Arizona State’s AD talked trash about Tennessee’s coaching search, but the Sun Devils ended up worse off

The Tennessee football coaching search of 2017 was the wildest in memory. It took the Volunteers 25 days to replace Butch Jones with Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt. In that span, the Vols attempted to hire Ohio State DC Greg Schiano, but they didn’t after an unprecedented explosion of fan anger. The AD got fired days later, and former coach Phillip Fulmer took his job after reportedly sabotaging that AD.

The Arizona State coaching search of 2017 was at least quick. The Sun Devils fired Todd Graham on Nov. 26 after a 7-5 season. Athletic director Ray Anderson hired long-ago NFL coach Herm Edwards a week later, on Dec. 3, and announced it with a press release that sounded like a multinational tech company announcing an IPO.

Anderson, who was Edwards’ agent during the latter’s coaching career, which appeared to have ended in 2008, took a shot at Tennessee in an interview with CBS Sports.

“The athletic department there is perceived there as a cluster,” Anderson said. “Their athletic director, now Phil Fulmer, in the athletic director’s world is a pariah. It is not a good situation.”

But you could easily make the case Arizona State just had a worse search than Tennessee. Let’s run through the tale of the tape.

Tennessee had no choice but to fire Jones. His team had tanked, he was 4-6, and his team had a losing streak against literally everyone else in the SEC.

Arizona State did not have to fire Graham. He didn’t do great in Tempe, but his 7-5 record was his best since a pair of 10-win seasons in 2013 and ‘14.

Advantage: Tennessee.

At Tennessee, Jones’ buyout was $8.3 million. The buyout for John Currie, the ousted AD, was $5.5 million. That leaves the Vols on the hook for more than $13 million, though the school is reportedly trying to fire Currie for cause and save on his buyout. At least the contracts for Jones and Currie include offset language, where Tennessee’s obligations to them go down in the event they get other jobs.

At Arizona State, Graham’s buyout was about $12 million. His contract doesn’t include an offset, so ASU owes Graham every cent of that number.

Advantage: Tennessee, probably, though we’ll see how assistant pay works out.

Tennessee’s search was a world-class mess. The Vols’ staggering incompetence — right up to Currie signing a lucrative six-year deal with Schiano, then backing out and arguing it didn’t count because the chancellor didn’t also sign it — will be remembered forever. It would be difficult to run a more slapstick coaching search.

Arizona State’s search was pretty standard while it was going on.

Advantage: Arizona State.

This is the thing that matters most.

Tennessee hired Pruitt, a longtime defensive coordinator at blue-blood programs Alabama, Florida State, and Georgia. Maybe you like it. Maybe you don’t, because you preferred an offensive mind after Jones’ anemic offense sputtered in 2017. But UT nonetheless got the coordinator of the country’s No. 1 scoring defense, who happens to be a former 247Sports Recruiter of the Year and is still just 42.

Arizona State hired Edwards, a 63-year-old ESPN analyst whose last coaching experience was going 2-14 with the Chiefs in 2008. Edwards hadn’t coached college football since he was San Jose State’s DBs coach from 1987-89. My colleague Bill Connelly tried hard to justify the Edwards hire but couldn’t really do it.

Advantage: Tennessee, probably.

ASU made the odd decision not to fire Graham’s assistants, but to instead try to convince them to stay and work under a newly installed coach. Anderson and Edwards both made it clear they wanted offensive coordinator Billy Napier and defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, hired a season ago by Graham, to stay on.

Then Bennett announced on Edwards’ first Tuesday on the job that he wouldn’t return in 2018. And then Napier took the Louisiana-Lafayette head job that Friday.

That left Arizona State in a tough spot five days before the early signing period, when ASU needs to start locking in its recruiting class (now ranked 10th in the Pac-12). The Sun Devils have just 11 commitments, they’ve just lost their two well-regarded coordinators, and their head coach hasn’t done this since the 1980s.

Pruitt’s start at Tennessee has apparently been fine, though he’s still working with Alabama during the Tide’s Playoff run.

Advantage: Tennessee.

Tennessee’s search was ugly while it happened. But I think it left the Vols in a better position, relative to where they started, than the Sun Devils’ search did.