In a move described by national media as “surprising”, Ray Anderson hired his personal friend and former client to be ASU’s next head coach despite Herm Edwards possessing a poor .422 career winning percentage in the NFL and not having coached for nearly a decade (and had not been a coach in college football since 1989). Ray Anderson laid down his expectations for ASU football in Edward’s introductory press conference: “we should be top three in the Pac-12, in my opinion, every season. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be every year top 15 nationally if we do what we’re supposed to do.”
Widely panned as an odd choice, many fans and media members wondered if it mainly happened because Ray used to be Herm Edward’s agent and the two were still close friends. Most college football writers and media gave the hire a bad grade or mocked it openly, and many predicted that it would fail miserably.
Sources:
Arizona State Sun Devils hire Herm Edwards as coach – ESPN
National media responds to Edwards as ASU’s likely new coach (247sports.com)