Erickson Claims He’s Not Culpable

Hours after the probation was announced Friday for the University of Miami, former Hurricanes coach Dennis Erickson sat in his Seattle Seahawks office and was contemplating his thoughts.

“I obviously feel bad for the players and the people there for what happened,” Erickson said.

The Hurricanes lost 24 scholarships over the next two years and will miss this year’s Orange Bowl.

The program was placed on probation for three years, but it won’t lose television appearances or future bowl games. “I’m glad it’s over for the University of Miami’s sake,” Erickson said. “They can go on now with what they want to do. They’ve got the one-year bowl ban, so now they can go on with recruiting knowing what has transpired and they’re eligible for a championship next year. So I’m happy for that.”

The NCAA didn’t publicly break down the specific allegations involving Erickson or former Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson.

“I’ve never done anything, as far as a violation of an NCAA rule or illegally recruited or did anything that would merit anything,” Erickson said.

Erickson was 63-9 and won two national titles from 1989 to 1994. His graduation rate was among the top 20 in the nation for four consecutive years.

The NCAA said most of the football infractions occurred during Erickson’s tenure.

Erickson confirmed he learned of a players’ “hit pool” of $20 to $200 bonuses for performance in the last game of his first year as the Miami coach.

“In 1989, I heard there was a pool that guys put money in for the best hit,” Erickson said. “I called the players in and asked them about it. They said they’d done it. To me, it was an unethical thing. I didn’t realize there is an NCAA violation for it. At that time I just said, ‘Hey, we can’t do this. It’s unethical. Stop it.’ It stopped as far as I knew.”