Contra Costa Times

They could have done worse
 
 
February 12, 2003
 
GARY PETERSON: TIMES COLUMNIST

In the end, the 49ers proved a lot of people wrong. They completed their search for a head coach in less than two cycles of the moon. They wound up with a name that resonates with three out of five bar stools down at The Fifth Quarter. And they avoided the headline no one wanted to see ("Bugel to Donahue: Thanks, but I'll pass").

Whether the hiring of Dennis Erickson qualifies the past four weeks as a successful operation remains to be seen. In any event, it's a far better fate than the 49ers were looking at as recently as 48 hours ago.

There was a time when you could have placed action in Las Vegas on which event you thought would end first -- the pursuit of Steve Mariucci's replacement, Sunday's NBA All-Star Game, or O.J. Simpson's search for the real killers. The 49ers finished second in that three-dog race, and as a bonus, their new coach won't have to wear one of those "Hello!" name stickers when he meets the media today.

In other words, the 49ers -- and in this case we refer to owner representative John (The Mover) York, and general manager Terry (The Shaker) Donahue -- got it done just quickly enough, and wound up with a coach just credible enough to make it appear they knew what they were doing all along.

Don't laugh -- men have been elected president operating on the same principle.

What Erickson gets out of the deal is anyone's guess. Five years and a reported $12.5 million for starters. That represents a nice bump. But he was earning nearly $1 million per season at Oregon State; that's not exactly Beaver bait, especially when you throw in perks and the cost of living.

After that would come ... what? The chance to work for a franchise that has taken a solemn vow of fiscal responsibility? Direct access to whatever is on Terrell Owens' mind? Prominent mention in Jeff Garcia's next monologue? A fan base nearly as impatient as team ownership?

You can understand how that would appeal to Ted Cottrell or Jim Mora. Erickson's motives would be slightly less obvious.

He proved himself as a head coach at Washington State. He more than proved himself at Miami, winning two national championships. He performed magic his second season at Oregon State, leading that school to its first-ever 11-win season and highest-ever ranking (No. 4 in the AP poll).

He's a proven and valuable commodity on the NCAA level. Whereas his four seasons in the NFL proved nothing.

He left Seattle claiming he didn't get a fair shot to finish the work he started with the Seahawks. Yet he never had a winning season (going 8-8 three times, and 7-9 once). Offensively, the Seahawks' running game regressed each year Erickson was there (from third in the NFL his first season to 22nd in his last). They led the NFL in passing yards in 1997 but were ranked no higher than 22nd in his other three seasons.

Defensively, Seattle ranked above average just once. The Seahawks never reached the postseason under Erickson, though they would have made it in 1998 if not for a hideous officiating blunder in which Vinny Testaverde's helmet was mistaken for a football.

Bottom line, Erickson has a .719 winning percentage at the big-time college football level, and a .484 winning percentage in the NFL.

Knee-jerk reaction No. 1: Apparently he doesn't work well with salary cap restraints.

Knee-jerk reaction No. 2: This must have everything to do with a guy trying to scratch the unreachable itch.

What other motivation could Erickson have? He's a hero in Corvallis. If he took off the next six years to tend sheep, he still could come back and snag a first-rate college job at a first-rate salary. He is considered a sure thing at that level.

By coming back to the NFL he surrenders stature, control and comfort zone. He inherits a culture of unreasonable expectations and long memories. The fact he isn't real big on the West Coast offense or institutional control could ultimately work against him. And he is saddled with the designation, "Better than a sharp stick in the eye" from now until he coaches his first game. At which point things could get worse.

No two ways about it -- the 49ers are the winners here. They wind up with a coach whose hiring they can defend, however marginally, and a timetable juuuuust this side of, "You guys posing for an oil painting, or what?"

And if they did it by turning circles in the dark until they stepped on a flashlight, well, it worked for Al Davis last season, didn't it?


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