Back to the Future: Dennis Erickson has the Idaho football program buzzing again, 20 years later
By Bob Rodman
The Register-Guard
Published: Sunday, April 16, 2006
MOSCOW, Idaho - Same guy. Same office. Same job. Two decades later.
Dennis Erickson, his hair grayed and face weathered by time and challenge, seemed very much at home as he surveyed his quarters.
He was back in the University of Idaho football coach's office for the first time in more than 20 years.
"I don't think this is the same desk and I'm pretty sure it's not the same rug," he said with a wry smile, "but we're back."
This time, the place is adorned with championship trophies, photographs of glories past and a television set that has played game after game of videotapes but, for the moment, was providing live coverage of The Masters golf tournament.
"How's Tiger Woods doing?" Erickson asked, his title as the Idaho head football coach just two months old, far, far younger than his love of golf.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Erickson, the man with two national championship rings from his coaching days at the University of Miami, has come full circle.
Back to Idaho, where he began his storied, sometimes controversial run as a college football coach in 1982.
Back to the kind of rejuvenation project for which he is so famous, like those at Idaho previously, plus Wyoming, Washington State and Oregon State.
Back to work.
Not that he has to work, by the way. Erickson continues to receive a $2.5 million annual paycheck - minus the $200,000 the Vandals are paying him - from the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers, who fired him in January 2005 with three years left on a five-year contract.
"People say things happen for a reason, but I had a little trouble buying into that," he said. "They had a job. I didn't."
For a long and often frustrating year. Indeed, Erickson eventually determined that playing golf continuously was not the answer.
"I was playing all the time, took lessons and got worse," he said. "I was doing the opposite of what I've always told my players - stop thinking and just play. ...
"It was OK at first, but then all I could look forward to was Saturday and watching football on TV. I couldn't take it much more, and neither could my wife.
"I wanted to coach. I wanted to coach college football."
Which is why Erickson essentially came home to Idaho, after Kansas State, San Diego State and several other colleges passed on him.
"It hurt," he said of the rejections. "Was I disappointed? Yeah. Did they screw up? Yeah."
In the end, opportunity paired itself with serendipity. This northwestern Idaho town with a population of less than 25,000 has a special place in Erickson's heart because this is where it all began for him. And it's where the Vandals want it to all begin again.
Having done so at Idaho more than 20 years ago, Erickson is again being asked to turn the program around. The Vandals have endured six consecutive losing seasons and have lost seven straight games to bitter rival Boise State, the latest a 70-35 pounding last November.
Erickson's college record is 145-56-1, including bowl games and championships, and he's clearly warmed to this newest challenge, even during a chilly, rain-splattered scrimmage with a Western Athletic Conference team that clearly needs his help.
"I'd like to think we can get it done in a couple of years," said Erickson, who turned 59 last month. "To win the WAC, I don't know.
"If people think we're going to be immediately successful, they need to know that's not going to happen. It will take a lot of hard work, just as it did at all the other places.
"I have no magic wand."
In Dennis they trust
Some believe that he does.
"He's as good of a football mind as there is," said Tim White, the president of the University of Idaho who was provost and interim president at Oregon State when Erickson was there.
"Being successful is part of Dennis' DNA."
Oregon State was a football wasteland when Erickson arrived in 1999, the Beavers reeling from 28 consecutive losing seasons, with not even a sniff of a bowl bid since 1965.
But with Erickson at the helm for four years, the Beavers had three winning seasons, highlighted by an 11-1 record, a No. 4 national ranking, a piece of a Pac-10 Conference championship and a win over Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl during the 2000 season.
"He is good at assessing talent," White said. "He can maximize a player's contribution, get him to play at a level that even surprises the player. These young guys know him, know what he has done. He is nationally prominent and all of a sudden, he is their coach."
Around town, Erickson memorabilia is everywhere, from Erickson-autographed photos and footballs to yellowed newspaper clippings under glass.
Shortly after his hiring became official, Erickson went on a promotional tour that included playing to a packed statehouse in Boise.
In these parts, Erickson still is a hero. Idaho had not had back-to-back winning seasons since 1937-38 until Erickson strung together four in a row from 1982-85, when the program was an NCAA Division I-AA team in the Big Sky Conference.
"I want the Vandals to be as successful as they can be," said Jon Kimberling, a businessman and big-time Idaho booster. "We couldn't have a better guy leading the charge.
"If it's doable, Dennis is going to do it."
Mark Boehne, a Moscow businessman and Oregon State graduate who is originally from Albany, is president of the Moscow Chamber of Commerce and another Erickson believer.
"I sat in the rain and the fog and watched a lot of 48-0 games, saw a lot of zeroes, a lot of losses," he said of the pre-Erickson days at OSU. "It was great, what Erickson did at Oregon State, great to see the program beat Notre Dame twice in bowl games.
"I can die and go to heaven, now. Everything is great."
So hope those who reside in this rural community nestled against the rolling hills of the Palouse, from the patrons of the long-standing, smoke-filled Corner Club tavern downtown to the university students - most yet to be born when Erickson last strolled the Idaho sidelines - huddled in the Commons on campus.
"I had to ask my dad who Dennis Erickson was when he was hired," said Josh Hunt, a junior from Lewiston majoring in chemical engineering. "He said Erickson was the guy who coached Idaho in its glory days.
"We've had such a crappy football program that most of the students don't care, but I think Erickson will change that. He's done such great things at other places, people are thinking he might be the answer."
Rob Spear, the Idaho director of athletics, is banking on that.
"We are counting on Dennis turning the program around," said Spear, who is planning a $40 million expansion of the 17,000-seat Kibbie Dome, the indoor facility that opened in 1975.
"He brings immediate credibility, his name helps recruit better student-athletes and he is the guy to put the pieces in place to help us become very successful."
Excited players
No group is more wide-eyed about Erickson's arrival than the Idaho players.
"It was an early Christmas when he got here," said Jade Tadvick, a senior offensive lineman from Stevensville, Mont., who has had three head coaches and four position coaches as a Vandal. "I just wish I was a freshman."
Said Vandals quarterback Steve Wichman, another senior: "It's a true honor to have him coach me, to be around him, and it is something that will stick with me the rest of my life."
David Vobora, a junior linebacker from Eugene's Churchill High and the son of former Oregon player Andy Vobora, said when the rumors of Erickson's hiring became reality "it could not have been a better situation for us.
"He knows how to win."
Brandon Nystrom, a redshirt freshman safety from Junction City, remembered how Erickson did just that in the Willamette Valley.
"I was 20 minutes away from Corvallis when Erickson was at Oregon State," he said. "I watched him turn Oregon State around. If he can do that in the Pac-10, he can definitely do that here. He is the finishing touch."
But how?
Phase One began the moment Erickson was announced as the Idaho coach on Feb. 8. Season tickets went on sale the next day, two months ahead of schedule, and sales are up 30 percent from last year, UI officials said.
Other phases are included in the age-old Erickson success formula - facility improvements, recruiting, being competitive in the conference, winning it and collecting the ensuing bowl bids. It's the same approach he successfully took at Oregon State.
"Facilities are important and we haven't moved with everybody else in this league," he said. "But it's really all about recruiting. We've got to improve the talent here."
Despite Erickson's reputation as a genius on the offensive side of the football, his teams have banked heavily on defense.
"We've had a lot of success with what we do offensively," he said, "but people don't understand that every place I've been, we've played good defense, played hard and maybe played a little over the edge sometimes.
"That never bothered me. People get on me about that."
But never about the winning that accompanied it.
In a day's work
"Talk to you guys later," Erickson said to some of the ever-present well-wishers who sauntered by his office. "Got to meet with a recruit."
Dressed in his Idaho shirt and shorts, with a coffee cup in one hand and practice plans in another, Erickson was off.
One stop, on a recent day, was a meeting with his offensive coaches.
"Do we need that HD cross 332/333 play in there?" he asked, plotting his plan for the next scrimmage with players still new to his offensive scheme.
A while later, he was on his way again. Sitting in on a meeting with players - the Vandals will conclude spring drills with Friday's Silver and Gold game - waxing poetic with reporters, arranging this and dealing with that, including the dilemma that the Kibbie Dome would not be an option if rain fell on the next day's scrimmage.
Which it did.
Another organization had the facility for the day. "Nobody told me about that," Erickson huffed.
The man has little time to himself. His office, a far cry from the spacious one he had at Oregon State, is continually crowded with people. The phone rings constantly. "Got to take this call," he said, motioning the crowd gathering outside his office.
Once he leaves his football digs, his schedule includes meetings with administrators, dinner with a donor, time with friends - old and new - to rehash the events of the past. There's a wave here and a brief chat there with an unending stream of fans, and, finally, a short night's sleep at a local hotel, where he's staying until he sells his house in the Bay Area.
"This is what I do," he said, a little weary but loving every minute of it. "I was raised with this game. I've been around it 24 hours a day throughout my life."
The road to Moscow
Erickson was hired at Idaho after the Feb. 1 national letter of intent signing date. Eventually, though, he'll find athletes, if they don't find him first.
During a session in which coaches prepared the offense's call sheet for a scrimmage, the phone rang. It was an athlete from a college in Texas, inquiring about a possible transfer to Idaho.
"He said he called because he knew coach Erickson was here," said Jamie Christian, the Idaho running backs coach. "That was the only reason."
Steven Brown, a high school senior wide receiver from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was on campus recently making an official visit.
"Coach Erickson is here," he said, eyes glued on the man during an afternoon workout. "He's why I want to play for the University of Idaho."
Gregg Smith, Idaho's assistant head coach, who is in charge of the offensive line, has been on Erickson's staffs since 1982.
"Dennis has a personality and a charisma that young players just seem to identify with," Smith said. "It's a gift. They, like the rest of us, see his passion for the game."
With players, as well as prep coaches, Erickson has tremendous credibility because of the success he's achieved in the collegiate ranks.
Luke Huard, a high school head coach from Bellevue, Wash., and brother of former University of Washington football players Brock and Damon Huard, drove 5 1/2 hours to stand in the rain during an Idaho scrimmage.
"I'd heard a lot about him," said Huard, one of about 50 high school coaches in town for Erickson's weekend coaches' clinic. "It's a chance to see him work. Everybody in the football world knows who Dennis Erickson is."
Memories, and regrets
If not for the lure of what he calls "the brass ring," Erickson might still be in another small Northwest community - Corvallis.
His decision to leave Oregon State for another fling with the NFL - he was fired by the Seattle Seahawks after four seasons before his OSU stop - still haunts him.
"I probably made a mistake; we all know that," he said. "My family did not want me to leave Oregon State, and I'm not sure I really wanted to. I didn't expect the (San Francisco) job to happen. It was the worst thing when they called.
"I'd have been just as happy if I'd not heard from the 49ers."
With a franchise that was choking on a salary-cap stranglehold, Erickson suffered through two seasons, had a 9-23 record and was given the ax.
"I got into the ego aspect of winning a Super Bowl, and it was the biggest negative I ever had about me," he said. "I always wanted to grab that brass ring, to win a Super Bowl. I thought the opportunity was there at San Francisco. Obviously, I was wrong.
"If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't. The happiest guy in the world about my decision was (Oregon State coach) Mike Riley. He made the same decision (leaving OSU after two seasons and taking the San Diego Chargers job in 1999) and was fortunate enough to be able to go back to Oregon State."
His time with the Beavers, Erickson said, "was as much fun as I've ever had. To win and see the fans, winning that sixth game in my first year - over Cal - was as big an accomplishment as I've ever had.
"It was as big as winning a national championship."
Oregon State and Erickson will renew their relationship briefly on Sept. 23 when the Vandals play at OSU.
Leaving has been a part of the Erickson legacy. First, after a four-year stay at Idaho. Then a one-year visit with Wyoming. Next was a two-year stop at Washington State before he departed for Miami and the big-time.
"He had feelings about leaving each place," said Dan Cozzetto, UI's offensive coordinator, who has been either with or not far away from Erickson since the man recruited him to Idaho in 1975.
"But the repercussions when he left Washington State ... he never forgot that. At Oregon State, after all the early success, USC was knocking on his door with a boatload of money, Arizona State and LSU, too.
"I asked him what he was going to do and he said he couldn't leave the team, that he hadn't been there long enough, that he couldn't do what he did at WSU."
Putting down roots
The Ericksons - Dennis, his wife, Marilyn, and grown sons Bryce and Ryan - are building a house in nearby Coeur d'Alene, anticipating a retirement decision that Erickson is reluctant to make.
While he has stretched his roots around and across the country, they remain anchored in the Northwest.
"I think he's here because in the long run he's giving back to the place where it all started for him," Cozzetto said.
Nowadays, Erickson seldom has a moment to himself, because it seems as if everyone in Moscow and maybe most of Idaho knows him. And those who don't, know of him.
"His door is always open," Cozzetto said. "He remembers everyone's name. It's an amazing trait. He has always said to never forget where you are from and never forget who got you where you are."
Two days before Erickson's Idaho predecessor, Nick Holt, resigned to join USC as its defensive coordinator, Erickson called Jonathan Smith, the quarterback at OSU during Erickson's reign there and the quarterbacks coach at Idaho, to tell Smith that he and his wife need not worry about their future.
"He said that we would be fine," Smith said, "that Candice (Smith's wife) could trust that everything would be OK. That tells how much coach Erickson thinks of others. He'd didn't have to do that."
Said Cozzetto: "He doesn't care whether you give a million dollars to the university or $10 to the university, to him you're special. The man never has put himself on a pedestal."
Others have, however.
It's April, five months before Idaho plays its season opener at Michigan State, but the Erickson mystique already has engulfed Moscow, again.
"People are intrigued by him," Smith said. "They see him, they see that championship ring and they want to talk to him.
"He's a legend around here. I was talking to a guy the other day who said he sold Dennis a refrigerator when he coached here the first time. People are excited."
So is Erickson, though he plays that emotion close to the vest.
"It's fun to be wanted," he said, peering over the top of his wire-rimmed eyeglasses. "It's not fun to not be wanted. I've been both."
How long will the Erickson party at Idaho last?
"If we do the things necessary to be successful," he said, this may be his last coaching stop. "If it doesn't happen, I don't know."
Can the Erickson team reverse Idaho's program, one that is 11-47 the past five years and has not won more than three games in a season since 2000?
"We can do anything we want to do," Cozzetto said. "Coach is the most competitive man I've ever been around. The only thing is, we're not getting any younger. We've got to do it quickly."
Dennis Erickson wouldn't have it any other way.
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