Arizona State’s coaching search ended up landing Herm Edwards, one of the most bizarre developments in what was already a wild 2017 coaching carousel.
Yeah, Todd Graham is still coaching Arizona State through the Sun Bowl!
Herm Edwards took over Todd Graham’s coaching staff, but the former head coach stuck around.
Edwards is the permanent ASU head coach, but he won’t be coaching during the bowl game. That part’s not a surprise, as transitional head coaches usually attend their new team’s bowl but don’t actively coach (unless you’re Sonny Dykes).
But in a move that is a bit of a surprise, Arizona State will have a very familiar face on the sideline for its bowl game: former head coach Todd Graham.
This is odd but also somehow the only thing about this transition that makes sense.
Lame-duck coaches don’t usually coach their teams in bowl games. When you get the pink slip, you pack your stuff and hit the road. But Graham got a pretty interesting second chance:
When ASU Vice President of Athletics Ray Anderson informed Graham he was being fired the day after ASU’s Territorial Cup win last month, Anderson gave Graham the chance to coach the Sun Devils in the Sun Bowl. Graham didn’t hesitate.
“That was the first thing that entered my mind – I want to finish,” Graham said then. “I told Ray and the administration that we would do everything in our power – I would – to help in that process. It won’t be uncomfortable at all for us.”
I think if more coaches were given this opportunity, they’d probably take it. There’s definitely the notion of finishing what you’ve started. Not much about this ASU coaching search has been normal, so it stands to reason that there would be more monkey wrenches thrown into the equation.
And Graham does keep some continuity. The original plan was to bring Edwards in and keep both coordinators. That didn’t end up happening, as both left for greener pastures. We’ll see how that plays in the future, but for now, it works well that Graham has stuck around.
Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett makes it sound like this helps Arizona State avoid a transitional pothole:
“The demands of this job, as we all know, it’s tough,” said Bennett, “but Todd has made it a seamless transition, we’ve stayed on schedule, our practices in Tempe were very much upbeat. I’ve been floored at how things have been kept together.
”We had a very good staff in place so we feel like it won’t be one of those distractions that could hurt us, you know, you always look at these games that are in transition and as a coach you say “god, I don’t want that to be us”. I’m not going to mention any games but some of them you go “wow, that interim coach maybe shouldn’t have coached that game.”
But Graham’s still coaching for Arizona State and that raises an even bigger question:
Why doesn’t he have another job?
Graham had the reputation for being a job-hopper:
Between 2005 and 2007, Graham was an assistant coach at Tulsa, Rice’s head coach, and then finally Tulsa’s head coach until 2011 when he left for Pitt. He spent one year there before going to ASU. He’d enjoyed a decent tenure by his standards with the Sun Devils.
But it appears Graham has turned that leaf over to finish things out with his guys.
With his decent record at ASU and track record as a developer of coaches, one would imagine that Graham should have some suitors as a defensive coordinator or assistant head coach.
To Graham’s credit, vice president for university athletics Ray Anderson gave him the opportunity to see things through with the players and staff he brought to Tempe.
That’s exactly what he’ll do.
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