The San Francisco 49ers announced Tuesday, Oregon State football coach Dennis Erickson would be their new head coach.
Erickson will leave the OSU program that he helped rise from the ashes to the national spotlight, for a five-year, $2.5 million dollar contract with the Niners. This amount nearly triples his current salary.
The Beavers have been to three bowls in the last three seasons. His record stands at 31-17 in four years at OSU. Erickson also helped in Miami’s two National Championship seasons, 1989 and 1991.
The Niners are not just getting a good college coach. Mid-way through his college coaching career, Erickson was the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, 1995-98, which is the only job he has been fired from in his two decades of coaching.
In Erickson first year at Oregon State the Beavers snapped an NCAA record of 28 consecutive losing seasons. The following year OSU claimed title to a school record, going 11-1 that season and finishing No. 4 in the nation.
At age 55, Erickson still wants the championship that avoided him with the Seahawks, former player, Bob Grim, said in a recent article.
“Our goal is to win the World Championship. I would like to believe we can compete for a World Championship next year,” Erickson said in a press conference.