[Vision2020] Erickson Missing Integrity Gene

Sun Dec 10 11:28:15 PST 2006

J,

Please try to realize that most of the new recruits were brought on by Holt. 
Look, I don't think many people in Moscow like Ericksons loyalty,but please 
try to understand that most of the players are giving a 110%. They really 
don't need you telling them otherwise.

Matt

>From: "J Ford" <privatejf32 at hotmail.com>
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Erickson Missing Integrity Gene
>Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 11:03:50 -0800
>
>My sentiments, EXACTLY!!!!
>
>My one big wish for Erickson is that he take the good-for-nothing players 
>he
>brought with him.  Mayhap then it'd open up slots for players - REAL 
>players
>- willing to be coached and play the game like it was intended.  Besides,
>Erickson and his thugs deserve one another.
>
>
>J  :]
>
>
>
>
>
> >From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
> >To: "Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>, "Idaho Vandals"
> ><vandal at uidaho.edu>
> >Subject: [Vision2020] Erickson Missing Integrity Gene
> >Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 07:13:19 -0800
> >
> > >From today's (December 10, 2006) Spokesman Review -
> >
> >-----------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Erickson missing integrity gene
> >John Blanchette
> >The Spokesman-Review
> >December 10, 2006
> >
> >Dennis happens.
> >
> >I hereby copyright this phrase and transfer ownership to the University 
>of
> >Idaho, which should launch production immediately to emblazon it on 
>bumper
> >stickers, T-shirts, mugs, hats, stadium blankets, key chains, beer 
>snuggies
> >and anything else that can be peddled to the suckers in the seats. I 
>mean,
> >to the masses.
> >
> >Not just in black and gold, either. There's a market on any number of
> >campuses.
> >
> >And with the windfall profits, the Vandals can pay for a new football
> >stadium, a new basketball arena and have enough left over to hire the 
>next
> >guy who'll treat them like dirt.
> >
> >Dennis happens.
> >
> >Sometimes he happens good - two national titles and a couple of programs
> >resurrected. Sometimes he's utterly devastating - betrayal and probation
> >are
> >the words that come to mind. But Dennis Erickson always happens and he
> >always will - somewhere.
> >
> >Now that somewhere is Arizona State. But where next?
> >
> >Will-Coach-for-Ego-Food University?
> >
> >In any case, that isn't Idaho's problem anymore, though Erickson 
>certainly
> >leaves others.
> >
> >Until Erickson told Idaho athletic director Rob Spear early Saturday
> >evening
> >that he was indeed accepting an offer to become the head football coach 
>at
> >ASU, a handful of Vandals may have held out hope that he'd grow a
> >conscience
> >at the last second and stay. But why? Just by flirting with the Sun 
>Devils,
> >Erickson did more to undo the excitement and goodwill his hiring in 
>Moscow
> >generated 10 months ago - 10 months! - than any foot-dragging the
> >university
> >may be doing on a facilities plan.
> >
> >Actually, we knew it was a done deal before Spear did. We had a reliable
> >source - Erickson, who told one of our reporters that it wasn't.
> >
> >Lucy is never going to yank the football away as Charlie Brown tries to
> >kick
> >it, either.
> >
> >Now, we're all grown-ups here, and surely we can comprehend the many
> >rationalizations that will ferry Erickson to Tempe. This is no Chip 
>Hilton
> >tale, but instead the real - OK, surreal - world of college athletics, in
> >which character and decency are punchlines often as not and
> >disingenuousness
> >is something to be cultivated.
> >
> >Still, this might be a record.
> >
> >Actually, it is for Erickson. For those of you old enough to reference 
>the
> >Wyoming interlude between his first stay at Idaho and his drive-by at
> >Washington State, that lasted 13 months.
> >
> >Dennis wasn't at Idaho long enough this time to get a W-2 stub.
> >
> >It's silly to rail about college coaches being soulless mercenaries when
> >such behavior is encouraged and rewarded. It's instructive that the
> >supposed
> >runner-up in the Sun Devil sweepstakes was none other than Erickson's old
> >Everett chum Mike Price, who after his Alabama disgrace three years ago
> >couldn't get hired to cook grits at a Waffle House until UTEP made a leap
> >of
> >faith. Now apparently Price feels he's paid that debt in full - and to be
> >fair, yes, three seasons is far more reasonable than 304 days. But if 
>Price
> >was truly the ultimate stand-up guy he's always portrayed as, he'd stand 
>up
> >and tell any suitors, "Thanks, but I have my team."
> >
> >But these guys are different. They're wired for winning, and not just on
> >the
> >scoreboard but at the pay window. Erickson may not need the money - 
>though
> >his 49ers buyout runs out after next year - but he apparently does need 
>the
> >fix. After all, one of the things that makes him attractive - to Idaho 
>and
> >ASU - is the fact that he won those two national titles at Miami.
> >
> >Did we have any reason to think he didn't want to win more?
> >
> >No, Erickson is simply equipped with this odd gene. Unfortunately, he 
>also
> >seems to be missing an integrity gland.
> >
> >How else could he be entertaining recruits on campus with a straight face
> >Saturday while negotiating his leave-taking? How could he, barely a week
> >ago, blast some of his players for lack of commitment? Good lord, the man
> >told Spear, when the Idaho job was floated to him, "I'll take you to the
> >next level."
> >
> >Well, yeah. If he meant kicking the Vandals from the car to the curb, I
> >guess that is the next level.
> >
> >Spear said last February he would have been excoriated as the "dumbest 
>A.D.
> >in the country" if he hadn't hired Erickson, and he's probably right.
> >Likewise, Vandal supporters had no choice but to get jazzed over what
> >Erickson's return could mean - even if hope unleashed meant obvious risk.
> >Yes, anybody thinking Erickson would never leave let their naivete get 
>the
> >best of them, but surely they had reason to believe it wouldn't be in 10
> >months. Surely he owed Idaho more than that - for giving him his head
> >coaching start in the first place, and taking him back when he was 
>looking
> >at a second year of nobody wanting him.
> >
> >Surely he wouldn't hurt Idaho, right?
> >
> >Well, he has. He has reinforced the toxic cynicism that surrounds Idaho's
> >athletic struggles. He has given the better recruits the Vandals
> >desperately
> >need a signal that the school cannot hang on to a coach or a vision. He 
>has
> >given donors an excuse to stop caring and keep their checkbooks in their
> >holsters.
> >
> >And, of course, it's just not his fault. He's a victim. If these darned
> >other jobs wouldn't open up and these A.D.s wouldn't throw themselves at
> >him, he wouldn't have to say, "Hello, I must be going" all the time. It's
> >simply out of his control.
> >
> >"There are times in life and we all face it," he said 10 months ago, when
> >asked about Larry Brownish proclivities, "when things just happen."
> >
> >Just like Dennis happens.
> >
> >Once again.
> >
> >-----------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >Seeya round town, Moscow.
> >
> >Take care, Vandals.
> >
> >Tom Hansen
> >Vandalville, Idaho
> >UI '96
> >
> >Came a tribe from the north brave and bold . . .
> >
> >"Here We Have Idaho"
> >http://www.tomandrodna.com/HWHI.mp3
> >
> >"I-D-A-H-O Idaho Idaho Go Go Go"
> >http://www.tomandrodna.com/Vandals.mp3
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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