Bryce Erickson - Football Coach - University of Montana Athletics

Bryce Erickson

Title:
Tight Ends
Email:
nathan.dellinger@mso.umt.edu
Phone:
243-2969

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck added Bryce Erickson to the staff in the spring of 2019, making the 2020/21 season his first at the helm of the Grizzly tight ends.

Erickson, the son of College Football Hall of Fame head coach Dennis Erickson, came to Missoula after serving as the head coach at Lake City High School in Coeur d’Alene for three seasons and more than a decade in the college ranks prior to that.

Before he became a high school head coach, Erickson worked as the quarterbacks’ coach at the University of Idaho, running backs coach at Arizona State, and offensive coordinator at New Mexico Highlands in a coaching career spanning 15 years.

Erickson, who was born in Moscow, Idaho, and whose mother Marilyn attended UM from 1970-1972, also has family ties to the Grizzly football program. His grandfather Pink Erickson was an assistant coach at Montana under Jack Swarthout in 1967

Erickson began his coaching career at New Mexico Highlands, where he served as the quarterbacks’ and wide receivers’ coach before becoming the Cowboy’s offensive coordinator.

He then moved to Arizona State to work under his father Dennis - known for operating some of the most potent offenses in college football - as a graduate assistant before moving up to coach the running backs.

At ASU, Erickson coached Cameron Marshall and Deantre Lewis, one of only two Pac-12 running back duos ever to rush for over 500 yards each. Marshall and Lewis combined for over 1,300 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns in 2010.

After five seasons in Tempe, Erickson took his first head coaching job in the high school ranks at South Albany High in Oregon in 2012. He then returned the college level the following season for the chance to once again coach under his father at Idaho.

As the Vandals’ quarterbacks’ coach, Erickson mentored one of Idaho’s all-time greats in All-Sun Belt honoree and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl MVP Matt Linehan, who was a four-year starter in Moscow and threw for nearly 11,000 yards.

Another of Erickson’s former recruits and players at Idaho was Jake Luton, who played in eight games as a freshman for the Vandals before eventually transferring to Oregon State, where would go on to earn an All-Pac-12 honorable mention and was selectred in the 2020 NFL Draft.

He also coached another one of the best freshmen QBs in UI program history, who would, as luck would have it, go on to become a record-breaker for the Grizzlies.

In 2013 Erickson coached former UM signal-caller Chad Chalich in his breakout redshirt freshman season, where he led the Vandals to a win over Temple with 106 rushing yards and 310 passing yards - one of the best offensive games ever at Idaho. Three years later, Chalich would go on to set a Montana school record with seven touchdown passes in a single game against Idaho State in 2016.

The Erickson File

Hometown: Moscow, Idaho
Alma Mater: New Mexico Highlands, 2006, B.S. Exercise Science
Playing Experience: University of Miami, Chaffey College
Family: Wife: Maria, Kids: Brennan (9), Kieran (4), Thália (3), Yeseña (1)

Coaching Experience
2004-2006       New Mexico Highlands (QB/WR/OC)
2007-2011       Arizona State (GA/RB)
2012                South Albany High School (HC)
2013-2015       Idaho (QB)
2016-2019       Lake City High School (HC)
2019-Pres.       Montana (TE)