The Arizona Sun Devils have experienced a severe blow, as Kenny Dillingham has expressed with regret that…
In as many weeks, Herm Edwards has become the second Power Five coach to be fired.
After Arizona State’s 30-21 loss to Eastern Michigan on Saturday night, the Sun Devils announced on Sunday that they were cutting ties with Edwards. Following the Sun Devils’ defeat to Oklahoma State in Week 2, ASU’s record was now 1-2.
Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson released a statement saying, “We have made the decision to make a change in the leadership of our football program, effective immediately.” “Coach Edwards and I have decided that he will resign from his position as our head coach by mutual consent. Doing what is best for our current team, staff, and university is at the center of this. I am aware of the frustrations people experience. We have to improve, and we must begin with our choice today.
Vice President Ray Anderson of University Athletics made a statement. tweet.com/4Rj77Gnhkt
Sun Devil Football, September 18, 2022 (@ASUFootball)
Shaun Aguano, the running backs coach, will serve as the team’s acting head coach, according to Rivals’ Devils Digest. Following a home loss to Georgia Southern, Nebraska declared that Scott Frost would not be returning to lead the team, exactly one week before Arizona State decided to fire Edwards.
In each of Edwards’ three full seasons with the team, Arizona State has finished above.500, but since ASU allegedly hosted recruits on campus during NCAA-mandated recruiting dead periods, the university has been the focus of an offseason NCAA investigation into potential recruiting violations. Antonio Pierce, a former NFL linebacker and defensive coordinator, was among the five assistant coaches who left amid the investigation.
After the 2021 season, a number of players left the Sun Devil program, including Jayden Daniels, the starting quarterback for LSU right now. Emory Jones, a transfer from Florida, is the team’s new quarterback.
68-year-old Edwards was employed by Arizona State prior to the 2018 campaign by Anderson, an ex-agent of Edwards. The former NFL head coach had never served as a college head coach before coming to ASU. He had served as San Jose State’s defensive backs coach for his third and final season as a college head coach in 1989.
Under Edwards’ leadership, Arizona State finished 26–20 overall and 8–5 in 2019 and 2021. After ASU failed to win more than seven games in any of Todd Graham’s final three seasons with the team, Edwards was brought in to take his place. Under Graham, ASU had two seasons with ten wins, something the program never even came close to achieving under Edwards as head coach.
After the Eastern Michigan defeat, school president Michael Crow announced that the school would be reviewing its football program, casting doubt on Edwards’ future. In their matchup with EMU, ASU was a 20.5-point favorite, per BetMGM.
After losing to Eastern Michigan, the president of ASU discussed Herm Edwards and the football program as a whole: Pic.twitter.com/HD1qJ99dVA – https://t.co/4iUT1WXuPr
— September 18, 2022, Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach)
Edwards’ NFL coaching career ended in 2008, and he was employed as an analyst at ESPN prior to attending Arizona State. Edwards led the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006 to 2008 and the New York Jets from 2001 to 2005. In Edwards’ five seasons, the Jets finished 39–41 and qualified for the postseason in three of them. The Chiefs finished 9-7 in Edwards’ first season as an NFL coach, but over his final two seasons, the team won a total of six games, lowering Edwards’ career record to 54-74.
