Petrino adds Erickson, Shumaker to staff

Vandals head football coach Paul Petrino added two more coaches to the offensive side of the ball on Tuesday. The school’s releases on Bryce Erickson and Jason Shumaker are below:

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.

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Head Vandal football coach Paul Petrino can relate to Jason Shumaker’s coaching career.

“He’s coached every position on the offensive side of the ball at a small college level,” said Petrino of Shumaker, who will coach Idaho’s running backs. “That’s how I was brought up. When you have to do that, you become a better teacher and you know how to do things.”

Shumaker comes to Idaho after serving one year as Arkansas’ Director of High School Relations. Prior to joining the Arkansas staff last fall, he spent seven years of collegiate coaching at small colleges from Eastern New Mexico to Midland University. It was Petrino who was charged with vetting him for Arkansas. Not only did he see the breadth of his coaching experience but Shumaker’s career as a fullback at Kansas also caught Petrino’s attention.

“He’s played at the big-time level,” Petrino said.

Shumaker went to Fayetteville after two seasons at Midland University. He was the associate head coach/offensive coordinator in 2011 and the run game coordinator/head junior varsity coach in 2010. The Warriors’ offense averaged more than 30 points per game and finished in the top 30 nationally in nearly every offensive category in 2011.

Shumaker was hired as the head coach of Dana College in December of 2009 and served in that role until the school closed in June of 2010.

Prior to his time at Dana, he was at the University of Saint Mary at Leavenworth, Kan., for three seasons as the offensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator and offensive line and tight ends coach. The offense he developed while at St. Mary finished as the fifth-ranked passing offense in the nation in 2008 and broke numerous school records. The offense he directed finished in the top 30 in the nation in several categories over two seasons with four games of 500 yards total offense. He coached 21 players over three seasons that were All-KCAC selections. Because of this success, he was chosen the 2008 KCAC Assistant Coach of the Year.

Shumaker went to USM from Eastern New Mexico, where he served as fullbacks coach and defensive line coach over two seasons and coached three All-Lone Star Conference players. Prior to his time at ENMU, he was a teacher and a coach at Rowlett, Texas.

Shumaker was born in Salina, Kan., and went to high school in Grand Prairie, Texas. From there, he attended the University of Kansas, where he played fullback for the Jayhawks. He was also a five-time Jayhawk Scholar and was named to the Big XII Commissioner’s Honor Roll five times.

Shumaker graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in education in 2003 and received his Master’s Degree in sports administration from Eastern New Mexico University in 2007. He is married to the former Kate Klepper. They have one son, Davis.