Those days that bridged the waters between 1998 and 1999 could have drowned Dennis Erickson. They felt uncomfortable, like an itchy turtleneck sweater that’s a few sizes too small.
It was not the kind of feeling Erickson could correlate to any of his life’s experiences. When he was relieved of his duties by the Seattle Seahawks on Dec. 28, 1998, Erickson had received an unfamiliar message of failure.
He had never been fired before, having posted a .739 winning percentage at four different colleges in his storied career. So he wasn’t quite sure how to react.
"He had had some setbacks," Pink Erickson said of his son’s life, "but most of them were temporary. He always came back."
Rather than suffocate himself with self-pity, Dennis Erickson vowed to come back once again. And the only way to do that was to learn from his mistakes.
"Hopefully I’ve learned from my experience when I was at Seattle," Erickson said earlier this week while his San Francisco 49ers prepared to take on the Seahawks. "I like to think that I’m a better football coach now than I was then."
Now 56 years old, Erickson professes to be wiser to the ways of the NFL. He joined the 49ers with a better handle on what it takes to motivate professional athletes. He started giving some input into personnel decisions. He offered to learn the offensive system already in place rather than to force his upon the existing players.
Erickson’s NFL experience comes in most handy when dealing with one of the league’s most temperamental stars. Had this been Erickson’s first stint as a head coach, the internal problems involving receiver Terrell Owens might well have exploded in his face. But the outspoken receiver has maintained a good relationship with Erickson despite rubbing some of his teammates the wrong way.
"(Erickson has) been put into a very difficult position considering how far the situation had already come prior to him even being here," said quarterback Jeff Garcia, whose relationship with Owens is the stuff of soap operas. "So he had to find a way to work with it and find a way to impose discipline. And I think he’s done a great job of handling it."
During Erickson’s tenure in Seattle, "discipline" was not a word often used. It’s one of many ways the former Seahawks coach has learned to adapt to a league that isn’t going to adapt to him.
"Everything he went through (in Seattle), he’s using now," said 49ers assistant head coach Gregg Smith, who served as Erickson’s offensive line coach with the Seahawks.
Erickson was plagued by mediocrity while in Seattle. Three of his four seasons included 8-8 records, while his overall mark was 31-33.
The 1998 firing was the first time he had ever been let go as a football coach, but those who were along for the ride don’t necessarily see Erickson’s tenure as a failure.
University of Washington head coach Keith Gilbertson, who was a tight ends coach under Erickson from 1996-98, is quick to point out that the Seahawks won a total of 14 games in the three years prior to Erickson’s 1995 arrival. They were 2-14 in 1992.
"He turned it around," Gilbertson said. "That franchise was dead. He gave it a little life. And then 8-8 all of a sudden wasn’t good enough."
While Erickson never has coached a game inside Seahawks Stadium, Sunday’s visit might have added significance in that he helped campaign for the facility. He was also the head coach the year then-owner Ken Behring threatened to move the team to Los Angeles.
Erickson went through a lot in his time with the Seahawks, so his emotions have taken him on a roller coaster ride since that fateful day in 1998.
"Obviously, any time you get let go or you get fired you know you have a little bit of bitterness. That’s just human nature," he said earlier this week. "For me, it lasted a little bit, but not very long. I look back at it now, it probably was a decision (owner Paul Allen and president Bob Whitsitt) felt they had to make for the betterment of the franchise. As you look back at it now, that’s kind of how the business is."
The measurement of a man’s strength can be gauged by the time it takes him to stand back up after being knocked down. That was enough motivation for him to fight his way back after the NFL unceremoniously kicked him to the floor.
"That’s the nature of him," said Smith, Erickson’s assistant. "When you know you’re a good football coach, something like that kind of leaves a hole in your life. And that’s a hole you want to fill up. That’s not the way he wanted to go out."
Pink Erickson recalls a phone conversation he had with his son shortly after the 49ers interviewed Dennis.
"I think I’ve been offered a job," Pink remembers his son telling him last February. "I’d better take it. I feel like I let myself down by not getting the job done (in Seattle)."
Although the 49ers’ 2-3 start isn’t what Erickson envisioned upon returning to the NFL, he is happy to have gotten another opportunity. Once seen as disappointment, Erickson can now be viewed as an inspiration for coaches once let go.
"The guys who do get another chance," Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said, "there’s good reason they get another chance."
In a profession where one strike is often all a coach gets, Erickson has defied the odds by making it all the way back.
"You persevere," Erickson said. "Coaching’s coaching. I love to coach. That’s what I’ve done all my life; that’s what I love to do. When they let us go in Seattle, it didn’t take me very long to get back into college coaching (at Oregon State). That’s the best move I ever made because I just love to coach."
Still doing what he loves, Erickson will be back in Seattle this weekend with something to prove.
"I’m sure he’ll be fired up," said Mack Strong, one of eight current Seahawks left over from Erickson’s final year. "… I’m confident Coach Erickson is doing everything in his power to motivate and inspire his team for Sunday night.
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