Dennis, Anyone? New Hawks Coach Stays Focused As Critics Take Their Shots At Him

Somewhere in the 2,726 miles between Miami and Seattle, someone called an audible on Dennis Erickson’s homecoming as head coach of the Seahawks.

Accusations of numerous rules violations and player lawlessness have tainted six years of achievements at the University of Miami. A driving under the influence incident in April scared him enough to accept intense alcohol counseling. His best friend, Robert “Pink” Erickson, his father, began a fight against cancer.

Thomas Wolfe wrote “You Can’t Go Home Again,” but because that novel didn’t offer football diagrams, why would Dennis Erickson read it? Erickson’s heart has been set on returning to the Northwest, but his body, mind and soul thrive in the football office.

Since 1969, homecoming to Erickson has meant preparing for the sacrificial college opponent. Lost in all the controversy in recent months is the simplicity of being Dennis Erickson. An endless supply of football video tapes is all he needs.

He’s a football coach. That’s all he ever wanted to be. That’s all he wants to do. That’s what he is. The fact that he’s doing it a half-hour drive from his Everett home means a lot, but it hasn’t changed him.

Work comes first, and trying to reverse the fortunes of the Seahawks is a full-time job.

“I love the football part of coaching, that’s what it’s all about, the X’s and O’s, dealing with the players out on the field,” Erickson, 48, said. “That’s what’s fun for me. It’s great just being back in the area. I like the challenge of seeing where the Seahawks are and determining where I think we are going to be. I like the challenge of taking it to another level.”

Childhood friends aren’t surprised they haven’t seen much of him since his Jan. 12 hiring. They knew Erickson would spend much of his time at the office. Frank Willson, one of his closest friends, has spent more time with him than most because he represented Erickson in his DUI case.

“The honeymoon was pretty short for Dennis,” Willson said. “It’s a shame he’s had such a tough time. Part of it is from his own making with the DUI. That’s taken a lot of gloss off it, but things are going to work out. He’s a family guy. He’s at the top of the heap in his profession, and he’s home. One thing about Dennis is that he’s totally, totally focused.”

Off-the-field concerns have made Erickson’s transition from college to the pros tougher. News of his father’s cancer didn’t catch him off guard. Before taking the job, Erickson knew that Pink’s medical reports revealed traces of cancer.

That’s why coming home had extra importance. Pink advised his son not to worry. He told him he’d be around long enough to see him win a Super Bowl. That put the burden on Erickson to fulfill his father’s dream, and he knows that Pink will watch as many practices as possible, even if at times his health might require him to watch from an office overlooking the practice field.

For Erickson to accomplish his mission, work will consume much of his time.

“I haven’t had enough time to go to Everett as much as I want,” Erickson said. “I haven’t spent as much time with my parents as I thought I would have. We are trying to continue to get organized.”

There have been distractions and headlines that have both questioned and tested his character, at times turning his attention from the task of rebuilding the Seahawks.

Erickson was shaken by his DUI arrest on April 15 near Marysville, Wash. Rather than contest the arrest, he entered into a deferred prosecution program after a counselor from Lakeside Recovery Centers Inc. in Bothell, Wash., determined that he had a serious drinking problem.

He faces a vigorous schedule of counseling and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings. The program calls for him to attend two AA meetings a week for 2 years. He must attend three 2-hour counseling sessions a week for the first three months of his program, weekly 2-hour sessions for the next six months and one per month for the remaining 15 months.

Media attacks from Miami also have disturbed him. The program he led to a 63-9 record and two national championships in six seasons has come under intense criticism.

He has been accused of withholding positive drug tests to keep top players, such as Warren Sapp, eligible. A recent Miami Herald article detailed a litany of lawlessness under his leadership, including sexual misconduct, violence, arrests, drug usage and possession of guns by players, as well as alcohol abuse by players and coaches.

He may not have heard the end from Miami. The NCAA is conducting an investigation of the program.

He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated - along with Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox and former Michigan football coach Gary Moeller. Their photos appeared over the headline: “Leaders of men?” All three were involved in alcoholrelated incidents in recent months.

SI published a follow-up story this week on why the University of Miami should drop football.

“It spoils a little bit of this homecoming,” Erickson said. “I know what we did down there. We ran a good program. We were successful. We did the things that were necessary to be successful - academically, football wise, the graduation rate. Our record pretty much speaks for itself. But you could pretty much go into any program and find negatives. That’s just how it is. You’ve got 90 people out there, and you can’t control them all.”

So for now, he studies the positives of the Seahawks.

Stories of Erickson aren’t that much different from those of former NFL coaches Don Coryell, Dick Vermeil and Joe Gibbs. Once, Coryell’s wife asked him to take out the trash before heading to work. Concentrating on a game plan, Coryell put the trash in his car, drove to work and later wondered about the smell.

Gibbs and Vermeil were so consumed by work that they often slept in their offices.

Somewhere between Coryell and Gibbs is Erickson. He’s organized enough to leave the office at decent times. He’s intense enough to block out the world outside of football.

“His wife, Marilyn, would buy his clothes and have to lay them out,” Willson said. “If she just bought his clothes, he would put on one colored sock and one with another color. He just doesn’t give a hang about that stuff. He has one thing in mind: studying those films. Other than basic family stuff, that’s all he cares about.”

Coming home hasn’t changed that. Erickson worked out a deal to drive a BMW. His inability to understand the internal mechanics of the vehicle made him consider trading it in.

“When I got in that Beamer, I tried to turn the windshield wipers on, and the lights would come on, the trunk would flop open,” Erickson said. “I got it down now. I know how to put gas in, but sometimes that screws me up because of those new, fancy gas things. At least I know where the gas tank is at.”

Added Willson, “He’s an idiot when it comes to mechanical things. The BMW had too many things, and he said he didn’t want to take the time to figure it out. That would be an interruption in his time of going over and watching film.”

Pink Erickson says his son comes by that naturally. Pink’s father was a milltown shingle-weaver who never owned an automobile. Because Pink spent his career in football coaching, the toughest mechanical task for Dennis was running a projector.

“I was coaching at Ferndale (Wash.), and we raised money enough to have a guy from Western Washington take the film,” Pink said. “On Saturday morning, Dennis was always there checking it out. He’d get a real feel for what was going on at that time. “

Erickson has watched film since he was 5 or 6 years old. He spliced film before he was 10. He found the conversion to video disorienting.

“I thought it was going to be the worst thing that was ever invented,” Erickson said. “I was at Washington State then. I thought there was never anything like film. Now, you couldn’t get me back to film. You can just do so many things now.”

Looking at tapes might be an obsession, but it’s done with efficiency. Years of studying plays has made Erickson a choosy viewer. His studies are as strategic as his game plans.

Recently, he studied San Francisco 49er game tapes to add sprint-out passes to the offense for quarterback Rick Mirer. His most recent missions have been studying the tendencies of the defensive coordinators he’ll face this season to plot ways of attacking their schemes.

“A lot of people spend time at it, but spending it unproductively isn’t right,” said Bob Bratkowski, the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. “Everything we ever did was always real productive. It was realistic. You can sit and draw X’s and O’s and say, ‘Boy, we can do this and we can do that.’ But in reality, some of that stuff looks good on a chalkboard but doesn’t look good when you try to do it on the field. There’s always a very realistic approach to what could get done and what can’t get done, what’s too much to teach, and what’s too much to try to do.”

Mirer has been among the many Seahawks who have been pleasantly pleased and somewhat surprised at what Erickson is offering. The sprintout passes, for example, caught Mirer off guard. He had wanted those plays since turning pro.

“Things look kind of good, so you’re excited and you’re ready to go,” Mirer said. “Instead of walking away from the minicamp thinking, ‘Dang, we’ve got a lot of work to do,’ things came together quickly for having guys that were all new to a whole system.”

“I don’t think there was any question in his mind growing up that he wanted to be a football coach,” Pink Erickson said. “He paid his dues by working 12 years as an assistant. He coached for guys like Jack Elway and Jim Sweeney. And the players have always played for him.”

Said Seahawks quarterback John Friesz, who played for Erickson at Idaho: “He’s the same very intense, very emotional speaker. One thing that’s been great is thinking about what he’s expected to say at the first team meeting. He’s very focused on winning. Nothing else matters. He’ll do whatever it takes to put us in a position to win.

“When you have a coach that is dedicated like that and the staff is also dedicated, it goes a mile in building players’ confidence. It’s the little things like that make a difference between an 8-8 and a 12-4 team.”

Outside of football, Erickson has no hobbies unless one considers sitting around talking about football. Willson was amused when he told him to inquire about chartering a boat to venture to the San Juan Islands. Informed about the details, Erickson told him maybe they could do it next year.

“He worked in Miami for 6 years and he told me he didn’t scuba dive,” Willson said. “He has no personal hobbies like the rest of us have. He spends time with his family and he does his job. He doesn’t feel bad about it. He’s never complained about it. That’s all he wants to do.”

One of the first things Erickson did after signing his contract with the Seahawks was arrange for his two single-parent sisters to move their families from California to Everett.

Now if he could just find some time to spend with them. Even though it’s the off-season, he’ll spend a few hours in the office on Saturday and Sunday mornings. His secretary is amazed that when she reports to work every morning, Erickson has already been there since 7 a.m. and has put finished work on her desk.

“As time has passed, I’ve become more of a morning person,” Erickson said.