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Jul. 23—MOSCOW, Idaho — Being good at football may seem like a decades-old birthright to generations of Idaho fans who have seen the Vandals make 11 FCS Playoff appearances and win three FBS bowl games the past 44 years.
But to gray-haired alums, say the word "Dennis" and expect a thankful, slow smile to break out as sure as the sunrise. Dennis Erickson, a glittering spot in Vandals coaching history, is being inducted into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame on Saturday at Northern Quest Casino & Resort.
He is retired in Coeur d'Alene now. But he had a career college coaching record of 179-96-1. It spanned head coaching stops at Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State and Miami — where he won two national championships in 1989 and 1991. It included the Seattle Seahawks, Oregon State, where he upset Notre Dame in a Fiesta Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona State, the Salt Lake Stallions, and stints as an assistant at Montana State, San Jose State, Idaho and Utah (because coaches coach).
He can also no doubt drop into Bozeman anytime and be feted as an all-Big Sky starting quarterback from 1966-68.
"It was a conference that a lot of good guys played in. It was a fun conference to be in as a player," Erickson remembers.
In his career, the national championships no doubt reign supreme, and heading the Seahawks from 1995-98 can't be far behind. And everybody fondly remembers playing. But leading the Vandals out of decades of mediocrity in the early 1980s is unique. Not only for stacking winning seasons for long-suffering fans who assumed their lot in life was to reflect on wistful what-ifs as an overmatched member of the old Pacific Coast Conference, but for being an original — a confident first-time head coach in an era grounded in running the ball, who had the temerity to insist "let's throw it."
Positioning a tight end across the middle remains an iconic image of the era. When defenses were based on controlling gaps to stop opponents' running, the Vandals could drag a tight end across the field "and nobody moved" Erickson says.
"We didn't have the depth to put five wideouts on the field, but we could put linebackers on guys they shouldn't be covering," Ken Hobart, Erickson's first quarterback at Idaho, recalled.
Chris Tormey, who played for the Vandals in the mid-to-late 1970s and was the defensive line and special teams coach for Idaho on Erickson's first two teams, said Idaho's unique-at-the-time one-back offense regularly got two-on-one matches against defenses.
"It was like stealing."
Eric Yarber, who went on to win Super Bowl 22 with Washington, was the Vandals' go-to receiver. He played inside, where teams regularly tried to cover him with a linebacker or safety.
"A three-step drop and throw to Yarber. Let him do his magic," Tormey said.
Erickson absorbed the principles of a passing offense as offensive coordinator at San Jose State under Jack Elway, and he brought those to Idaho following a 3-8 season in 1981, in which the Vandals failed to win a conference game.
This was a time when Idaho punched above its weight across the university. Dave McKinney and G.A. Jay Hartford, a pair of West Point alums and financial vice presidents at Idaho and Washington State respectively , figured two land grant universities within eight miles of each other should leverage their strengths rather than view each other as rivals. This played out in classrooms and research labs, and on the Idaho side of the Palouse nowhere was the rising tide of their higher education institution more evident for the average fan than in seeing their football team mirror the success of the rest of the university.
Erickson turned things around instantly. In 1982, the Vandals finished 9-4 and reached the quarterfinals of the Division I-AA playoffs. From 1982-85, Erickson went 31-13 with the Vandals in the regular season and 1-2 in the postseason.
Perhaps even more important, the Vandals shocked arch-rival Boise State in Boise, 24-17, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Broncos and inaugurating a 12-game win streak among Erickson (4-0 against BSU) and his successors Keith Gilbertson, John L. Smith and Tormey. In those days, Idaho fans could confidently assert "we always beat Boise State."
Tormey, who coached the Vandals from 1995-99, recalls a T-shirt from the era — "A Decade of Dominance."
It is hard to account for how much wistfulness enters into this, but Erickson looks back fondly at his first head coaching job in the Big Sky.
"That was probably the most fun I had in coaching," he said. "We were doing things nobody was doing at the time."
As a staff, "everybody had their ideas," he says. "Bottom line, I had the final say."
Erickson's memories resonate with Hobart.
"He was a players' coach. He laid down rules and he said 'you're college kids. Don't get in trouble with the law, and have fun.' "
He was a godsend for me. My first two years, I was getting my brains beat out running the veer."
Hobart had walked on to the Vandals in 1980 following a standout high school multisport career at Kamiah and a semester as a baseball player at Lewis-Clark State College. After focusing on just one sport and weight training at LCSC, Hobart had put on enough muscle to convince Idaho's football coach Jerry Davitch he could thrive as a durable college quarterback in a running offense.
Hobart went on to a successful career in the Canadian Football League, and he said without Erickson, "I had no chance to play pro ball."
When Erickson succeeded Davitch, Hobart immediately reinvented himself from a runner to a passer. He had considered transferring to Houston, another veer school, but when Idaho's athletics director at the time, Bill Belknap, suggested Hobart couldn't succeed in a passing offense, he got his back up.
"I was all in at Idaho, staying here," he said.
Having played San Jose State when Erickson was the offensive coordinator, Hobart saw the possibilities of a passing offense. And Erickson bolstered his decision.
"I talked to him, and he told me 'whoever said you can't throw the balls is crazy,' " Hobart said.
Hobart has had the great fortune to remain in contact with his college coach several times a year. Most recently they played golf this spring in Coeur d'Alene in a foursome with former Vandals and Seahawks center John Yarno. It snowed.
"We shared a laugh," Hobart said. Erickson remarked, "I'd rather be in two-a-days."
Hobart shared another memory that characterized Erickson's hand on Idaho's tiller. He had missed an accounting class, Hobart said, and Erickson called him in to deliver a warning: "don't ever miss his class again, I drink beer with him at the Corner Club."
Hobart laughed.
"I think a lot of Fs were turned into Cs at the Corner Club," he said.
Tormey speaks similarly of Erickson's impact on his career. Erickson had tried to recruit Tormey to Montana State when Erickson was an assistant there, and Erickson was an assistant at Idaho for two years when Tormey played. When Erickson got the Idaho head-coaching job, he hired Tormey, who was a graduate assistant at Washington.
"I was a fulltime coach at Idaho when I was 26 years old. It was one of the biggest breaks of my career. Every time I see (Erickson) I thank him."
As do Erickson and Hobart, Tormey characterizes the era as "fun."
"We were a very young staff, and he was very energetic," Tormey said . "(Erickson) was so demonstrative, and he really connected well with players."
One of the biggest lessons he took from Erickson as a coach was creating a positive team environment.
"If you are going to get the most out of your guys, you have got to have a positive environment." Tormey said. "We had great buy-in. That's one of the things I tried to do as a coach, create a positive environment."
As part of fashioning that, Erickson regularly took his coaches out on Wednesday evenings to Moscow's Nobby Inn.
"There were a lot of stories flying around that table," Tormey said. "Plenty of pontificating. Mostly from Gilby and Dennis. Mostly from Gilby."
Erickson's ties with the Big Sky run deep. He not only played and coached at Montana State and Idaho, Erickson's son, Bryce, was an assistant at Idaho and Montana, and Erickson's father, Robert "Pink" Erickson was an assistant coach at Montana when Erickson played at MSU and later joined his son as an assistant at Idaho and WSU.
"I gave him a scholarship. He had free room and board at my house," Erickson said.
Not everyone is lucky enough to bask in the warm glow of memories from their early career. But with this latest honor, Erickson gets to stir the embers of his time in the Big Sky as a player and coach. For a guy who has been everywhere and done everything in football, Erickson gets to remember this about the Big Sky Conference: "Oh, it was fun."
Continue reading...
But to gray-haired alums, say the word "Dennis" and expect a thankful, slow smile to break out as sure as the sunrise. Dennis Erickson, a glittering spot in Vandals coaching history, is being inducted into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame on Saturday at Northern Quest Casino & Resort.
He is retired in Coeur d'Alene now. But he had a career college coaching record of 179-96-1. It spanned head coaching stops at Idaho, Wyoming, Washington State and Miami — where he won two national championships in 1989 and 1991. It included the Seattle Seahawks, Oregon State, where he upset Notre Dame in a Fiesta Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona State, the Salt Lake Stallions, and stints as an assistant at Montana State, San Jose State, Idaho and Utah (because coaches coach).
He can also no doubt drop into Bozeman anytime and be feted as an all-Big Sky starting quarterback from 1966-68.
"It was a conference that a lot of good guys played in. It was a fun conference to be in as a player," Erickson remembers.
In his career, the national championships no doubt reign supreme, and heading the Seahawks from 1995-98 can't be far behind. And everybody fondly remembers playing. But leading the Vandals out of decades of mediocrity in the early 1980s is unique. Not only for stacking winning seasons for long-suffering fans who assumed their lot in life was to reflect on wistful what-ifs as an overmatched member of the old Pacific Coast Conference, but for being an original — a confident first-time head coach in an era grounded in running the ball, who had the temerity to insist "let's throw it."
Positioning a tight end across the middle remains an iconic image of the era. When defenses were based on controlling gaps to stop opponents' running, the Vandals could drag a tight end across the field "and nobody moved" Erickson says.
"We didn't have the depth to put five wideouts on the field, but we could put linebackers on guys they shouldn't be covering," Ken Hobart, Erickson's first quarterback at Idaho, recalled.
Chris Tormey, who played for the Vandals in the mid-to-late 1970s and was the defensive line and special teams coach for Idaho on Erickson's first two teams, said Idaho's unique-at-the-time one-back offense regularly got two-on-one matches against defenses.
"It was like stealing."
Eric Yarber, who went on to win Super Bowl 22 with Washington, was the Vandals' go-to receiver. He played inside, where teams regularly tried to cover him with a linebacker or safety.
"A three-step drop and throw to Yarber. Let him do his magic," Tormey said.
Erickson absorbed the principles of a passing offense as offensive coordinator at San Jose State under Jack Elway, and he brought those to Idaho following a 3-8 season in 1981, in which the Vandals failed to win a conference game.
This was a time when Idaho punched above its weight across the university. Dave McKinney and G.A. Jay Hartford, a pair of West Point alums and financial vice presidents at Idaho and Washington State respectively , figured two land grant universities within eight miles of each other should leverage their strengths rather than view each other as rivals. This played out in classrooms and research labs, and on the Idaho side of the Palouse nowhere was the rising tide of their higher education institution more evident for the average fan than in seeing their football team mirror the success of the rest of the university.
Erickson turned things around instantly. In 1982, the Vandals finished 9-4 and reached the quarterfinals of the Division I-AA playoffs. From 1982-85, Erickson went 31-13 with the Vandals in the regular season and 1-2 in the postseason.
Perhaps even more important, the Vandals shocked arch-rival Boise State in Boise, 24-17, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Broncos and inaugurating a 12-game win streak among Erickson (4-0 against BSU) and his successors Keith Gilbertson, John L. Smith and Tormey. In those days, Idaho fans could confidently assert "we always beat Boise State."
Tormey, who coached the Vandals from 1995-99, recalls a T-shirt from the era — "A Decade of Dominance."
It is hard to account for how much wistfulness enters into this, but Erickson looks back fondly at his first head coaching job in the Big Sky.
"That was probably the most fun I had in coaching," he said. "We were doing things nobody was doing at the time."
As a staff, "everybody had their ideas," he says. "Bottom line, I had the final say."
Erickson's memories resonate with Hobart.
"He was a players' coach. He laid down rules and he said 'you're college kids. Don't get in trouble with the law, and have fun.' "
He was a godsend for me. My first two years, I was getting my brains beat out running the veer."
Hobart had walked on to the Vandals in 1980 following a standout high school multisport career at Kamiah and a semester as a baseball player at Lewis-Clark State College. After focusing on just one sport and weight training at LCSC, Hobart had put on enough muscle to convince Idaho's football coach Jerry Davitch he could thrive as a durable college quarterback in a running offense.
Hobart went on to a successful career in the Canadian Football League, and he said without Erickson, "I had no chance to play pro ball."
When Erickson succeeded Davitch, Hobart immediately reinvented himself from a runner to a passer. He had considered transferring to Houston, another veer school, but when Idaho's athletics director at the time, Bill Belknap, suggested Hobart couldn't succeed in a passing offense, he got his back up.
"I was all in at Idaho, staying here," he said.
Having played San Jose State when Erickson was the offensive coordinator, Hobart saw the possibilities of a passing offense. And Erickson bolstered his decision.
"I talked to him, and he told me 'whoever said you can't throw the balls is crazy,' " Hobart said.
Hobart has had the great fortune to remain in contact with his college coach several times a year. Most recently they played golf this spring in Coeur d'Alene in a foursome with former Vandals and Seahawks center John Yarno. It snowed.
"We shared a laugh," Hobart said. Erickson remarked, "I'd rather be in two-a-days."
Hobart shared another memory that characterized Erickson's hand on Idaho's tiller. He had missed an accounting class, Hobart said, and Erickson called him in to deliver a warning: "don't ever miss his class again, I drink beer with him at the Corner Club."
Hobart laughed.
"I think a lot of Fs were turned into Cs at the Corner Club," he said.
Tormey speaks similarly of Erickson's impact on his career. Erickson had tried to recruit Tormey to Montana State when Erickson was an assistant there, and Erickson was an assistant at Idaho for two years when Tormey played. When Erickson got the Idaho head-coaching job, he hired Tormey, who was a graduate assistant at Washington.
"I was a fulltime coach at Idaho when I was 26 years old. It was one of the biggest breaks of my career. Every time I see (Erickson) I thank him."
As do Erickson and Hobart, Tormey characterizes the era as "fun."
"We were a very young staff, and he was very energetic," Tormey said . "(Erickson) was so demonstrative, and he really connected well with players."
One of the biggest lessons he took from Erickson as a coach was creating a positive team environment.
"If you are going to get the most out of your guys, you have got to have a positive environment." Tormey said. "We had great buy-in. That's one of the things I tried to do as a coach, create a positive environment."
As part of fashioning that, Erickson regularly took his coaches out on Wednesday evenings to Moscow's Nobby Inn.
"There were a lot of stories flying around that table," Tormey said. "Plenty of pontificating. Mostly from Gilby and Dennis. Mostly from Gilby."
Erickson's ties with the Big Sky run deep. He not only played and coached at Montana State and Idaho, Erickson's son, Bryce, was an assistant at Idaho and Montana, and Erickson's father, Robert "Pink" Erickson was an assistant coach at Montana when Erickson played at MSU and later joined his son as an assistant at Idaho and WSU.
"I gave him a scholarship. He had free room and board at my house," Erickson said.
Not everyone is lucky enough to bask in the warm glow of memories from their early career. But with this latest honor, Erickson gets to stir the embers of his time in the Big Sky as a player and coach. For a guy who has been everywhere and done everything in football, Erickson gets to remember this about the Big Sky Conference: "Oh, it was fun."
Continue reading...
