When Oregon State prepared to announce Monday that it had extended coach Dennis Erickson's contract an additional two years through 2009, Erickson asked to "Hold off until the end of the week."

	Dennis Erickson's departure stunned the athletic department at Oregon State.

On Tuesday morning, Erickson called Oregon State athletics director Bob De Carolis, who was attending a meeting in San Diego, to tell him that the only thing Erickson would be extending was his NFL career.

"Big-time, out of the blue," is how long-time Oregon State sports information director Hal Cowan described Erickson's decision to leave the Beavers, whom he coached to a 31-17 record and three bowls in four seasons, for the San Francisco 49ers.

Until Erickson picked up the phone Tuesday morning, he hadn't informed anyone at Oregon State that he had begun talking to the 49ers, although De Carolis began to suspect as much Monday.

Even if Erickson had said something, Beaver Nation might not have worried. For one thing, in his four years at Oregon State, Erickson turned down job offers from LSU and USC and turned back overtures from NFL teams. He seemed delighted to be in Corvallis, where the media wattage might power a child's flashlight when compared to the halogens trained upon his previous two stops, the University of Miami and the Seattle Seahawks.

For another, who in their right minds would suspect Erickson to turn his back on not only his players, but the 21 recruits who signed with Oregon State last Wednesday? Among them are Ryan Gunderson of Central Catholic in Portland, the top quarterback in the state, as well as recruits from Florida, Alabama and Hawaii.

The Beavers have a talented class bound to the university, even though the coach the recruits wanted to play for will be 600 miles south. There's no way to sugarcoat the impact of Erickson's decision on the players whom he just finished wooing.

Erickson leapt at an opportunity to earn $2.5 million annually in San Francisco, which may just be enough to buy him as comfortable a life as he had making $1 million per year in Corvallis. He also leapt at the chance to improve on the 31-33 record he had in his four seasons at Seattle. It galled Erickson, as competitive a coach as there has been in college football, to be viewed as an NFL failure.

If De Carolis looks in house, the first coach he'll consider is offensive coordinator Tim Lappano. Erickson has said that when he retired (yes, he used that word) from Oregon State, he would like Lappano, who has spent 14 seasons on Erickson's staffs at Idaho, Washington State, Seattle and Oregon State, to replace him.

Reports Tuesday night said that Mike Riley, the former Oregon State coach now with the New Orleans Saints, had contacted the school.

Erickson might be the most prominent head coach to leave a Division I-A school after Signing Day since Jimmy Johnson, who, in 1989, left the University of Miami about three weeks after Signing Day, for the Dallas Cowboys. Shortly thereafter, Miami announced a replacement: Washington State coach Dennis Erickson.

Maybe his departure shouldn't have been so big-time out of the blue after all.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.