[Vision2020] One columnist's thoughts on Dennis Erickson

[Carl Westberg]

>From the Seattle P-I:  Go 2 Guy: Desert perfect place for this snake

By JIM MOORE
P-I COLUMNIST

I'll bet he's the toast of the desert, a football god in the Valley of the 
Sun. Dennis Erickson is 6-0 as coach of 14th-ranked Arizona State.

His Sun Devils play the Huskies on Saturday night at Sun Devil Stadium and 
are 11 1/2-point favorites, oddsmakers thinking they'll soon be 7-0.

All of this is just not right. In fact, it's very, very wrong. People like 
Erickson who treat people like dirt do not deserve unbeaten records and 
national accolades.

I firmly believe in karma, and karma, at some point, catches up to everyone, 
whether it's good karma or, in Erickson's case, bad karma.

Nearly 10 months have passed since Erickson dumped Idaho for the hotter 
chick in Tempe, and it still bothers me on many levels, to the point that I 
will openly root for Washington to not only beat the Sun Devils but crush 
them.

I remember being in Erickson's Idaho office in March 2006. He was happy to 
be back where his coaching odyssey began 24 years before and said he was 
through with ladder-climbing and brass-ring chasing. I looked forward to 
writing about a man who was finally at peace, which means he fooled me, too.

"When you're a young coach, you want to win the biggest prize you can win," 
Erickson said at the time. "But it's about building something and being 
proud of what you built."

Translation: He would be just fine with building a WAC champion at Idaho.

He assured Idaho athletic director Rob Spear that he would be there for the 
long haul, and if he left, he'd be heading to Coeur d'Alene to retire.

"It would have not made sense for us to hire him if we knew he was going to 
leave," Spear said Sunday.

Erickson lied to Spear but later would comically contend that he's a man of 
his word.

In December 2006, I went to the news conference announcing his hiring in 
Tempe. There were a lot of smiles in the room that day, and one of them 
belonged to Erickson. But in my eyes, he had become a man I couldn't respect 
anymore.

He was asked how he could justify making a commitment to Idaho and leaving 
for ASU.

"I justify it by saying it's an opportunity I have to get to the top," he 
said in such a matter-of-fact tone that you must be an idiot if you don't 
get that, and I didn't.

By his actions, Erickson basically said the Vandals were not good enough for 
him. The big fish needed a bigger pond after all -- never mind that B.S. 
about building something you're proud of.

It's one thing to big-time someone, and quite another to big-time the 
someone who extended his hand to you in a time of need. Then to spit in 
Idaho's face the way he did, boarding a private plane to Phoenix while 
recruits were in Moscow, well, I simmer just thinking about it.

And yet, at that smiley news conference, Erickson said he had a clear 
conscience.

While Erickson is being heralded this week, the Vandals are struggling at 
1-5 but making progress under new coach Robb Akey, the former Washington 
State defensive coordinator. He's the third coach in three years, so the 
kids have issues, thanks in part to Erickson.

Holding his first team meeting, Akey told the players he wanted to cultivate 
a family atmosphere.

"You know, Coach, it sounds great," one player told him afterward, "but 
you've got to understand, we've heard this stuff before."

"We had to give them reason to trust the coaches again," Akey said. "We had 
to prove to them that we care about them and that we're gonna do what we say 
we're gonna do."

I'm driving below sea level, but Akey took the high road and praised 
Erickson.

"A lot of people say they never should have hired him, but I disagree," he 
said. "It's one of the best moves Idaho has made. It showed that people 
cared again, people were fired up for football again. He jump-started 
things."

Akey said Erickson was good to him in the transition, giving him names in 
recruiting.

"He does care about the University of Idaho; he certainly made that clear to 
me," Akey said. "It's still a special place to him."

Erickson might have talked to Akey, but the only player he has spoken to 
since he left, according to Spear, is Deonte Jackson to see if the tailback 
wanted to join him at Arizona State. To his credit, Jackson declined.

I'd like to buy Spear a half-dozen gin and tonics to find out what he really 
thinks about Erickson, but speaking as a sober AD, he said: "We've moved 
forward. We're excited about the football coach we have now. Robb Akey is 
such an energetic guy and operates with such integrity. I haven't heard 
anybody bring up Dennis' name in a long time."

Spear wouldn't throw Erickson under the bus, and I don't want to either; I 
want to throw him under a whole damn fleet of them. Hey, Sun Devil fans -- 
whenever you start your firedenniserickson.com Web site, which you will, 
sign me up.

I tried to reach him for comment Monday, but Erickson's noon news conference 
in Tempe was not accessible via phone. I was going to ask him if he saw old 
friends in the Palouse last weekend on the off chance he has any old friends 
left.

For one more Saturday, Erickson eluded bad karma, slithering into Martin 
Stadium and slithering out with a 23-20 victory over the Cougs. It will all 
catch up to him and his overrated squad this week.

On a coaching level, maybe it was a no-brainer for Erickson to leave. But on 
a larger level, a human-being level, he should have known it was a 
no-brainer to stay.
P-I columnist Jim Moore can be reached at 206-448-8013 or 
jimmoore at seattlepi.com. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

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