Erickson Back in His Element

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 as he scolded a group of receivers for running their routes too short.

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 top 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.

“He brings an aura of confidence to a team that desperately needs it,” starting quarterback Jonathan Smith said. “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.”’

Wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, a junior-college transfer, was leaning toward Oregon or Southern Cal when he visited Corvallis. It just happened to be the same weekend Erickson was introduced as the new 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. “I was like, ‘Man I’m coming now.”’

Though secluded from Oregon’s population centers, and from the glamour of the other Pac-10 schools, Oregon State has inched closer to the big time in just the seven months since Erickson’s hiring.

The school has installed a new $1.2 million artificial turf, picked up a $5 million donation from an alumnus to change the name of its home field to Reser Stadium and has reduced its spiraling debt from $9.5 million two years ago to $6 million.

“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 an assistant with Erickson since his first head coaching job at Idaho in the early 1980s. “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.”

After moving on to Wyoming and Washington State, Erickson settled in Miami in 1989 to take over a team that had already won national titles. Erickson continued the Hurricanes’ dominance, winning championships in his first season and in 1991.

After losing just nine games in his six seasons at Miami, Erickson’s Seahawks went 31-33 in four years. He said he enjoyed his NFL experience but still seems bitter about the way he was fired.

“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.”

After his firing, Erickson wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest, near his hometown, Everett, Wash. He was offered jobs as an NFL assistant but had grown accustomed to being in charge. His other options were the broadcast booth or a year off.

“I couldn’t have sat out,” 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.”

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.

“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,” he said. “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.”