[Vision2020] Vandal football (grinch news)

[Carl Westberg]

Sigh....Carl Westberg Jr.
Here's a shock, Erickson talks begin at ASU
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
M aybe they'll light candles. And skip class to pray that their football 
coach will stay. The hand-wringing officially will begin in Moscow, Idaho, 
today because Dennis Erickson is talking with Arizona State regarding their 
job opening, according to a source close to the process.

If we're being authentic here, the combination of ASU and Erickson would be 
frightening for the rest of the Pacific-10 Conference. One slumping, but 
potentially cool, college football program with unbelievable upside hooks up 
with two-time national champion coach? Yeah. So maybe the Mikes -- Bellotti 
and Riley -- should catch a shuttle to Moscow to light a candle themselves.

Look. We'd expect some disappointment from boosters at Washington State 
today, and maybe, too, Oregon State. Erickson dumped them both, but some at 
those places always will hold out hope he'll take them back someday. Maybe, 
Miami feels the same way about the coach who brought them two national 
titles. The Hurricanes probably are dialing Erickson as you read this 
column.

He deserves all of that, too. Because even if you're among those who view 
Erickson as a guy prone to taking shortcuts, or questionable characters, you 
can't ignore that he's a winner, and capable of taking the Sun Devils across 
town to a Bowl Championship Series game within five years.

Now, come on, Idaho.

Dust yourself off, and tell me you saw days like this one coming after 
Erickson accepted the job at a program that lost 47 games in the five 
previous seasons. Tell me you were just joshing when you raised a glass and 
toasted to such things as, "Dennis will stay here as long as the 
administration supports him."

Because in the end, Forrest Gump could have got this one right -- Dennis is 
as Dennis does -- and I mean that in the most flattering way.

When the coach arrived in Moscow, people kept walking around talking about 
the "Erickson Magic" as if there was some kind of wizard-like secret to his 
success. Really, it's a simple thing. Erickson loves to coach. And he 
understands what it takes to win -- fast. Playmakers love to play for a guy 
who can get them to the NFL.

What we really have here is a case of ASU, and maybe, too, Miami, deciding 
for themselves if they're malleable enough to hand themselves to Erickson 
for a few seasons, knowing he's probably going to re-shape them, turn heads, 
win games, and then, dump them.

It's not the worst trade for a football program.

T he best predictor of future behavior, psychologists tell us, is past 
behavior. And this isn't a knock on Erickson, because at the very least, his 
resume comes at face value. He wins. He moves on. Even Idaho, which saw 
season-ticket sales jump 35 percent in the weeks preceeding a mediocre first 
season, knows that there's something in hiring Erickson for just about 
everyone.

Even as he went 4-8 this season, all year, I thought about Erickson and his 
assistants as if they were a pack of gunslingers in some Western. You know, 
hiding out in Moscow, waiting for Erickson to saddle his horse, shout, "We 
ride!" causing his entire gang to mount up and bolt out of town toward a 
better opportunity.

ASU should stop talking to Erickson and just hire him already. It makes 
perfect sense to hitch Erickson to a program that is an after-thought in a 
market dominated by professional sports. Erickson is as big-league as the 
Sun Devils could ever hope for, and if they saw what he did for Oregon State 
in helping build a stadium and success, they'd understand that the Erickson 
growth curve is steep.

Whether he gets the job at ASU or ends up back in Moscow for another season 
before jumping somewhere else, don't feel sorry for Idaho.

They got hope, didn't they?

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