Sun Devils wanted to change recruiting and Herm Edwards did that, and more

They were ripped. They were ridiculed. Arizona State did not get much slack when Herm Edwards hit the radar and then was hired to coach football some 360-odd days ago.

He was a talking head, had been for a while. Nine years on TV. Had not coached since 2008 and had not coached in college since 1989, at San Jose State.

Arizona State sent Todd Graham packing with a $12 million buyout, firing a coach with a .590 winning percentage just hours after a victory over in-state rival Arizona to hire … Herm Edwards?

Ray Anderson, the Arizona State athletic director, had been Edwards’ agent when he was in the NFL, certainly a plot twist of note, and then there were the plans for a restructured program with a new leadership model, and what exactly was that?

The coaching part of the equation, that was one thing. Edwards had it in the NFL at times with the Jets and the Chiefs, making it into the playoffs four times, and in his first season with the Sun Devils, the program in those 360-plus days has taken a turn toward a 180.

Picked to finish last in the Pac-12 South, the only team in the division that did not receive a first-place vote, Arizona State is 7-5 and headed into a Las Vegas Bowl matchup Saturday with the Mountain West champion Fresno State Bulldogs.

Four of those losses were by seven points and the fifth by just two.

But working deeper, there were a lot of questions.

How would Edwards recruit? How would he relate to players who were in elementary school the last time he was on a sideline? Would they buy in?

None, though, for Anderson.

He turned to Edwards in large part because he would and could recruit, and after solid but unspectacular recruiting results under former coach Graham, the AD wanted more.

“I knew Herman,” Anderson said. “I also knew to recruit in the very competitive world of Pac-12 football in Southern California, you had to have somebody there that would differentiate what we had previously at Arizona State given the fact you have to compete against Stanford with its natural appeal and USC and UCLA being in Southern California with their natural appeal, and Washington with the great work they’ve done there and Cal when they’ve had their good years.

“I knew very frankly if you’re going to recruit successfully against those institutions, you had to have a different personality and credibility and buzz and excitement to be able to compete with those other schools — and I thought Herman provided that.”

The right guy

There definitely was buzz, most of it negative.

Edwards, though, had no concerns about the recruiting road even if many did.

“I’m a football guy,” he said. “That’s part of it. I knew what I was signing up for, and I was a college coach first. People forget that. I was at San Jose State when we used to come in and play Fresno all the time. I knew what it takes to do this. There was nothing that when I took the job were I was going to go, ‘Whoa. …’ “

Anderson had no qualms, only, he thought, the right guy.

“We have to feel good about our recruiting,” he said. “Clearly our recruiting before Herman Edwards, the last couple years of the previous regime, was not very satisfactory at all. We knew that. I think the rankings of the recruiting classes reflect that.

“It just was what it was: It wasn’t very good and we needed to get a lot better quickly if we were going to break out of the middle of the pack in the Pac-12. That’s what we’re trying to do. Successful recruiting was a big part of the plan in bringing in Herman.”

Can Arizona State build on 7-5, behind Edwards?

Eno Benjamin, the leading rusher in the Pac-12, wasn’t an Edwards recruit. But he said he was as skeptical as any 18-year high school phenom might have been.

“When he was making his way around, I was trying to stay away from him, just because I didn’t know what type of guy he was,” Benjamin said. “Was he a strict guy? Was he this, or this? I was trying to feel him out before going up and actually talking to him and building a relationship with him.”

Now?

“After seeing it develop and seeing it take place, ride the course, it honestly has turned out way better than anyone would expect — and I can speak for all the players when I say that,” Benjamin said.

Trending upward

The expectations, of course, were very low.

A social media sampler pack …

▪ “#whatajoke.”

▪ “Should I go with the dumpster fire gif or the ‘boo this man’ gif? Decisions decisions … “

▪ “ASU football doesn’t need a CEO that can give motivational speeches. It needs a HC that can recruit against Chip Kelly/USC/UW/Stanford + Big 12 schools. Dont think thats Herm Edwards strong suit. ”

▪ “Arizona St hires Herm Edwards. I’ve read this three times and remain confused. But good luck ASU … “

“It was such an unusual move, but people couldn’t know the circumstances, they couldn’t know the history of Herm and I together or the confidence level that I had that he could go out and effectively recruit,” Anderson said.

“We didn’t take any of it personally, and the transition has been successful, not wildly successful, but certainly a transition year that we’re proud of. And now we’re looking forward to building on that and just making the way forward a lot more successful.”

That will show on the football field, the next progress report in the Las Vegas Bowl against the Bulldogs and then into the next few seasons as the players Edwards and his staff recruit develop.

They approach it as would a NFL staff, starting with their evaluations, and have seven true freshmen on the depth chart for the Las Vegas Bowl and three on defense who have played more than 650 snaps in Merlin Robertson, Darien Butler and Aashari Crosswell.

Robertson is leading Arizona State with 77 tackles and is one of five true freshmen in a Power Five conference to play 749 or more snaps this season.

With the early signing period Arizona State has commitments from 20 players from eight states and the ranking at this point is No. 5 in the Pac-12, No. 36 in the nation, which is about the same neighborhood the Sun Devils hung out under Graham.

But, for Edwards and Anderson, Benjamin and players up and down the Sun Devils’ roster, they are trending upward.

“I’ve got passion for this,” Edwards said. “This is what I do. I’ve had a love affair with football ever since I picked up a football.

“It’s not like I was in a bubble and I wasn’t watching football or talking about football. I was immersed in it. I did the SEC games for ESPN for a whole year. I visited a lot of college campuses. I knew what I was getting into, and it has been a lot of fun so far.”