MOSCOW, Idaho - On Thursday, the Big Sky Conference announced its fifth-ever Hall of Fame class, celebrating athletes from all of the league's institutions who left an impact on their institutions and the league that will stand the test of time. Idaho graduates and Vandal Athletics Hall of Famers Dennis Erickson and Jackie Ross Mattox will be immortalized in Big Sky History at the conference office in Farmington, Utah.

"The Big Sky Hall of Fame Gala has become one of the conference's more meaningful traditions as we celebrate the event's fifth year in 2026," League Commissioner Tom Wistrcill said. "This year's eight-member class represents excellence, leadership, and the lasting impact that generations of student-athletes, coaches, and administrators have had on the Big Sky Conference. Honoring those who came before us is essential to preserving the history and spirit of this league, and we look forward to celebrating these remarkable individuals and their legacies as part of the Big Sky Football Kickoff Weekend in Spokane this July."

DENNIS ERICKSON 

Considered to be one of the greatest football coaches in school history, Dennis Erickson spent decades coaching at every level and establishing a name for himself wherever he went. After earning All-Conference honors under center at Montana State, the Ferndale, WA native graduated in 1968 and remained in Bozeman, coaching for the Bobcats as a Graduate Assistant for the 1969 season. After a one-year stint as the head coach at Billings Central High School in eastern Montana, Erickson returned to MSU as an assistant, later entering the Palouse for the first time in 1974 as a first-time offensive coordinator at Idaho. His work to pioneer the spread offense in Moscow earned him opportunities in the same role at Fresno State and San Jose State before being named the Vandals' head coach in 1982.

Under Erickson, Idaho immediately surged from a 3-8 campaign the year prior to nine wins in his first season in Moscow. Quarterback Ken Hobart earned his first First-Team All-Big Sky selection, and the Vandals returned to the playoffs, winning the conference title for the first time in eleven years. In Erickson's four seasons at the helm, Idaho finished above .500 each year, the first time that had happened in at least that many seasons since the 1903-06 campaigns, when the program was less than 15 years old.

UI's success in the early 80s made the head man a very attractive candidate in the coaching carousel, leading to stops at Wyoming and Washington State before a six-year stint at Miami (FL), where the Hurricanes surged to a 63-9 record in that span, appearing in a bowl game each season and won three of them. Erickson moved up to the NFL ranks, accepting head coaching jobs for the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers before returning to Idaho for a season in 2006. He spent five seasons leading the charge at Arizona State as well as a head coaching stint for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football before retiring from an illustrious coaching career that included 179 wins at the collegiate level and 42 in the pros.


Erickson's .610 winning percentage as the head coach at Idaho still stands as the fourth-best in school history, and the storied coach was inducted into Miami's Hall of Fame as part of its 2005 class. Idaho Athletics bestowed the same honor in 2018, and was followed the year after by the National Football Foundation. 

JACKIE ROSS MATTOX

One of the most decorated athletes, regardless of sport, in Idaho Athletics and Big Sky Conference history, Jackie Ross Mattox won a total of ten Big Sky Championships as one of the greatest jumpers in the history of the league. Originally hailing from Kingstown, St. Vincent, in the Eastern Caribbean islands, the then-Jackie Ross become a pioneer for Vincentian women, becoming the first such athlete to represent her country in the Summer Olympics, the first to win a gold medal at the Caribbean Free Trade Associate (CARIFTA) Games, and the first to earn a collegiate athletics scholarship. 

At just sixteen years old, she competed in the 1985 CARIFTA Games, winning a bronze medal in the long jump in the U17 division. Just two years later, Ross returned to the games and captured the historic gold medal with a 5.73m leap. This performance punched her ticket to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, making her the first female to represent St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a part of the country's inaugural Olympic team. 

The year after competing in Seoul, Ross accepted a scholarship to compete at Idaho, joining the Vandals' track and field program in 1989. Foreshadowing a hall-of-fame career in Moscow, she rewrote the school record in the indoor triple jump on her first career attempt, notching a 12.80m(42') mark right off the beat. Ross would continue to dominate the conference, setting the school records in the indoor and outdoor triple jump and long jumps all in the 1990 season. Both of her triple jump records still stand today and her long jump performances are still top-four. Her 1990 campaign earned her a bid to the national championships, but she was forced to withdraw due to injury. She would later compete in the 1991 indoor games in the triple jump. 

Ross left her mark on the Big Sky Conference throughout her collegiate career, capturing five total indoor conference championships in the jumps, four of the same in the outdoor, and a title in the 1991 Heptathlon. She would go on to be named the Big Sky's Outstanding Female Athlete three years in a row from 1990-92, and was named to the league's 1990s All-Decade team. The St. Vincent legend was inducted into the Idaho Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014, and received the same nod for the North Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024.

Erickson and Ross will be inducted and honored at the Big Sky Football Kickoff Weekend at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Airway Heights, WA, on Saturday, July 25. Tickets for the event can be purchased at THIS LINK.