Into the Fire

"As a result," the NCAA report states, "if a student-athlete tested positive, the head athletics trainer notified the head football coach, who did not forward the information to any other athletics department staff."

Erickson's "misunderstanding" allowed him to play All-American Warren Sapp in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl, even though Sapp had tested positive for the third time earlier in the season and could have been suspended for one year. While the NCAA report doesn't identify what drug was found, newspaper accounts reported it was pot.

Erickson didn't suspend Sapp for the following season and, when Sapp tested positive for a fourth time in fall 1994, Erickson once again didn't disclose the results to the athletic department. Instead, Erickson started his talented defensive player in the 1995 Orange Bowl with the national championship on the line. Top-ranked Nebraska defeated third-ranked Miami 24-17.

The NCAA also found other substantial violations involving the football program but didn't link them directly to Erickson. These violations, however, raised serious questions about Erickson's ability and willingness to closely oversee a major college football program.

For example, the NCAA found that between 1990 and 1994, more than $223,000 in excess financial aid was distributed to 141 football players. The money was handed out because the athletic department improperly calculated off-campus room-and-board stipends. In addition, football players got another $212,000 in improper benefits between 1989 and 1991.

That's not all. There was the Pell Grant scandal, in which about 57 football players received roughly $170,000 by filing fraudulent grant applications. An assistant athletic director pleaded guilty to filing the fraudulent applications and was sentenced to three years in prison.

"It was widely known among the student-athletes that funds could be obtained through the help of the assistant director for academics in athletics support services," the NCAA report states.

Many of the athletes, the report stated, were aware that they submitted fraudulent applications to obtain the Pell Grants.

Just as Erickson maintained he didn't know about the university's drug policy, the head coach claimed he knew nothing about the Pell Grant scam until after news of a federal investigation appeared in the news media. Erickson was later called to testify before a federal grand jury about the matter.

But once he learned about the scandal, Erickson wasn't interested in punishing players who'd been indicted.

According to former Miami athletic director Dave Maggard, Erickson insisted — over Maggard's objection — that a player who'd been indicted in the scheme be allowed to participate in games.

Erickson hasn't always taken the position that he's never been involved in an NCAA infraction — as he stated in Tempe last December 11.

The day after the NCAA released its report on December 1, 1995, Erickson was quoted in Fort Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel as accepting partial blame for the NCAA sanctions.

"I'll take responsibility for my share of what happened there" concerning players participating in games after testing positive for drugs, he said.

But Erickson insisted that he never hid drug results from anyone and that it was simply a "misunderstanding or the lack of communication, or whatever you want to call it, that went on between the football program and the administration."

Despite the fact that the NCAA had just slapped Miami with a three-year probation, suspended 34 football scholarships, banned the school from a postseason bowl game, and stated that the "head coach" was directly involved in two serious infractions, Erickson declared victory because he wasn't cited by the NCAA personally:

"I feel vindicated."

Alumni wonder how long Dennis Erickson will stay in Tempe and whether it's in his constitution to bring dignity to the football program.

The coach has a history of bolting from teams after short stints. He stayed at Wyoming one year before jumping to Washington State, where he lasted two years. He left Pullman to take the Miami job and stayed six seasons. By the time he left Miami, he had compiled an impressive 117-48-1 record through the 1994 season.

His record has been underwhelming since he left Miami.

Except for leading Oregon State to an 11-1 season in 2000 and a Fiesta Bowl win against Notre Dame, Erickson has coached more losers than winners. His record the past 11 seasons is 75-81, including two dismal years coaching the San Francisco 49ers before he was fired after the 2004 season.

After sitting out the 2005 season, Erickson returned to the University of Idaho, where he'd started his head coaching career in 1981 at age 34. Erickson became Idaho's winningest coach in just four seasons in the early '80s. Naturally, he received a hero's welcome upon returning to Moscow in 2006. He signed a five-year contract and announced his intention to rebuild the struggling Vandals program and finish his coaching career in Idaho.

Erickson quit after 10 months to take the job at ASU.

Left behind were disillusioned and angry university officials and fans.