drinking, a federal grand jury probe, and cash bonuses to players who made the best hits in games served as the notorious backdrop to Miami's success on the field.

Erickson has a disturbing past that should be a red flag to any coach who runs a clean program.

Co-coordinator? Wow, this has bad news all over it for my Utes. And what is the comment about bringing someone in with National Championship experience...I seem to remember Mr. Chow working there too, that certainly helped out. I'm afraid we're headed for a dismal time and within 5 years Whitt will be out.

SoUtBoy25

"Is this a Ute article or a BYU article?"

Talk about paranoid.

Except for resident BYU hater Chris B, you're the only bloggers who's even mentioned anything associated with BYU.

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As for Erickson, HUGE gamble on Whittingham's part.

please remind me how the last OC with a national championship worked out for U....

And how would a co-offensive coordinator trigger any of that stuff?

I really like the idea of Erickson being given co-OC duties with BJ. At 66-yrs of age, it's unlikely he'll remain with the Utes for an extended period of time, and he hadn't really shown a lot of "tenured" positions at many universities anyway. Mentoring BJ should provide some fluidity for our offense if/when Erickson decides to retire, or take another head coaching job somewhere else (like Chow).

As for all his baggage...I'm not too worried about it. For starters, Whittingham is the head coach; not Erickson. Secondly, even within just the Offensive side of the ball, BJ is still there, and he doesn't bring ANY "behavioral baggage" with HIM. Erickson would be able to mentor the longterm OC for the Utes, and provide an extra recruiting punch in the offseason.

Great hire Whit.

GO UTES!!!

First off, as a UTE fan I'm getting sick and tired of other UTE fans who continue to judge us against BYU. We have a completely new standard to live up to now and in case anyone has noticed we are failing to achieve that standard. Leave BYU where they belong in the rearview mirror. I like the hire. Anytime you can get a guy with this wealth of experience it has to be a plus. I'm not to concerned about the baggage because he apparently didn't have any issues at ASU. Also not concerned about the win loss record at ASU because the Offense was never the problem. They always had explosive offenses in his time there.

LOL!

Not at erickson's capabilities, I'm sure he is capable, but at the "co-offensive coordinator" title. Seriously? whittingham looks foolish anywy from the bj promotion does he really think anyone is fooled by leaving him as the "co"?

Good grief this is funny stuff.

LOL!