College Football | Erickson's having fun ... now

I just know I'm going to regret writing this, probably in about six weeks.

But: Dennis Erickson is going to finish his coaching career at Arizona State.

OK, he might finish his career at ASU.

Last week, in the waning minutes of a 31-20 victory over California in front of a sellout crowd at Sun Devil Stadium, Erickson peeled off headphones, windmilled his arms for the crowd and hugged anybody who would have him.

He couldn't stop. He latched onto Sparky the Sun Devil's pitchfork and fired it to the ground, celebrating ASU's eighth straight victory.

ASU visits Oregon Saturday, but that wasn't going to spoil Erickson's night.

"I'm finally having some fun," he said the other day. "That's OK, isn't it?"

Think you could have fun like this coaching the 49ers? The NFL would like to fine the coach there for wearing a coat and tie.

In Tempe, Erickson is undefeated, untied and unabashedly accepted, warts and all, and there are a bunch of those. Which is exactly why this marriage might last.

We all know Erickson, the Everett native, to be a likable guy who sometimes can't seem to help himself — taking the riches of the 49ers in 2003, against any reasonable wisdom, in exchange for sainthood at Oregon State; last year bolting Idaho, his cradle as a coach, after a year to chase the sexier young thing in Arizona State.

Well, Arizona State has had its own considerable sketchiness, from a reputation as a sleeping giant that won't wake up, to a history of bizarre off-the-field improprieties too numerous to mention. They range from the unfathomable (running back J.R. Redmond's marriage to an ASU employee so he wouldn't be afoul of NCAA rules for improper use of her phone) to the tragic (running back Loren Wade's 2005 murder of a former Sun Devils player).

Last December, they threw their arms around each other, Erickson and ASU. Think of the lounge lights going on at 1:45 a.m.

Then Erickson dialed up all the old coaching cronies of his past — Gregg Smith, Rich Olson, Craig Bray, Eric Yarber — and they went to work. With so much history together, Erickson and Co. always hit the ground running.

Referring to ASU, the veteran Smith told The Times this week, "That was something we always kind of talked about, wondering why they weren't a more consistent winner."

Frank Kush, the old ASU coaching icon, gropes for a way to say this isn't the most talented Sun Devils team around.

"Dennis and his staff have done a commendable job of changing the mentality and the attitude," he says, adding, "I enjoy his staff. They're a bunch of old guys."

Erickson seems at peace with himself and his portfolio of professional decisions, even the dubious ones.

"We've filled the stadium up," he says. "People are excited about Arizona State football. The fund-raising is getting better. We're going to have a 'bubble' built by the first of August that'll have two fields in it, and that's really going to help us in recruiting."

Before last weekend was out, ASU had turned around a commitment to UCLA by Los Angeles receiver Kamonte Bateman. Things are going so well in the desert, Erickson might stay awhile.

"Ohhh, well, you know, he's alluded to that, that 'This'll be my last job,' " Smith says. "Nothing's etched in granite. You know as well as I do."

Satan or Saban?

A lot of LSU fans use the name interchangeably, spilling bile over Nick Saban, the Alabama coach who led Louisiana State to a Bowl Championship Series title in 2003. This week, Alabama (6-2) hosts the Tigers.

The LSU coaching staff, in particular, has been tight-lipped when talking Saban in recent months, owing partly to Saban's comment that he recruited most of the Tigers who thrashed Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl last year.

Charles Hanigrif, sports director of LSU's flagship radio station and a talk-show host, told Gannett News Service, "The fact [Saban] went to Alabama is the swing for the fans. They hate him. The fans can't stand this guy."

Hotrumors.com

Tommy Tuberville, Auburn coach, has been linked to the Texas A&M job, which is likely to be open with the various woes of Dennis Franchione.

Meanwhile, if it does make a move, A&M likely will be looking for a way to minimize the buyout to Franchione, and the Aggies may have one in his ill-conceived newsletter to top boosters in which he provided inside informations such as injuries.

And Nebraska, assumed to be ready to ax Bill Callahan, will take a long look at LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, a former Nebraska aide, who in turn is thought to be keen to hire Mike Stoops if Stoops doesn't survive at Arizona.

And what's more ...

• You'd have to say the NCAA pretty much made its point with the death penalty to Southern Methodist. Two decades after it was levied, the Mustangs are still struggling, having just fired Phil Bennett in a 1-7 season.

• The NAACP is looking into racial-bias charges by North Texas DB Dominique Green, who claims he was admonished for saying, "We are from the 'hood" on the sidelines. Green says it's part of a pattern under first-year coach Todd Dodge, who came from a successful prep-coaching career in Texas.

• Mark Dantonio, Michigan State head coach, has had countdown clocks installed at MSU's practice facilities for Saturday's Michigan game. Asked how he would use five straight losses in the series to motivate players, Dantonio said, "How long are we going to continue to bow down to Michigan?"

• Tennessee is a mere 5-3 and gave up 100 combined points to Florida and Alabama, but will find itself in the SEC title game if it can beat Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Meanwhile, coach Phil Fulmer snapped back at comments by ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit that the Vols are too caught up in NFL futures, telling the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, "That's just stupid. That's someone who has no idea what Tennessee football is all about."

• Oregon State hasn't beaten USC in Los Angeles since 1960.