Erickson comes full circle

MOSCOW, Idaho – University of Idaho athletic director Rob Spear was trying to put into context the wide-ranging impact of hiring Dennis Erickson as head football coach.

“We just had people calling and saying they haven’t had season tickets for five years, now they’re getting tickets,” Spear said. “They said they haven’t contributed to the scholarship program in five years and now they want to contribute to that, too. That’s just today, based on speculation that Dennis was going to be the guy.”

Speculation turned into reality Wednesday as Erickson returned to the program that he built into an NCAA Division I-AA power in the early 1980s. Erickson, 58, who has two national championships and six years of NFL head coaching experience on his resume, was officially introduced as the new coach, just four days after Nick Holt told Spear he was leaving.

“This doesn’t happen very often,” said Erickson, who agreed to a five-year contract starting at $220,000 annually with opportunities to earn $30,000 more in incentives. “To be able to come back here, my wife (Marilyn) is excited, I’m looking forward to getting back in the community and I’m looking forward to winning, winning football games.”

It’s that last part that longtime Idaho followers remember fondly about Erickson. The Vandals had just four winning seasons in the two decades prior to Erickson’s arrival in 1982, but he immediately led Idaho to a 9-4 record, including a 24-17 win over rival Boise State, the first of 12 consecutive wins over the Broncos. Erickson’s 1985 team was 9-3 and captured a Big Sky title.

He’ll have his hands full at present-day Idaho, which has had six consecutive losing seasons as it tries to compete in the Division I-A Western Athletic Conference, a big step up from I-AA.

“Rob Spear is my hero,” said Coeur d’Alene’s John Yarno, who played at Idaho in the mid-1970s when Erickson was an assistant coach. “Season tickets, money, the whole image of the university, those will all be impacted. Dennis is one of the best college coaches in the country. It’s an exciting day.”

And a settling day for a program that had endured a wild week. Holt originally decided to stay at Idaho, but changed his mind after 20 recruits had signed letters-of-intent a week ago.

“Obviously everyone here respects coach Holt and his decision, but yeah, we were a little down after we heard he was taking another job,” starting quarterback Steven Wichman said. “As soon as we heard coach Erickson was up for the job, our spirits were back up where we need to be.”

Idaho quarterbacks coach Jonathan Smith played quarterback when Erickson was at Oregon State. Smith sees some parallels between Idaho and Oregon State.

“He came to a spot where Oregon State was getting turned in the right direction when he got there,” Smith said. “He brought some confidence to the place, a competitive attitude and got the thing totally turned around. Sometimes a place like Oregon State, like Idaho right now, needs someone to come in and bring confidence because it has been down.”

Erickson will interview assistants on the current staff today. He also plans on bringing in several assistants who have worked with him at various stops in his career. Some possibilities include Gregg Smith, Craig Bray and Erickson’s son, Bryce, an assistant at New Mexico Highlands.

“I feel like I have to have some of my own guys,” Erickson said.

Erickson will continue to receive roughly $2.25 million annually for the next two years from the San Francisco 49ers, who fired him after 2004 with three years left on his contract. That figure was $2.5 million, but the tab is reduced by the amount of his Idaho salary.

Erickson had NFL offers as an offensive coordinator and assistant head coach that would have paid much more than what he’ll make at Idaho, but “I’ve had enough of (the NFL); the last two years (with San Francisco) weren’t fun,” he said.

The upcoming years at Idaho figure to be entertaining.

“It really establishes some legitimacy to our program and where we’re going. We’re serious about competing in the WAC,” Spear said.

“We just need to do a good job of marketing this, getting out and selling Dennis. It’s a shot in the arm for our program because people were devastated when Nick left. Now they’re totally excited.”