After a two-week search, ASU Vice President of Athletics Lisa Love chose Dennis Erickson Dec. 11 to be the new head coach of ASU football.
Love fired the team's previous head coach, Dirk Koetter, on Nov. 26, just hours after he led ASU to its second consecutive victory over rival UA.
Koetter left with a 40-34 record in six years at ASU and led the program to three bowl games in the last four seasons.
But Love said the program needs to perform on a "higher platform" and believes she found the person to elevate it in Erickson.
"Dennis Erickson, you know quite well," she said. "You know from him the indelible stamp he's put on college football already. You already know he's won two national championships. You know he's coached already in every BCS bowl except the Rose Bowl.
"He's had remarkable success at elevating programs everywhere he has been."
Commitment to academics, following the rules and striving for the Rose Bowl are requirements Love laid out in her search for a new coach.
"I had three driving forces and it's the same three tenets that I have spoken about so many times," she said.
Love also said filling the seats in Sun Devil Stadium was a factor in her search.
"It's been impossible for the last two weeks to conduct this search without looking out at the stadium and envisioning and dreaming for what it can be and what I
believe it will be," she said.
In hiring Erickson, Love not only breathed life into a coaching career some left for dead but found the recognizable name that ASU has long desired.
"When coach Erickson looks at you and says we practice at a high rate of speed, I immediately think I can probably sell tickets to his practice because that is the way we will be prepared," Love said.
Before landing in Tempe, Erickson was the head coach at the University of Idaho for just one season after signing a five-year contact and claiming it would be the final stop in his well-traveled career.
But like he has done many times before, Erickson bailed on the school to pursue other opportunities, which was the ASU job in this case.
"If you look at my career over the years, obviously I've moved," Erickson said. "Every move I've made has been to meet a challenge in the business that I'm in, which is college football.
"When I was at the University of Idaho, I wasn't planning on leaving. Sometimes in this business opportunities come at different times and that just happens."
Erickson previously coached at Pac-10 foes Washington State and Oregon State and won two national championships during his tenure at Miami from 1989 to 1994. He has also made two stops in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers.
But Erickson's habit of relocating doesn't seem to worry Love. She refused to consider the possibility that he could one day leave ASU high and dry.
"I personally hope that [Erickson's term] is for the long haul because if it's not, we'll go hire another great football coach," Love said. "But I don't work in terms of hypotheticals, what ifs or absolutes. That's just not reality and I think that's a little bit naive."
Erickson will preside over a team that was plagued with inconsistency during the 2006 season.
The Sun Devils (7-6) finished the year with a disappointing 41-24 loss to Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24.
The team led 10-3 at halftime. But the ASU defense could only hold the Hawaii offense back so long as the Warriors put up 38 points in the second half.
Hawaii's outburst paired with the Sun Devil offense showed once again it didn't have the firepower to battle back. That's something Erickson intends to fix.
"Offensively, we are going to be somewhat similar to what you've seen although we'll probably try to run the football," Erickson said.
"We'll spread them out and be in one back and two tight ends and those types of things. I really believe you've got to throw it and get it down the football field."
Quarterback Rudy Carpenter is expected to continue to start under center in his junior year, although ASU has received commitments from two quarterback recruits, one of which is the highly-touted Nick Foles of Austin, Texas.
Other returning offensive players that may aid Erickson in his reconstruction efforts are wide receivers Nate Kimbrough and Chris McGaha and running backs Ryan Torain and Keegan Herring.
All-Pac-10 center Mike Pollak will lead an offensive line that has already experienced life without linemen Stephen Berg and Andrew Carnahan, as both were lost to leg injuries during the season and are now without any remaining eligibility.
The biggest change for the offense may not be adjusting to Erickson's style of play, but moving on without tight end Zach Miller, who recently announced he was leaving ASU for the NFL.
But defense is where Erickson will have the most holes to fill as seniors Will Kofe, Jordan Hill, Kyle Caldwell, Beau Manutai, Derron Ware, Keno Walter-White and Zach Catanese will be departing.
But Erickson will have help in his search for replacements as most of the coaching staff has already been announced.
Rich Olson (offensive coordinator), Craig Bray (defensive coordinator/linebackers), Dan Cozzetto (tight ends), Gregg Smith (offensive line), Jamie Christian (running backs/special teams), Eric Yarber (wide receivers) and Matt Lubick (safeties and recruiting coordinator) will join Grady Stretz (defensive line) and Al Simmons (cornerbacks/special teams) on the sideline.
Stretz and Simmons were the only two coaches retained from Koetter's staff.
Reach the reporter at: christopher.d.ramirez@asu.edu.
