Former NDSU coach Erhardt passes away

• Ron Erhardt

Ron Erhardt

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FARGO — Ron Erhardt, who took an upstart football program at North Dakota State and turned it into a national power after starting his coaching career at New England St. Mary’s and Minot Bishop Ryan high schools, died Wednesday morning near his home in Boca Raton, Fla.

News traveled fast to his former Bison coaches and staff, who reflected on a young coach that won two national championships at NDSU.

Longtime NDSU trainer Denis Isrow said Erhardt was a visionary football coach who could see all 22 positions on the field at one time. He could also see the promise in the Bison program that Darrell Mudra started to turn around in 1963.

Erhardt was named the NDSU head coach in 1966. He was 61-7-1 in seven years, including three unbeaten seasons. He was 34-0-1 in one stretch from 1968-71.

“I compare him (Mudra) to the Marines,” Isrow said. “The Marines go in there and get everything controlled and then the Army would come in. Erhardt was the Army coming into our program.”

Erhardt, who was 81, went on to a career in the NFL, most notably as the head coach of the New England Patriots and offensive coordinator of the New York Giants. He was a part of the Giants’ Super Bowls XXI and XXV champion teams and helped the Pittsburgh Steelers reach Super Bowl XXX as their offensive coordinator.

In July, The Dickinson Press conducted a phone interview with Erhardt.

“From New England to New England,” Erhardt said with a laugh.

He was in his 20s when he coached at St. Mary’s from 1957 to 1959. His football teams had a 25-3-1 overall record and he helped start the Saints’ wrestling program that won a state title a decade later and remained a state power until the program dissolved.

“We had some great teams there (St. Mary’s),” Erhardt told The Press. “There were some real nice, excellent kids when we got there. We had farm boys who were tough and could run.”

Ardell Wiegandt, who played and coached under Erhardt, last saw him last month while he was in Florida.

“He looked good and was sharp,” Wiegandt said. “This is a tough one. He took over a program from Mudra and built it.”

Erhardt built NDSU’s program with a philosophy that demanded excellence from his assistant coaches and hard-nosed discipline from his players, Isrow said. Chuck Carney, who was the NDSU equipment manager in Erhardt’s final year with the Bison, said it wasn’t uncommon for players to play with a little pain.

Carney later became president of the NDSU Team Makers booster club in 1989.

“He was a tradition builder,” Carney said of Erhardt. “That’s when the tradition started, and it’s just followed through. It was a great era.”

The tradition reached eight national championships in January when NDSU won the Division I Football Championship Subdivision title. Erhardt returned to Fargo at times over the years, the last for a reunion of one of his national championship teams.

He left NDSU in 1973 — Carney literally helped him pack up his office — to become the offensive backs coach with New England. He was named the Patriots offensive coordinator in 1977 and head coach in 1979.

He was fired in 1981 and took over the Giants offense the following year. He was part of two Super Bowl championships in 1986 and 1990. Later, he moved on to the Pittsburgh Steelers where he helped them reach the Super Bowl in 1996.

He retired in 1998.

“He’s probably the smartest football coach I’ve ever been around,” Isrow said. “He knew football backwards and forwards. He always said players win, coaches lose. He was strong in that philosophy.”

Dustin Monke, sports editor of The Dickinson Press, contributed to this story. Kolpack is a sports reporter for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, which is owned by Forum Communications Co.

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