Date: December 16th, 2017 5:25 AM
Author: Deep Halford
1. Prior to the Sun Devils’ final game of the regular season against rival Arizona on Nov. 25, Todd Graham begins telling people close to him that he’s going to be fired regardless of the outcome. Athletics director Ray Anderson, according to a person close to the situation who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity, assures some high-level boosters at the school that he has a blockbuster hire in mind.
2. Arizona State wins the game to finish 7-5 against a tough schedule, but Anderson announces the next morning that he’s fired Graham, a move that will cost the school $12 million in buyout money. Rank-and-file are largely furious, believing Graham had done enough to save his job.
3. Anderson appears at a bizarre press conference in which he denigrates the Pac-12 South and indicates that he’d like the next head coach to largely keep the Sun Devils’ staff in place.
4. Word begins to leak that Anderson has targeted television personality and motivational speaker Herm Edwards, who coached football in the NFL a decade earlier but not particularly well.
5. Arizona State people floated the idea that Edwards would more or less be a figurehead and that his assistants, primarily offensive coordinator Billy Napier, would do most of the actual coaching. Retaining defensive coordinator Phil Bennett would also be a huge part of the plan.
6. The hire is announced officially. Edwards appears at a news conference in which he seemed utterly confused about why an outlet called Devils Digest was asking him a question, suggesting he may or may not have known the school’s mascot.
7. Edwards returned to ESPN for several days while the rest of college football was pounding the pavement for recruits as the early signing period approached.
8. Bennett announced last week he would not return to Arizona State, citing family reasons.
9. And finally, to put a neat little bow around this circus, Napier took the head coaching job Friday at Louisiana-Lafayette, leaving Edwards without either coordinator, who were both supposedly so integral to making this plan work.
Maybe in five years, we’ll look up and Edwards has usurped Chris Petersen, Chip Kelly, Clay Helton and David Shaw as the new king of the Pac-12, making the rest of us look completely silly for questioning Anderson’s instincts and football acumen.
If so, we’ll tip the cap.
If not, however, there will be no other option than for him to resign and perhaps school president Michael Crow as well.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/columnist/dan-wolken/2017/12/15/arizona-states-hiring-herm-edwards-scrutiny-departure-billy-napier/956347001/
(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3818483&forum_id=2#34933350)