The Arizona Experiment: Why Arizona and Arizona State’s New Head Coaches May Provide us a Glimpse Into The Future of College Football
Following the surprising dismissal of Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez, University of Arizona Athletic Director Dave Heeke had a difficult decision to make. With college football’s offseason well under way, most programs had already hired their new head coaches, leaving the remaining available talent depleted. Heeke could have chosen to promote one of Arizona’s existing coordinators to interim head coach (similar to what Ole Miss did last year with Matt Luke following Hugh Freeze’s abrupt firing), which no one would have faulted Heeke for given how sudden Rodriguez had been fired.
As if Heeke needed any more pressure, the new early signing period for high school recruits had already passed, with Arizona having received sixteen letters of intent from players recruited by Rodriguez and intent on starting their education at Arizona in the fall. On top of this, Heeke had a roster full of players to appease, who would be judging his next move — most notably, star quarterback Khalil Tate. Any unnecessary delay could have meant havoc for Arizona’s football program, which could have led to early signees asking for their releases and current players seeking to transfer.
The initial reports suggested that this could have been likely, following the news leaking that Navy Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo had been offered the Wildcats’ head coaching job. In response to these rumors, Tate tweeted that “[he] didn’t come to Arizona to run the triple option,” suggesting that he was dissatisfied with Niumatalolo’s potential hiring. Fortunately for the Wildcats, there was still one, former, prominent head coach available (not counting Les Miles), former Texas A&M Head Coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin still being available probably came as a shock to Heeke, especially after it was widely rumored that Sumlin was going to be coaching the other Pac-12 program in Arizona next season. Arizona State, though, choose to go in a different direction.
Unlike the Wildcats, Arizona State (“ASU”) did not choose a former (college) head coach to be the next leader of its football program. Instead, ASU Athletic Director Ray Anderson decided to go in a different — and completely unexpected — direction, hiring former NFL Head Coach, and current ESPN NFL Analyst, Herm Edwards. The hiring of Edwards came as a shock to the college football world, and not just because of how widely it was rumored that Sumlin was going to be the Sun Devils’ new head coach. In Edwards, the Sun Devils choose a head coach that hadn’t coached — at any level — since the 2008 season. Edwards’ hiring, though, was part of Anderson’s plan to “revolutionize” college football.
After announcing Edwards’ hiring, Anderson laid out his “grand vision” for the future of ASU’s football program, with Edwards serving as the program’s “CEO” and the school utilizing more of an NFL-style model. Anderson believed that switching from ASU’s current model to a “business model” would allow the Sun Devils’ program to reach unprecedented heights.
Intriguingly, Edwards’ hiring came with a caveat — that Edwards retain both of fired head coach Todd Graham’s coordinators, Offensive Coordinator Billy Napier and Defensive Coordinator Phil Bennett. This caveat was in line with Anderson’s grand vision of having Edwards serve as ASU’s CEO. For example, in the business world, it is quite common for a company’s Board of Directors to make a change in leadership when they feel that their existing team is talented but underperforming, which Anderson’s statements following Edwards’ hiring suggests is what he believes the Sun Devils have been doing the past few years.
The requirement of retaining Napier and Bennett also shed some light on the Sun Devils’ hiring process. Typically, an incoming head coach will demand that they be able to hire their own staff, especially in key positions (such as offensive and defensive coordinator). Likewise, it is — quite — unusual for an athletic director to pick their school’s coordinators, as many directors probably feel that their expertise is not in coaching. Furthermore, an athletic director’s desired coordinator (or coordinators) may not fit with the head coach’s scheme or system. Lynn Swann, Athletic Director of Pac-12 rival USC, echoed this conventional logic when he stated, “I don’t hire assistance coaches. I think it’s wrong,” and, despite Anderson’s best efforts, his grand vision of the Sun Devils’ football program has already encountered a few speed bumps.
Offensive Coordinator Billy Napier left Phoenix to take over Louisiana-Lafayette’s program, and Defensive Coordinator Phil Bennett chose to retire from coaching altogether, citing personal reasons. In replacing Bennett, Edwards (Anderson?) made what many would consider a “conventional” choice, choosing to hire San Diego State’s Defensive Coordinator, Danny Gonzales. The hiring of Gonzales suggests that ASU may already be straying from its new “GM-style model,” through which ASU officials hope to turn the Sun Devils into a perennial Top-15 Program.
Take a look at ASU’s roster, and you’ll see a number of players from the lush Southern California recruiting region. Typically, these players can be “charitably” described as players that Pac-12 rivals USC and UCLA where uninterested in, believing that they either didn’t have the talent or the physical characteristics to fit their programs. By hiring Gonzales, Edwards appears to wish to increase ASU’s connection with the fertile San Diego recruiting region.
Unfortunately for Edwards, it is very unlikely that ASU will be able to surmount USC and UCLA’s stronghold on the region — not to mention San Diego State’s. In this regard, hiring Sumlin may have been “unconventional,” as a Sumlin hire would have likely resulted in a number of talented players from the Texas recruiting region being directed towards the Sun Devils — due in no small part to Sumlin’s strong recruiting connections throughout Texas. In doing so, ASU would no longer be recruiting USC and UCLA’s “rejects,” but players that were unconnected (or at least less connected) to the Southern California schools.
A Sumlin hiring would have also likely meant his demanding that he be able to hire his own coordinators, and, while Sumlin is likely to retain Arizona’s current defensive coordinator Marcel Yates (largely due to his prior relationship with Yates rather than pressure from Heeke), it is rumored that Sumlin will bring in Noel Mazzone to serve as his offensive coordinator, who previously worked with Sumlin during his tenure at Texas A&M.
Sumlin’s hiring would have also drastically differed in another way. By hiring Sumlin, the Wildcats are bringing in a head coach with a history of success at the college level, and one that’s familiar with college football’s recruiting process (which, already, appears to be an area of concern for Sun Devils’ fans). Prior to his time at Texas A&M, Sumlin was the head coach at the University of Houston for four seasons, where his 2011 Team finished the regular season with a 12–1 record, and, even though he was fired by Texas A&M, Sumlin never had a losing season in College Station, and has a career head coaching record of 86–43. Furthermore, while at A&M, Sumlin regularly signed top-ranked recruiting classes, with his 2014 class being ranked fifth in the nation. Most importantly, star quarterback Khalil Tate appears to approve of Sumlin’s hiring, tweeting out a photoshopped picture of he and Sumlin.
While it’s — way — too early to tell whether either new head coach will work out, Pac-12 Football in Arizona will be a major topic of discussion throughout the college football community next season. Personally, I’m very excited to see whether ASU’s “GM-style” model will work out. If the Sun Devils are successful, you can expect to see a lot more schools attempting their “CEO model” (and, potentially, and increased role from schools’ athletic directors in their head coach’s hiring decisions). One thing is for certain though, next year’s Duel in the Desert just got a whole lot more interesting.
