erickson has been a disaster in much of his coaching career. How he even got the gig in Miami is beyond me.

Let's just look at his entire record:

Idaho: He was 32-15 in the early 80's, which at the time was a 1-aa team. He built his record there beating Weber State and Montana in the Big Sky conference.
Wyoming: 6-6. He coached one year there, losing to BYU in 86, by the way.
Washington State: He finished 12-10 in two years.
Miami: Somehow the above resume gets him a plum job in Miami where he coaches 6 years and wins a NC, finishing 63-9.
Seattle Seahawks: Done with college for the time being he heads to coach in the NFL where he coaches for 4 years and never once having a winning record, ending at 31-33.
Oregon State: He returns to college and in his second year finishes 11-1 but misses out on the Rose Bowl. The year after his great year, he has a losing record. He finishes there at 31-17, but this record is a bit deceiving as is Crowton's BYU record. It's inflated by one great year.
49ers: trying his hand at the NFL again he has his worst coaching stop of all time, finishing at 9-23, including losing 14 games his final year.
Idaho: He goes back to his first head coaching stop in Idaho and ends 4-8 and is loathed by the university for how he used them.
Arizona State: he heads back to the Pac -10 and has one great starting year, finishing 10-3 but never has another winning record again in the final 4 years at the school.

He probably offers Johnson some experience and probably is the best Utah could offer. But if he was all he was cracked up to have been at Miami he wouldn't be at Utah.