Report: Arizona State hires Herm Edwards as new head coach, pending approval
By Sam Ficarro
After confirming his interview with Arizona State on ESPN, Ray Anderson has reportedly hired Herm Edwards as head football coach pending approval from ASU President Michael Crow.
Arizona State Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson fired Todd Graham Sunday after six seasons leading the football program.
Just three days later, Anderson has reportedly chosen Graham’s successor in ESPN analyst and former Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets head coach Herm Edwards pending approval from ASU President Michael Crow.
SunDevilSource was the first to report Edwards’ expected hire.
It’s an outside-the-box hire for Anderson, who was seeking a head coach who would retain offensive coordinator Billy Napier and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett and a “dynamic recruiter.”
According to USA Today’s Dan Wolken, it appears Napier will stay on board if Edwards hire is approved.
SOURCE: Arizona State wants OC Billy Napier to stay with Herm Edwards as HC. Napier will run the offense and will have substantial input in the operation from top to bottom. Keeping him was a priority for ASU after the work he did this year.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) November 30, 2017
Anderson, who has not coached since 2008, has not coached in college football since 1989 when he was at San Jose State as a defensive backs coach.
There’s familiarity between Anderson and Edwards as Anderson represented Edwards as his agent during his coaching career.
When talking on SportsCenter Wednesday morning about the job interview, Edwards said, “Some people say, ‘He’s been out of football for a long time.’ No I haven’t. I just haven’t coached football. My mind and passion is still in football. I coach it every day that I walk into this studio. I visit a lot of college campuses, spoken to a lot of college teams, gone to college practices… I’m interested.”
Edwards has coached in the Under Armour All-American football Game for the last seven years featuring some of the best high school football recruits.
According to the SunDevilSource report, Anderson wants the football program to take an NFL approach and for Edwards to be more of a CEO.
Anderson said Sunday that he wasn’t going to hire a search hire and was going to instead hear advice from his NFL connections.
“Part of this business is seeking input from a whole variety of folks. I like getting information because I don’t know it all,” Anderson said. “They won’t have a vote, but I will certainly take all the information I can from intelligent, non-emotional professionals out there.”
Next: ASU Football: Anderson eyes a great recruiter in coaching search
The coming days should be interesting as the Edwards reported hire has not been received well by fans on social media. Make sure you follow Devils in Detail for the latest developments.