With the UW searching for a new coach to turn the football program around, it’s only fitting the Huskies face a team coached by a man who has had possibly the most experience at attempting to do just that.

Arizona State is Dennis Erickson’s ninth coaching job in a mere 26 years. Or to put it another way, he’s averaging less than three years at each of his stops.

To be fair, it wasn’t always his choice to leave, but his overall lack of honesty with the people he has worked for and the fans that cheered for his teams leads me to believe his 10th job might very well be in politics.

But while Erickson’s commitment may be in question, his ability to turn around struggling programs is not. His history of turning a losing team into a winning one should give Husky fans hope that, while things may look very grim right now, next year can be completely different if the next coach can have an Erickson-esque effect.

Right off the bat, Erickson was able to prove that with the right coach at the helm, a football team can become substantially better.

He broke into the coaching ranks at the Division-II level, taking over an Idaho Vandals team that had gone 3-8 the year before and had won just 18 games in its previous five seasons. It was obviously not the most envious coaching position at the time. But Erickson made the difference, turning the Vandals into a nine-win team his first year and guiding them to conference championship in his fourth and last year on the job.

After leaving Idaho, Erickson made two brief stops — at Wyoming and Washington State — entering under very similar circumstances and leaving with a great turnaround. He spent one year as a Wyoming Cowboy, taking the team from a 3-8 record to a 6-6 record, and left to take over a Washington State program that had almost no history of success.

Taking over a 3-7-1 Cougar team, Erickson, was able to push WSU to a 9-3 record within two years — the team’s first nine-win season since the early 1900’s.

As was becoming a trend, Erickson left Pullman after a short stay for a better job as the coach of a powerhouse Miami team. After leading the Hurricanes to two championships in six years, he was pulled toward the NFL by the Seahawks, where after four mediocre seasons as head coach, he was let go.

Erickson’s next job led him right back to the college ranks, this time at Oregon State, were he performed another incredible turnaround. In just his second year with the Beavers, he won 11 games.

Ultimately, he was hired by Arizona State two years ago to work his magic.

The Huskies will not be playing a typical Dennis Erickson team Saturday. The Sun Devils have already lost six games, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t worked toward making ASU better. Last year he led ASU to a 10-win season, the team’s most wins since 1996, and with the remaining schedule this year, don’t be surprised if the Sun Devils win out and make a bowl game.

Looking back on the history of his career, there is reason for optimism at Arizona State. They made the right change.

So don’t be down, Husky fans; with the right coach, success could be only a year away.

I wonder if Dennis Erickson is interested.

Reach columnist Scott Eisen at sportsdailyuw.com.