Herm Edwards. Former NFL player. Former NFL coach. ESPN Personality. Sun Devil.
Herm Edwards has been announced as the future of ASU football, easily being the most shocking hire of the young, but exciting college football coaching carousel. He hasn't coached in college since the late 80's and hasn't coached at all in over 10 years. And when he coached in the NFL, most of his teams disappointed. Despite all of this, there have been mixed reactions to the hire. Some of which are extremely positive, and a plenty of negative reactions too. Almost all coaching hires have their naysayers and praisers, but there seem to be more extremes on both sides with this hire. As always, I try to lean positive and there are a lot of positives from the Sun Devils perspective despite what plenty of people are saying.
Recruiting seems to be the most well-accepted gain that Edwards can bring to the Sun Devils. He's known for being one of the most energetic, sincere coaches throughout his multiple stints in the NFL. While that may not have worked with grown men who are making millions of dollars, it could work with college students. These kids are young, impressionable and ready to fight for a guy that can lead them. Seeing someone like Herm Edwards walk into their houses and tell them that he wants to lead them out on to the field is almost unmatched. While not having the coaching pedigree that others do, Herm has the face value that few coaches in the PAC-12 do. Todd Graham couldn't do that, and now ASU has to hope that Herm has the recruiting ability necessary to compete.
The strangest aspect of this Herm Edwards hire was the system that the Sun Devils are attempting to implement. Their goal is to run an NFL-based system where you the head coach's main role is to recruit, help the coordinators and energize the team. With that, the offensive and defensive coordinators will have major roles in the program in these upcoming years. While seemingly ridiculous as the NFL has hardly ever transitioned into college, something is bound to work. At some point in time, a college team is going to try this and it is going to work. Why can't it be the Sun Devils? Herm Edwards gets to bring in his own coordinators, he gets plenty of time to start his recruiting as he was an early hire, and he'll lead a team coming off what was a surprising season into a new day. This was the best possible time for Herm to take over, and while frightening, there could be a high reward for the Sun Devils if this works.
But with that high reward, comes high risk. That's easily the worst aspect of the Edwards hire. It's a risky move and it could be considered a boom-or-bust type of move. If it booms, ASU could be competing at a higher level than it ever has. If it busts, ouch. Herm would get fired, Ray Anderson would be on thin ice and who knows what else would happen if it fails, and there are reasons why it could fail that are becoming more prominent by the day. The biggest of these would be the lack of current coordinators on the ASU staff. Ray Anderson planned to have both offensive and defensive coordinators return to the roster and within one week, both are gone. The system that he had already tried to implement was falling apart within 7 single days. It's fair reason to worry, but at some point, Ray Anderson should be trusted to make the right decision. Let's just hope this isn't his first miss.
In the biggest boom-or-bust head coaching hire of any team I've ever followed, Herm Edwards has got the spotlight on him. ASU is going to get more national coverage than they have ever, and the guys need to be ready. Arizona State sports are on the rise right now, and Herm Edwards could be the difference between the Sun Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
Now, we wait.
