by Doug Haller - Aug. 12, 2012 07:47 PM The Republic | azcentral.com

For most of his adult life, almost for as long as he can remember, Dennis Erickson has been on a football field in August, preparing, teaching, coaching the sport that has given him so much.

On a recent summer day, however, Erickson is driving in Idaho, running errands, wondering what he'll do next.

"It's very strange," Erickson said by phone. "I've been doing it for 40-some years as a coach, 40-some years doing one thing and now all of a sudden it's not there. It's strange. Really strange."

Nine months have passed since Erickson lost his job at Arizona State. Practically a day doesn't go by when the football coach doesn't wonder just what the hell happened. How a promising 6-2 start spiraled out of control, costing him his job, forcing the Sun Devils to go another direction with Todd Graham.

"I really don't have any answers," Erickson said. "We're sitting there 6-2, we have a great recruiting class coming in and then things go backward on us. But the bottom line is, I'm in charge, and when you lose four in a row like that, nothing good is going to happen. That's just how the game is. You got to win games, and we didn't win enough."

Hired to take the Sun Devils to a championship level, Erickson went 31-31 in five seasons. The Sun Devils went to two bowl games, but finished with a winning record just once, Erickson's first season.

This isn't the first time Erickson's been out of work. In 2005, after going 2-14 with the San Francisco 49ers, he was fired and didn't coach the next season. But that was different.

"It wasn't as bad because I knew I was going to get back in it the next year," Erickson said.

This time, his coaching future doesn't look as promising.

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After losing post at Arizona State, Dennis Erickson unsure about future