Rumor has it, the San Francisco 49ers had a list of six collegiate coaches on the radar for the team’s head coaching position, one that was filled Tuesday by Oregon State’s Dennis Erickson.
The list reportedly included Oregon’s Mike Bellotti, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Rick Neuheisel, of Washington. The other two names, according to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, at least included Ohio State mentor Jim Tressel. Other reports have suggested Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz turned down the job earlier this week, adding his name to the list.
So why is it that Erickson was the “lucky” one to get the job?
First off, seemingly every guy on the list turned down the job, especially Neuheisel and Stoops, who both made it public they were not interested. Bellotti did the same last week in a press conference regarding Oregon’s recruiting habits.
Tressel never made any remarks about the position, and Ferentz probably was not much of an option anyway.
So that left Erickson, the coach with the least prominent position, the one with the lowest ranked recruiting class, and the guy who won two national championships with the Miami Hurricanes back in 1989 and ’91.
That’s a long time ago. And Erickson hasn’t shown any kind of success since, except for the 2000 season where he led Oregon State to a Fiesta Bowl victory.
So why Erickson? Why the man who once led Seattle to a 31-33 record in four seasons at the helm of the Seahawks?
(This is where you notice a
little trend).
It’s an opportunity for Erickson to show what he can do in the big time and get back to the bright lights of the NFL. 3Com Park, the 49ers’ home, isn’t exactly at the top of the list of NFL stadiums, but it beats coaching at Reser Stadium any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Then you have Erickson’s recruiting class that ranked 50th in the nation — according to SI.com — and at the bottom of the Pacific-10 Conference. That doesn’t bode well for the Beavers, a team that has talent, but not as much as USC or California.
That leads into Erickson’s prominence at Oregon State. The Beavers, despite adding seats to Reser and improving facilities in Corvallis, will probably never catch up to USC, Arizona, or most of the Pac-10, for that matter, in recruiting.
So those factors add up, and while it still isn’t known why Erickson is leaving — there have been no official announcements — each probably played a role in his decision. Knowing that you’re in a program that is stuck in a lag is never a good thing.
With San Francisco, Erickson inherits a team that has plenty of talent, but very little chemistry. The team’s quarterback, Jeff Garcia, recently criticized the team because it didn’t seem to have a direction when it came to its search.
Then, of course, there’s Terrell Owens, and even though he is talented, he is an enigma. No one ever seems to be able to guess which way he’s going to go, both on the field and off it.
So, when you break it down, it’s not so hard to see why Erickson jumped to the 49ers, despite the team’s bumbling ownership.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Erickson will have more success than departed coach Steve Mariucci. It’s Erickson’s second job in the NFL, and the first didn’t pan out too well. But San Francisco isn’t Seattle, and Erickson is more experienced than his first experience in the big time.
The first year should be interesting.
At least the Niners didn’t hire Neuheisel.