Huskies Hire Defensive Grad Assistant With Interesting Football History

Eric Amoako had a brief stop as a reserve cornerback for a UW rival.

The University of Washington football program no doubt has properly vetted Eric Amoako, who joins Kalen DeBoer's staff as a graduate assistant defensive coach.

He comes to the Huskies after coaching two seasons in a similar capacity at Wyoming, earning a masters degree in health administration from that school and running his own apparel business.

Amoako played in 2016 as a cornerback in the Big Ten for the Minnesota Gophers after two seasons at FCS Houston Baptist.

And here's the kicker: the Texas native first spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons at Oregon, sharing in the great misery caused the UW back then.

He was a Duck.

The Amoako brothers were Duck teammates.
The Amoako brothers were Oregon teammates / Oregon

Now with all the blurring of football lines this past season, with wide-receivers coach Junior Adams and defensive tackle Taki Taimani, leaving the Huskies for Eugene, this should no longer come as a big surprise.

Yet considering how much dislike each program carries for the other, the occasional crossover still merits being noted.

Amoako went to the Ducks from Martin High School in Arlington, Texas, and played alongside his brother Stephen, who like him is now coaching yet in the California junior-college ranks.

As for his Oregon football career, it wasn't all that satisfying. Amoako redshirted his first season and appeared in just one game during second year, hence he transferred back Texas to play for FCS Houston Baptist. He was a two-year starter and an all-conference honorable-mention selection.

At Minnesota, he appeared in all 12 games in reserve for a Holiday Bowl team that beat Washington State 17-12.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.