IRVING, Texas (Oct. 17, 2019) – The University of Miami and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2019 electee Coach Dennis Erickson with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Oct. 19, during the Hurricanes' game against Georgia Tech. Coverage of the game will start at Noon ET on the ACC Network.
 
"Congratulations to Dennis Erickson on his election to the College Football Hall of Fame," Miami Director of Athletics Blake James said in a release following the announcement in January. "He led the Hurricanes to two national championships, and authored one of the most dominant stretches in college football history over his six seasons as our head coach. We are thrilled and honored to have Coach Erickson as the latest representative of The U in the College Football Hall of Fame."
 
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day, the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in each inductee's Hall of Fame experience. During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each inductee returns to his alma mater or college where he coached to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will remain on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many inductees cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and hear the crowd roar their name.
 
"Dennis Erickson put together a Hall of Fame coaching career that spanned 23 seasons and six teams," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "His greatest success came at Miami, where he remains the only coach in program history to win two national titles. We are thrilled to honor him at Hard Rock Stadium."
 
Highlighted by two national titles at Miami, Erickson led his teams to 12 bowl games and at least a share of six conference titles in 23 successful seasons as a head coach. In addition to his success with the Hurricanes, he became the first coach to earn Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors at three different institutions.  
 
During his tenure at Miami from 1989-94, Erickson posted a 63-9 record and an 87.5 winning percentage, which remains the highest in school history. The only coach to win two national titles at Miami, his Hurricanes took home the crown following the 1989 and 1991 seasons while playing in two other national championship games in 1992 and 1994.
 
The 1989 national title earned Erickson the distinction of being only the second Division I head coach to win a national crown in his first season at a school. The 1991 Miami squad would be named national champion after becoming the second team in school history to finish 12-0.
 
Erickson claimed conference coach of the year honors and guided the Canes to conference titles in three-of-four seasons after Miami joined the BIG EAST in 1991. Boasting a 35-1 home record at Miami, he led the team to bowl games in all six seasons and the Canes never finished lower than No. 3 in the final polls from 1989-92.
 
Erickson began his head-coaching career at Idaho from 1982-85, where he became the first coach since 1938 to post consecutive winning seasons at the school and the first coach in Vandals history to have four-consecutive winning seasons. Erickson led Idaho to the Big Sky Conference title in 1985 and two trips to the FCS Playoffs.
 
Following a one-year stint as the head coach at Wyoming in 1986, he took over the program at Washington State for two seasons (1987-88). In his second year, Erickson was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year after leading the Cougars to their first nine-win season since 1930 and their first bowl victory in 73 seasons – a win over Houston in the 1988 Aloha Bowl.
 
Following his Miami tenure, Erickson served a four-year stint as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks from 1995-98. He then took over the program at Oregon State in 1999 and sparked a massive turnaround. In his first season, he led the Beavers to their first winning season in 29 years and their first bowl appearance in 35 years. Erickson's best season at Oregon State came in 2000, when he helped the program snap its 33-year losing streak to USC and earn a share of the Pac-10 Conference title for the first time since 1964.
 
The Pac-10 Coach of the Year that season, he guided Oregon State to an 11-1 record, a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl (the school's first major bowl appearance since 1965) and the No. 4 final ranking (the highest finish in school history). Erickson's 64.6 win percentage is the highest among Oregon State coaches with more than three seasons at the helm.
 
After two seasons as the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and one return season at Idaho, Erickson took his final head-coaching job at Arizona State in 2007. In his first season, he once again claimed Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors after leading the Sun Devils to a 10-win season and a share of the Pac-10 title.
 
Over his entire career, Erickson's teams boasted 10 top 25 finishes, including five in the top five. The two-time Sporting News College Coach of the Year coached 67 first team all-conference selections, three NFF National Scholar-Athletes and 21 First Team All-Americans, including College Football Hall of Famers Russell Maryland and Gino Torretta at Miami and Mike Utley at Washington State.
 
A native of Everett, Washington, Erickson was a two-time All-Big Sky quarterback while leading Montana State to three conference titles. Before his first head-coaching job at Idaho, he served as an assistant coach at Montana State, Idaho, Fresno State and San Jose State as well as one season as a high school head coach when he was just 23 years old.
 
From 2013-16, Erickson came out of retirement to serve as an assistant coach at Utah. He once again came out of retirement earlier this year to be the head coach of the Salt Lake Stallions in the Alliance of American Football.
 
He is a member of the University of Miami Sports, State of Washington Sports, University of Idaho Athletics and State of Montana Football halls of fame.
 
Including the 2019 class, only 1,010 players and 219 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.4 million people who have played or coached the game over the past 150 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of those who have set foot on the gridiron have earned the distinction. Click here for a complete list of players and coaches in the Hall.
 
The 2019 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the New York Hilton Midtown on Tuesday, Dec. 10. This year's College Football Hall of Fame Class includes: Terrell Buckley (Florida State), Rickey Dixon (Oklahoma), London Fletcher (John Carroll [OH]), Jacob Green (Texas A&M), Torry Holt (North Carolina State), Raghib "Rocket" Ismail (Notre Dame), Darren McFadden (Arkansas), Jake Plummer (Arizona State), Troy Polamalu (Southern California), Joe Thomas (Wisconsin), Lorenzo White (Michigan State), Patrick Willis (Mississippi), Vince Young (Texas) and coaches Dennis Erickson (Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State, Miami [FL], Oregon State, Arizona State) and Joe Taylor (Howard, Virginia Union, Hampton, Florida A&M). For more information on the Dinner, please contact Will Rudd at wrudd@footballfoundation.com or by calling 972.556.1000.
 
The 2019 Class will also be honored during the 15th Annual National Hall of Fame Salute at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 28, and they will be forever immortalized at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. 
 
 
The 2019 season marks the 10th season that Fidelity Investments, a leading provider of workplace savings plans in higher education, is serving as the national presenting sponsor of the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes. The salutes are one component of a multi-year initiative between the two organizations to celebrate the scholar-athlete ideal and a joint commitment to higher education.
 
Fidelity is also the presenting sponsor of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards and helped launch the NFF Faculty Salutes in 2011, which recognize the contributions of the faculty athletics representatives around the country.
 
 
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ABOUT The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include Football Matters®, the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, The William V. Campbell Trophy® Presented by Mazda, annual scholarships of more than $1.3 million and a series of initiatives to honor the legends of the past and inspire the leaders of the future. NFF corporate partners include Delta Air Lines, Fidelity Investments, Goodyear, Herff Jones, Mazda, New York Athletic Club, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Sports Business Journal, SportsManias, Under Armour and VICIS. Learn more at footballfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @NFFNetwork.