Leaving so soon? Erickson headed to ASU

OK, I'm not as tired now. I saw a really good story today that included this paragraph:

And coach Jim Tressel of top-ranked Ohio State had never been a Division I head coach until taking over the Buckeyes program in 2001. Tressel, though, compiled a 135-57-2 record in 15 years at Division I-AA Youngstown State.

Snicker at I-AA all you want, but Tressel was a Division I head coach when he coached there. All you have to do to make that paragraph accurate is say Division I-A instead of Division I. I just don't understand reporters who make that mistake, their views of I-AA notwithstanding. It's simply inaccurate reporting. A I-AA school is a member of Division I. Period. Say I-A when you mean I-A. It's liberating. I promise.

 

So ... is Norm Chow out of the mix now? N.C. State has a coach. ASU has a coach. Stanford?

 

I think that the good record and the hopping are indicators of a dirty coach.

Butch Davis cleaned up Miami and they haven't been tagged since.

 

Dennis isn't dirty, per se. He's an egomaniac without any real integrity, but not dirty. He craves the attention and competition at the highest levels. He really doesn't care if his coaches and players break minor laws and his players' academic success is somebody else's problem, but he'd never intentionally break any real NCAA rules. That might leave him without a job and he craves that attention like heroine.

 

The question is not "Is job hopping a character flaw?" -- of course it isn't. The question is "Do you hire a 59-year old job hopper <i>if you want to give your program stability</i>?" and the answer is "Of course not." Because odds are that Erickson won't be there in five years. He'll either be successful and take another step up or he'll be unsuccessful and start losing interest. Neither of those outcomes should appeal to ASU fans.

If you were an editor who wanted to establish continuity and stability on an important beat, do you give the job to a candidate with a track record of job hopping or do you give it to someone whose past makes them a better bet to stick around and really build something?

 

Lester makes a good point with Erickson. He's a good coach, but lacks the integrity of keeping his players in line when needed. Oregon State vs. Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl several years ago is an example of his players getting out of hand and being flagged for personal fouls and taunting. His Miami teams were no better when it came to clowning on the field and taunting.

 

He is a raging alcoholic.

 

Yet if he still were coaching at Miami, he'd be Jesus Christ the Second Coming.

 

So, you're saying he has the tools to be a great sports journalist?

 

So, Urban Meyer and Dennis Franchione, among others, are cheaters?

Let's see if that holds up when (if) they start investigating the sweetheart automobile deals some of the players have, like the player who was recently slain.

And as far as the Oregon State-Notre Dame Fiest Bowl goes, most people remember one thing: 41-9, and it wasn't anywehre near that close. It was also one of the most poorly officiated games I've ever watched either live or on TV. Oregon Strate's offense that night was kicking the ever-loving beJesus out of Notre Dame and ruining ABC's storyline of "Irish return to glory."


Lisa Love doesn't want stability, obviously, because Koetter provided that. Check out the attitude of her boss at USC when she was an assistant AD there. Garrett had a scorched earth policy: win a lot, or be fired. Love wants the Rose Bowl, not 7-8 wins and Insight, Sun and Hawaii bowls.

Erickson can get them there, perhaps at a cost. But when there are 75,000 fans at Sun Devil Stadium instead of 55,000, she can overlook a few too many Bud Lites and besides, it's not like ASU players don't already get in trouble.

For better or worse, she knows exactly what, and whom, she's getting.

 

I never know when to use who and when to use whom.

 

Your reading comprehension issues have caught up with you, too.

Leaky asshat.