Bryce Erickson truly is coming home when he returns to Moscow to join Paul Petrino's Vandal staff. Erickson, the son of former Idaho coach Dennis Erickson, was born in Moscow when his father was an assistant at Idaho under Ed Troxel in 1975.

While he has spent most of his coaching career in the collegiate ranks, he was at South Albany (Ore.) High School last fall. The lure of college coaching brought him back to Moscow where he will coach either the Vandals' receivers or quarterbacks coach.

Petrino said his coaching pedigree spoke volumes.

“His dad was a legendary coach here,” Petrino said. “He grew up a lot like I did as a coach's son. We're just fortunate to have another Erickson here. It'll be great to have him.”

Erickson's experience, too, caught Petrino's attention.

“I met Bryce out on the road recruiting quite a bit,” Petrino said. “I've always heard great things about him as a recruiter so that was intriguing to me.”

Then there is Erickson's experience at Arizona State and New Mexico Highlands.

“He can coach a lot of different positions,” Petrino said.

Erickson was the running backs coach at Arizona State from 2009-11 after serving as a graduate assistant for the Sun Devils in 2007-08 as an assistant quarterbacks coach and with the overall offense.

In 2010, Erickson guided one of only two Pac-12 Conference returning running back duos in which both players amassed 500 rushing yards, as Cameron Marshall and Deantre Lewis join only LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner of Oregon for that honor. Marshall and Lewis combined for over 1,300 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns in 2010.

Prior to joining ASU, Erickson spent the previous three seasons on the coaching staff at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. He spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons as the quarterbacks coach before becoming offensive coordinator during the 2006 season.

Erickson played college football at the University of Miami in 1993, before finishing his career at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Erickson earned a B.S. in Exercise Science from New Mexico Highlands in 2006.