He's back.
UM offensive coordinator heads to Arizona State
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
[email protected]
University of Miami offensive coordinator Rich Olson is leaving Miami to become the new offensive coordinator for Arizona State under just-hired head coach Dennis Erickson.
Olson, 58, leaves Wednesday morning for Tempe, where he will finalize his contract. He is close friends with Erickson, who formerly coached UM to two national titles.
''I'm very excited,'' Olson said this afternoon. ``It's obviously an opportunity to go back and work with Dennis, who has had an awful lot of success at the college football level. And my daughter lives in Tempe and graduated from Arizona State, and my wife grew up there and her family is all in the Phoenix and Tucson area.
``We thought about making Arizona our home a few years ago. This now gives us an opportunity to do that.''
Olson, in his second coaching stint at UM, said he was very disappointed that his return to Miami didn't have a happy outcome.
''It's unfortunate the UM situation didn't work out for myself and for [dismissed coach] Larry [Coker],'' he said. ``I feel awful about the whole situation.
``But I'm also happy for [new coach] Randy [Shannon] for the opportunity he has to get it turned around. He'll do a great job.''
Erickson was announced as the new ASU coach at a Monday news conference. He won national championships as the Hurricanes head coach in 1989 and '91.
Olson, who also coached running backs at UM, was Erickson's UM offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1994. Olson coached the UM wide receivers in 1992 and the quarterbacks in 1993. The two were graduate assistants together at Washington State in 1970.
Olson was not expected to be retained by new UM head coach Shannon, who accepted the job last Thursday and was introduced to the public Friday. Olson told Shannon the news today.
''We've got a great relationship, so that was not an issue,'' Olson said. ``Not at all. Things happen fast. That's the nature of the business.''
Olson said he believes UM recruiting will be successful, despite the coaching changes. The recruiting ''dead period,'' in which coaches may not have face-to-face contact with recruits, starts Saturday and lasts through the holiday period until early January.
A native of Montebello, Calif., Olson quarterbacked for Washington State. He is a 30-year veteran coach in college and the NFL, and coached Dolphins quarterback Daunte Culpepper for the Minnesota Vikings in 2005.
Ironically, one of Shannon's targets for a new offensive coordinator is Dirk Koetter, the Arizona State coach who was just fired and replaced by Erickson.
Koetter, like Coker, is expected to coach the Sun Devils in their bowl game.
