Dennis Erickson Quotations

We're having guys start to step up and it's very important that we have that. We've just got to keep moving, get to the football, and play with a lot of pride in this program, which we did today when we got the chance to play.

Scott is a natural leader. And he had a winner's attitude. He's just a tremendous competitor. When it got down to crunch time, he wanted the ball, he wanted to make the play. And he was smart. He understood the offense, and we really were doing some different things back then. Everyone had confidence in him.

No, not at all. I don't have any ego. People who know me well enough know that. I just want to coach.

Obviously the focal point on any football team is the quarterback, there is no question about that. And I feel very, very good about Steve.

If we're going to throw the ball and be consistent, we've got to be able to throw it, we've got to be able to catch it and we can't throw interceptions. Those are the things that happened to us in the second half. I thought the first half was a different story.

If we can get that done, then a lot of things will happen. I don't know what it's going to cost, but obviously we're going to have to do that.

I looked in these guys' eyes and they are ready to go and get it done.

If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it in the next few days.

I feel sorry for the guy. It's like he's coaching in the Pac-10 with 50 scholarships instead of 85.

He would have a great chance to start for us.

He'll be back to play next year, but obviously he's out for Saturday.

I thought we did some pretty good things ... execution-wise. The offense is new, but they executed pretty well. Defensively we did some good things, but we've got a long way to go.

I think there's a good chance. This interests me.

Just being around the players and coaches; the camaraderie of the game; to see them learn and get better, improve all the time; and being around the coaches and coaching football, which is what I do best. Probably the most fun is to see them get better as a football team and as individuals.

There are times during the year where you're so beat up, even with the practice guys that you have, that you can't even practice,

Tim is very smart. He understands the game and has a good arm. He does a lot of the things I like to do offensively. How good is he going to be? I don't know. We'll have to coach him up and find out.

We want to compete for conference championships and go to bowl games.

To have those two conference games at home is very exciting. It's always great to have your rival game at home.

We expect him to miss this week and we think he'll probably play the last three games.

We're going to wait for the legal part of it to come about and find out exactly what happened and what direction we're going to go in.

As time went on through the first and second years (2001-02), you could see him making plays all the time,

Eric's injury is a huge blow to this team. It's just too bad, because he's been playing so well. Hopefully we'll get him back.

Eric's injury is a huge blow to this team, ... It's just too bad, because he's been playing so well. Hopefully we'll get him back.

I spoke to him today and wished him well. He's going to do a great job.

No question about it. It seems like I haven't been on the field in a long time, which I haven't.

The muscle came off the bone; it was obviously serious.

The muscle came off the bone and they're going to go in and attach it in the groin.

Now, it's just a matter of competing, winning some games and working your rear end off. There is no magic wand.

Al is a great technician of secondary play. He is as good as there is at coaching cornerbacks. He was with me for two years at Oregon State and then at the San Francisco 49ers. He understands what it takes to be successful in the secondary. On top of that, he is a great recruiter.

There were a lot of questions in a lot of people's minds. Not ours. I expected him to play well. For the first time out, he probably performed better than any of us thought.

There were times last year when we had offensive and defensive linemen going both ways. There are times when guys are so beat up, they won't practice on Wednesdays. They won't practice on Fridays. So you've got to have some guys fill in.

It's exciting just to get out there, number one, but more than anything, just to see where we're at. We've got to find out who the players are. To me, the most exciting time, the most fun time, is practice. So I'm looking forward to it.

It's a combination of young guys and some veterans. I spent a lot of time interviewing and talking to the staff here. I really felt they did a good job. I wanted to keep as many as I could.

It's fun to see the enthusiasm out there right now as far as the Vandals are concerned. They deserve that enthusiasm after the things they've gone through the last few years.

It's been a good spring. It's been a learning process, obviously, with some of the new things that we put in.

Steve threw the ball well. Steve was very impressive, particularly his accuracy. He was on the money.

It was a bad decision, taking that job.

It was just fun to get out and coach. The enthusiasm for the first day was unbelievable. For me personally, it was great to get out there and coach.

It's not about the money, it's about coaching ? I'm a coach. It's all I've done all my life. Making me sit out last year made it appreciate it even more.

I'm going to finish what I need to do. I hope I'm here. I want to be a part of it.

I'm excited to be back in the state and around these people I've known for a long time. There aren't many times you have an opportunity to come back and finish where you started.

In four years, I thought we got them into a pretty good situation. In the fifth year, obviously, they took away our chance.

I had the opportunity to meet all the candidates. George is the perfect fit for this job -- he knows Idaho, he knows the Northwest and he knows basketball. I welcome him as a colleague.

I'm happy for this opportunity to get back to college football, which has always been my first love.

I just thought it was an opportunity for me to come back, give back and get back to coaching college football ... my first love.

I'll have to talk to him it's the first I've heard of it. We all make mistakes. It's what you do after.

I haven't seen them on the field. When you look at it on tape, when you win two football games, you haven't done a lot of good things, to be honest.

Him missing 2? weeks in the preseason really hurt him and set him behind,

You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain him, huh? Who made that up, Winston Churchill ?

The greatest thing that's happened to me is Nick Holt leaving so I can come back.

The challenge here is to win, to compete for the conference championship and to go to bowl games. Yeah, I love it here. I came here because I'm a football coach and I want to help the University of Idaho become successful.