| | CORVALLIS, Ore. -- From the first day of practice, Dennis
Erickson seemed oddly out of place at Oregon State: A proven winner
leading a team with college football's longest tradition of losing.
Some of the wide-eyed players couldn't help but notice the
chunky gold national championship ring on their new coach's finger,
even as he scolded a group of receivers for running their routes
too short.
| |  | | Dennis Erickson will try to bring respectability to Oregon State. |
In a calm but stern voice, he tells them exactly what he wants.
And they listen.
"They're starving," Erickson said. "A lot of Beaver fans been
suffering for a lot of years around here. They deserve to have a
winner. There's nothing I'd rather do in my career than get that
done."
Erickson has been to the summit of his profession, winning two
national championships at Miami. And he's experienced the lows,
too, getting fired from the Seattle Seahawks after four
disillusioning years in the NFL.
Now, he's somewhere in between. He's got a job, at least,
coaching an Oregon State team in a small town that is overjoyed to
have him. But he takes over a program that hasn't had a winning
season since 1970 and a bowl appearance since 1965.
While Erickson confidently talks about breaking the skid, he's
just happy to be back on campus. And to be rid of the millionaire
players of the pros.
"As soon as things go wrong, some players point to the head
coach," Erickson said of his NFL experience. "They think, 'It's
not my fault, it's his fault.' They never take any of the blame
themselves. Some of them need to take a look in the mirror."
Erickson was fired from the Seahawks in January after they
failed to make the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Two weeks
later, he was brought into Corvallis to replace Mike Riley, who
took the head coaching job with the San Diego Chargers after leading the Beavers to a surprising 5-6 record, including a thrilling double-overtime victory over rival Oregon.
Almost immediately, Oregon State fans, as stubbornly optimistic
as any Chicago Cubs diehard, began imploring Erickson to deliver
them from their torment.
The night before practices began, Erickson met with the team and
told them a winning season was within their reach. And despite
missing several key starters from last year's team, they believe
their coach.
"He brings an aura of confidence to a team that desperately
needs it," said starting quarterback Jonathan Smith. "There's a
definite bitterness about how long we've lost. But I think every
time we go into a game, all the guys should be feeling, 'We can win
this game.' "
Running back Ken Simonton, who became the Beavers' first
1,000-yard rusher in 28 years as a freshman last season, has been
even more audacious, predicting Oregon State will go to a bowl
game. That hasn't happened since the 1965 Rose Bowl, and the
Beavers haven't won in the postseason since the 1962 Liberty Bowl.
Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, like a handful of other
players, signed with Oregon State on Erickson's reputation alone.
He was leaning toward signing with Oregon or Southern California
when he visited Corvallis. It happened to be the same weekend
Erickson was named coach at a news conference filled with cheering
boosters and a marching band.
"On my trip, guys were saying, 'They got coach Erickson,' "
Houshmandzadeh said. "Just his name made a lot of players want to
come. I was like, 'Man I'm coming now."'
Oregon State has inched closer to big-time football
respectability just in the seven months since Erickson's hiring.
The school has installed a gleaming $1.2 million artificial turf to
replace the worn-out 15-year-old surface. Alumnus and snack-food
magnate Al Reser donated $5 million in exchange for changing the
name of Parker Stadium to Reser Stadium. The school has reduced its
spiraling debt from $9.5 million two years ago to $6 million. And
football season ticket sales are up 31 percent from last season, to
10,400.
Though secluded from Oregon's population centers, and from the
glamour of the other Pac-10 schools, fans live and die with their
team. Just as they do in Moscow, Idaho; Laramie, Wyo. and Pullman,
Wash., Erickson's other small-town stops as a head coach.
"It's kind of getting back to where we started way back a long
time ago, having a chance to go in and take over a program that's
been on the bottom," said Gregg Smith, who's been Erickson's top
assistant since the Idaho days. "We've been through a lot of
programs, done a lot of things, crossed a lot of bridges and waded
through a lot of rivers, and he's the type of guy who's going to be
successful. That's just his mentality."
After head coaching stints at Idaho, Wyoming and Washington
State, Erickson settled in Miami in 1989 to take Jimmy Johnson's
place. Erickson continued the Hurricanes' dominance, winning
national titles in his first season and in 1991.
The Hurricanes' outlaw reputation also flourished. Several
players got into trouble over guns, drugs and alleged sexual
assaults, and the program was accused of covering up positive
drug-test results to keep players eligible. The NCAA also found
that football players and other athletes received improper
financial aid.
While neither Erickson nor Johnson were implicated, the program
was placed on probation by the NCAA for three years, costing the
Hurricanes a bowl appearance in 1995 and 32 scholarships. The
program is only now recovering.
"That stuff was blown totally out of proportion," Erickson
said. "You compare how we got in trouble at our place compared to
other places. It wasn't any different, ours was just publicized.
Our guys at Miami had fun playing the game and they won, so that's
going to happen."
At Seattle, the Seahawks went 31-33 in Erickson's four years. He
said he enjoyed his NFL experience and learned a lot about the
strategy of the game, but he still seems bitter about the way he
was let go.
"I'm proud of what we did there," he said. "We took a team
that was the worst in the NFL and made it into a competitive team.
I tell you one thing, they're a lot better now than when we got
there."
Oregon State almost hired Erickson back in 1984, and when he
came available again new athletic director Mitch Barnhart didn't
let him slip away again.
Barnhart knew Erickson wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest,
near his hometown Everett, Wash. Erickson said he was offered jobs
as an NFL assistant, but had grown accustomed to being in charge.
His other options were going into the broadcast booth or taking a
year off.
"I couldn't have sat out, that's the number one thing," he
said. "I've just been doing it for too long. Too many falls, and
the smell in the air. I don't know that I could have handled that.
This thing opened up, and it just seemed to be the right thing for
me. Had it not, who knows what I'd be doing right now."
The Beavers lost 12 starters from last season, the most of any
Pac-10 school, and the team is picked to finish no higher than
ninth in the conference. Erickson acknowledges that expectations
could be unrealistic.
"What I want to do is to build a solid program where you're
competitive every year," he said. "We want players around the
country to know that they've got a chance to win when they come to
Oregon State, and that takes a little bit of time. I think it's
going to take four or five years."
Erickson can't say for sure whether he will be around then, or
off in some other football-hungry town.
"My plan is to stay here as long as I'm doing a good job, and
as long as we're making improvement," he said. "But I could
finish my career here, without a doubt."
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