OT: Arizona State hires Herm Edwards (63) as Head Coach
Herm Edwards only college coaching experience was 1987-1989 as a defensive backs coach for the San Jose State Spartans.
He is 54-74 lifetime as a head coach (0.333)
http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/21615279/herm-edwards-l…
The deal still awaits approval from ASU president, Michael Crow.
This seems like a done deal.
Anderson got a contract extension to 2019.
Michael Crow (ASU President) & Ray Anderson (sports agent & ASU AD)
November 30th, 2017 at 9:41 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^
I can honestly say that this program is a sleeping giant. Sort of like a program that traditionally underperforms in the SEC. They have so many built-in advantages with climate and proximity to rich recruiting areas, that if they were to ever repeat the success the program enjoyed to get it to a point where it joined the PAC 12.
It also appears to be a program that former pro coaches go to after finishing up in the NFL or building a resume to go work in the league. Almost every one of their recent coaches has had a stint in the NFL as a head coach or assistant.
The list includes Dan Devine, Frank Kush, undoubtedly the greatest coach at ASU, former Lions and MSU coach Darryl Rogers, Dennis Erickson, Dirk Koetter, and Todd Graham.
Of course, John Cooper also had a brief stint there including a bowl win over Michigan which led to his hiring at Ohio State and a Michigan revenge streak that is now been buttressed by the Buckeyes' last two hires. Curoously, part of Cooper's staff at Ohio State was Lovie Smith. So now, the coaching carousel has come full circle.
ASU football actually predates most programs in the nation. They started playing football there in 1896. The school, howver, has a 14-14 bowl record. And the Fiesta Bowl was created for the benefit of the program after Frank Kush raised the program/s national profile so that it could join the PAC 10. The Fiesta Bowl has since become one of the premiere bowl games in the country.
The longest tenured coach at the school since Kush has been Bruce Snyder who was hired after a successful season at Cal and then coached the Sun Devils for eight years.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:00 AM ^
didn't have more success in the PAC-10 and PAC-12 in general.
Arizona State dominated the WAC in the 1970s, but wilted under the powers USC, UCLA and Washington in the 1980s and never really asserted itself on a consistent basis. Competitive yes, but frequently well short of championship level football.
Nothing has changed in this regard.
Since joining the PAC-10 in 1978, Arizona State has only won three (3) conference titles:
1986 (Larry Smith), 1996 (Bruce Snyder) and 2007 (Dennis Erickson).
November 30th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
He was HC at Arizona from 1980 to 1986
November 30th, 2017 at 7:16 PM ^
It was the illustrious John Cooper coaching ASU in 1986.
I also forgot that Darryl Rogers left MSU to coach the Sun Devils back in 1980.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:01 AM ^
I have a hard time agreeing with the "sleeping giant" label.
I'll agree that Tempe has more appeal than Tucson, but I think both schools suffer from the problem of attracting out-of-state talent into the desert. Arizona itself doesn't produce enough talent to fuel one good football team, let alone two. When a top talent appears, you can rest assured out-of-state schools will be there to poach. See: Lewan, Taylor.
For Arizona schools, the talent pool is California. USC is resurgent, and UCLA just hired Chip Kelly, who carries a ton more bona fides than does Herm Edwards. Oregon and Washington also sweep down into California.
They can try to go to Texas or the southeast for talent. They'll get some, but not enough to provide the talent and depth needed to be a contender. Some kid out of the greenery of Florida or Louisiana is going to find the desert southwest to be really, really foreign.
I wish ASU luck. They're going to need it.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:36 PM ^
it is a deep sleep.
November 30th, 2017 at 9:49 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 9:50 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
Two main points:
1. Who exactly does everyone expect ASU to go get? Chip Kelly, Dan Mullen, Mike Gundy, etc. aren't walking through that door. For that matter, I doubt any up and comers (Brohm, Moorehead, etc.) are running to Tempe either. The only semi-realistic name I heard was Kevin Sumlin, who would have been preferable.
2. The OP said Edwards is 54-74 as an NFL coach (not a .333 winning percentage, like he mentioned), but that's dragged down by going 6-26 his last two years coaching a terrible KC team w/ Tyler Thigpen and Damon Huard at QB. Can't win without talent. Based on comments made by people who know/worked with him, they're all really high on his ability to recruit. If he can get some good players, I could see him consistently winning 8 games. The Pac12 south could be tough soon w/ the addition of UCLA. 8 wins a year at ASU w/ the occassional 10 win season is good for them.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:16 AM ^
If he can get some good players, I could see him consistently winning 8 games. The Pac12 south could be tough soon w/ the addition of UCLA. 8 wins a year at ASU w/ the occassional 10 win season is good for them.
You just described Todd Graham. His record at ASU was 46-31 which essentially averages to 8-5 per season. If he were to coach in the bowl game and win he would have four seasons of eight wins and two 10-win campaigns in six years.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
There is a good question. The last two years were certainly disappointing, but I would've thought 7-5 (above expectations) this year w/ a rivalry win would be enough to keep his job. I guess not. I don't think Graham is known as being the best guy, but I also don't know how much that impacted their decision.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:25 AM ^
8 wins a year at ASU w/ the occassional 10 win season is good for them.
The ASU athletic director, backed up by the University president, said this as justification for the firing of Todd Graham:
"Our athletic department, university and community expect our football program to compete on the field for Pac-12 titles, be competitively consistent and qualify to participate in major bowl games on a regular basis," Anderson's statement read.
With USC and UCLA in their division, and Stanford, Washington, and Oregon facing them in the north, it seems like they have their sights set higher than a good 8-4 season, and a December bowl game. They want to be a program that rivals USC, year after year.
Worthy ambitions. Realistic? I'm not so sure. Maybe. With Herm Edwards? Ummm ...
ASU fans were not calling for Graham's ouster, and now that that's a fait accompli, the announcement of Herm Edwards as his replacement is being met with some hostility. Edwards is going to have a lot of weight on his shoulders. Expectations are high.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
I think ASU fans would look at comparable schools and see recent hires that have worked out. Jeff Brohm to Purdue, Lane Kiffin to FAU, Charlie Strong to UCF, Tom Herman to Houston...
I don’t think they were expecting Chip Kelly, but somebody on par with the names above. I’m surprised that Les Miles has not been named in any of these coaching searches so far. We heard his name with Purdue last year and a few other schools, but nothing so far this year.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^
Based on comments made by people who know/worked with him, they're all really high on his ability to recruit.Mans friends say nice thing about him
My man @HermEdwardsESPN reached the "miss a step today, you'll be frying fish tomorrow" level of anger on NFL Live pic.twitter.com/OLqOGP7ikA
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) December 9, 2015
November 30th, 2017 at 11:42 AM ^
I'm still unsure why Lane Kiffin wasn't offered or, at the very least, interviewed for this position.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:05 AM ^
Incompetent college ADs are. Must be an easy job.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:09 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 11:36 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 12:38 PM ^
I actually thought Lovie Smith was a great hire for Illinois at the time. Going somewhere with minimal expectations in a state where everyone still remembers your days as the Bears coach when you were pretty good. Lovie's teams in Tampa weren't very good, but I thought he got a bit of a raw deal from the Glazers when they canned him after his second year when they clearly were showing improvement.
He inherited quite the mess from Tim Beckman so I'd give him another year, maybe two, before I say his tenure there is a total failure. Illinois needs to give him time.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:09 AM ^
Let's all point and laugh at Arizona State!
Vol fans are even saying, 'At least we aren't Arizona State!" right now.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:28 PM ^
What right to UT fans think they have to make fun of anyone right now? Their search has been an unmitigated disaster.
That's like the loser who shows up to the school dance without a date because everyone turned him down, but he still thinks he can make fun of the guy who brought a fat girl to the dance.
Well at least they've got a date, while you're sitting in the corner awkwardly drinking punch by yourself and wondering if anyone will even talk to you.
November 30th, 2017 at 7:55 PM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 10:20 AM ^
Chip Lindsey, the former Arizona State OC, is at Auburn beating Bama.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
This one doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Edwards has been out of coaching for nearly a decade. He hasn't coached at the college level since the '80s. Does he even remember how to recruit? Will he even care to while he's there? Yeah he's been commentating so he's still around the game, but coaching and commentating are apples to oranges.
I suppose if he hires the right coordinators it could work out, but I just don't see how this will go over well in the long run. Seems more like a PR stunt than anything else. I can see how his personality would mesh well with recruits, but the on-field results are what matter most. He's also in his 60s, so this guy is not a long-term solution. Just a stop-gap until a better option comes along.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
he will need to nap a bit at the recruits house and use the bathroom quite a lot
November 30th, 2017 at 10:21 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 10:30 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 10:37 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 10:42 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 11:05 AM ^
...ageism is alive and well.
If I counted right, 8 of the top 25 teams in the country have head coaches old enough to be in AARP.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^
It's not simply the fact that Edwards is 63—it's that he's been out of coaching entirely for the better part of a decade, and hasn't coached in the college ranks for thirty years.
If Edwards had stayed in the coaching game to the present day and had a resume better than the one he actually has, people wouldn't be making quite as much of his age.
However, it's extremely rare for a guy of his age, regardless of background, to be hired at a P5 program he's never coached at before.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:43 AM ^
But the o.p.'s headline includes the age, not the other stuff. And then the responses include "AARP member" and nap and prostate jokes.
As far as it goes, in this case Edwards's age is a very big plus. When the time comes to hand the reins over to the OC, he'll be able to do it gracefully. If Napier's a good plan, this is a great way to go about it.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
I was making a bit of a joke about the age, but age does matter here. Recruiting is a 12-month process, you are grinding all day during the season, etc. Guys who never left coaching probably are better prepared to keep it going later in life than going from a cushy-ish speaking role on TV back to that grind. So I do think it matters that he's beyond the age of retirement and is now trying to start back in on a job that ages guys in dog years. And the fact that he sounds like he's going to defer to much of the existing staff also may be a sign his age matters, since it shows he's realistic about what energy/input he can have.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:09 PM ^
The decision to retain the existing staff was made prior to the head-coach decision. They already know who they intend their next hire to be, when Edwards retires, and they'd prefer for that to be sooner rather than later.
Their other choice was Tony Dungy--isn't it obvious what they're doing here?
November 30th, 2017 at 12:43 PM ^
I guess, but at that point you might as well just hire the DC then. You're Arizona St., not some blue-blood. Get in the guy you like and let him start coaching, not hire a figurehead who won't do much except get in the way so that you can transition in a couple of years.
It just feels like an AD getting one of his agent's clients some money. And I guess if you're a tax-payer in Arizona and are cool with one millionaire giving another a couple more bucks with a cut of your money, then go for it.
November 30th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
Maybe they think Napier still has some things to learn about the psychological components of the job. Edwards probably has something to offer there that he'd never ever get from Todd Graham.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:28 AM ^
...don';t discrimate against us old timers pal... we can still kick some ass$
November 30th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
It's not so much ageism as "hasn't coached in forever and he's way too old to get back into it now"-ism. I'm fine with Snyder because he wasn't sitting on an ESPN panel for over a decade prior to this.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^
"AARP member" was an odd way to make that point.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
It was a bit of a joke. But as I noted above, his age does matter. Saying it's a sign of ageism is sort of reductive.
I work in tech and am in my 30's. I see ageism all the time. But it's relevant that someone left this line of work a decade ago is coming back and would be one of the older coaches in the sport.
If it makes you feel any better, he's also unfit for the job because he's a bad coach, and that was true decades ago as well.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:06 PM ^
...and this is an odd thing to get hung up on.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:45 AM ^
Anderson has been planning this move for well over a year now in terms of getting rid of Graham and bringing in someone w NFL Experience. All Graham did was revive and maintain that program. ASU returns basically there whole team next year and Anderson knew he had to dump Graham now. ASU will be very dangerous next year. Rumor was he was gonna fire Graham the Washington game as he expected to get boat raced. Well that didn't happen.
For this that have never been to ASU before, the other poster has mentioned that it is a sleeping Giant. Agreed 100%, the proximity to LA and the facilities are better then 90% of the country. The field is in immaculate condition, the nutrition program is amazing as well. I've walked and been to the new facilities on game days and talked w the staff many times. That school could be a monster if it's done right.
Graham has been a sitting duck for years now S Anderson wants his "own" guy in as the head football coach. Herm and Anderson have been talking about this for well over a year now. Also Anderson has replaced 15 head coaches at the University since taking over.
I do believe I am hearing the COMPLETE STAFF will return under Herm Edwards. And that Herm will facilitate duties and stay out of Napier way. Personally I think he's the coach of the future and there just waiting for him to get a bit more experience.
Now having spent many weeks at the UA Game in Orlando let me say this. HERM EDWARDS is loved by the recruits and there parents. He is very motivational and recruits eat it up. I've witnessed this the last 3-4 years w Herm and continue to be impressed w how he handles 5* talent. Will that translate to wins? Who knows. But I know for a fact the brass at ASU is about 50/50 w this hire and there are more people upset Graham is gone then Herm is here.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:46 AM ^
Overall this is likely to be a disaster of a hire long term for ASU for all the obvious reasons. But I will say this - I think Herm Edwards is a phenomenal motivator and public speaker. I've heard him talk several times and he is great in that role. I think in the locker room of his team and the living rooms of his recruits he is going to blow them away.
The problem is that he is horribly unqualified in all the other ways - on field coaching, knowledge of the college game, age, success, etc. The only way this works is if he gets some great coordinators to do all the heavy lifting on the field and he focuses on the CEO type of stuff for a couple of years to get them off on the right foot before handing it over to those guys. That's a HUGE risk and why this doesn't make sense.
But listening to him speak and the vast knowledge he has and the message he sends - he will be a good influence on the kids and the program.....they just probably won't be better football players because of it, just better people.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:48 AM ^
I don't think the hiring makes sense, but I like Herm Edwards. I hope he does some damage (in a good way) in the Pac-12.
I like a lot of the coaches in the Pac-12 now. Mike Leach, Chip Kelly, Herm Edwards, Willie Taggart, even Rich Rodriguez, etc. It's a good group overall.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:04 AM ^
Same coordinators, so if any, the recruiting impact is positive (Having a known big NFL-ish name who has always seemed like a good Mentor does more good than "hasn't coached in 9 years" does bad). It's more like a raffle ticket than a state lottery ticket, it's still a long shot but it could work.