Arizona State needed this year to be different.
When Willie Bloomquist was first hired as the Sun Devils head coach, replacing Tracy Smith, it was met with cautious optimism. Bloomquist was a die hard Devil, having played for the team back in the 90's under legendary coach Pat Murphy. He was part of the team that reached the national title game and was named the Pac 10 Player of the Year in 1999.
That alone made him more palatable than Smith, who came to Tempe from Indiana and had never coached outside of the Midwest, with no meaningful ties to the program. He never developed relationships with alumni or endeared himself to fans, often confronting them on social media towards the end.
Yet, while Bloomquist came with an understanding of what Sun Devil baseball means, he had zero coaching experience. Bloomquist retired from the MLB in 2016, and he didn't get into coaching until five years later when he was named Smith's successor. Bloomquist even acknowledged that risk, and the risk of tarnishing his own name, but felt it was worth it:
"That’s why I came back. Without sounding arrogant, I know I have a decent name around ASU, and this is the only thing that can screw that up — if (I'm not) successful at this. But on the same token, that’s why I came back. I wanted to do it."
Bloomquist's first year on the job was a bit of a rebuilding project, working to instill a new culture in the clubhouse. His team finished with a 26-32 record, eighth in the Pac 12. The next year showed marked improvement, though: Arizona State finished 32-23, but they faltered down the stretch, losing 10 of their final 13 games to miss out on the postseason.
Still, the 2023 season offered proof of concept for the Bloomquist experiment. They took another step forward in 2024, ending strong with 10 wins in their final 12 games, with many expecting a run in the conference tournament. Instead, the Sun Devils went 0-2 before getting eliminated, missing the postseason for the third straight season.
That put all the pressure on this season, their first in the wide open Big 12.
Bloomquist's current contract only goes to next year, and so far he has yet to take his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament. This season, with so much returning talent and new players from the transfer portal, had to be the breakthrough season.
For a while, it looked as if that was going to happen. Arizona State had risen to 15th in RPI and had yet to drop a conference series as they got ready to host rival Arizona, one of the top teams in the Big 12. It was a chance to prove that this team was ready to get back to Omaha.
Simply put, they failed. Arizona took the series win before Game 3 had even come around. The Sun Devils then followed it up with a series loss to Cincinnati, a scrappy team but not one that should be able to win two of three against a group as talented as Arizona State. To make matters even worse, they followed that up with a walk-off loss to Purdue, one of the worst teams in the Big Ten.
Now, Arizona State finds themselves in a tie for fifth place and very little cushion between them and seventh place. They've dropped to 32nd in RPI, largely helped out by their 16th ranked strength of schedule, even though they have a losing record against Quad 1 and Quad 3 teams.
Put another way, the season is on life support.
The most recent NCAA Tournament projections have Arizona State earning a three seed in the regionals, but any further sliding - or another early exit from the conference tournament next month - could see them miss out entirely.
All of this leads back to one very ominous question: how hot is the skipper's seat?
Three weeks ago, it was ice cold. Now? Consider it fairly warm and heating up. There's no reason to fire Bloomquist at this exact moment, or even to consider such a possibility as likely. Making the tournament at all would be a big deal, and almost ensure Bloomquist is back next year.
If they miss the tournament, though? Things will get very tricky. Athletics director Graham Rossini, who played an integral role in Bloomquist's initial hiring, already made the controversial decision to keep Bobby Hurley without giving him a contract extension beyond next season. Would he do the same to Bloomquist, or make a change now?
Hopefully, that question never even gets answered. Arizona State has just five conference series left this season, all of which have losing records in the Big 12 at present. If they can win each of those series, and sprinkle in some mid-week wins here and there, they should be in good shape.
That's what it will take, though. The recent struggles have made fans question Bloomquist's suitability to lead this program. The Sun Devils need to course correct now to change that.