TEMPE, Ariz. — Months before Ray Anderson fired Todd Graham in 2017, the Arizona State vice president of athletics told trusted colleagues that he already had the next Sun Devils football coach in mind.
Herm Edwards was a popular studio analyst at ESPN, a former NFL head coach whose passion and enthusiasm lit up the television screen. Anderson, who once represented Edwards as an agent, could only imagine how those qualities would play in a recruit’s living room.
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The concern: How would the hire play nationally, especially given that Edwards hadn’t been on a college football staff since 1989 and hadn’t coached at all outside of an annual high school all-star game in nearly a decade?
Anderson fired Graham on Nov. 26. Arizona State introduced Edwards a week later. In doing so, the program rolled out a new leadership model that confused media and made Pac-12 rivals roll their collective eyes. The pitch: In search of its first conference title since 2007, Arizona State would operate like an NFL organization. The reality: The model was created mostly to deflect criticism from Anderson’s unorthodox hire.
On Sunday, Arizona State parted ways with Edwards three games into his fifth season and one day after a lethargic 30-21 home loss to Eastern Michigan, one of the worst setbacks in recent program history.
Edwards, 68, finished 26-20. He posted six Top 25 wins and never lost to rival Arizona, but his time in the desert mostly will be remembered as a failed experiment, one that fractured the fan base’s confidence and caused issues within the athletic department. An opposing coach recently told The Athletic that it wasn’t hard to get intel on this season’s team because some within Arizona State athletics wanted a coaching change.
The worst may be yet to come.
For more than a year, the NCAA has investigated recruiting allegations within the football program. Edwards and his staff are accused of hosting recruits during the non-contact period put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Edwards has lost five assistants during the probe, including defensive coordinator Antonio Pierce and offensive coordinator Zak Hill. With uncertainty swirling around the program, recruiting has suffered significantly.
The extent of Edwards’ involvement varies depending on whom you ask. Some former staffers said Edwards may not have known every detail, but he was aware that Arizona State was operating outside the rulebook. Others are not so sure. One former staffer said emphatically, “Herm Edwards is not a cheater.” Another who left the program to pursue other opportunities said he would not hesitate to work again for Edwards.
Everyone, however, agreed on one thing: As a head coach with a salary of $3.9 million, Edwards was responsible for what happened inside his program. And this is where he failed.
Over the past year, The Athletic has talked with numerous people who have worked for or around Edwards, as well as outside executives and coaches. Those familiar with Edwards describe a coach who never bothered to completely learn NCAA bylaws, who was slow to realize that student athletes differed from pro athletes and who yielded too much authority to Pierce, the program’s former chief recruiter, defensive coordinator and associate head coach.
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Part of this may have been an issue of job description. Not long after Edwards’ introduction, Anderson appeared on Phoenix radio and said his longtime friend would act as “CEO of football operations.” Edwards’ main tasks were to coach players, mold coaches and recruit, but he wouldn’t have to worry about evaluating every prospect. He could leave the details to his staff.
Asked if Edwards bothered to learn NCAA rules, a former athletic department staff member said, “I don’t think it was a top priority for him.” Another said that during Edwards’ first year, staffers would have to “babysit” Edwards at events where contact with certain prospects was prohibited. “He’s such a nice guy that he would just … ‘Hey, can we take a picture?’ ‘Oh, yeah, no problem,'” the former staff member said. “He didn’t know that was against the rules.'”
On March 13, 2019, Tim Cassidy, the program’s former senior associate athletic director for football operations, suggested the problem went beyond Edwards. In an email The Athletic obtained through a public-records request, Cassidy told deputy athletic director Jean Boyd that “people advising (Edwards) should know the rules and be looking out for him since he is a first year college coach.” Cassidy then listed the names of several people in Arizona State’s player personnel and development departments who had not taken an NCAA certification recruiting test.
“In my opinion (outside my lane) everyone involved with recruiting should take and pass the recruiting exam,” Cassidy, a respected 40-year industry veteran who has since left Arizona State, wrote to Boyd.
Even so, Edwards built momentum, molding his program around the slogan “Words and Actions.” Arizona State long has been considered a “sleeping giant,” a polite way of saying it has underachieved in football. The Sun Devils last played in a Rose Bowl at the end of the 1996 season. Instead of Pasadena, their most frequent bowl destination has been the mid-level Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
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Unlike Graham, Edwards didn’t broadcast championship goals. He simply pointed out the Sun Devils were building, one step at a time. He won over national media during 1-on-1 interviews, treating reporters as if he had known them for years. Anderson said that those who knew Edwards understood the hire and those who didn’t criticized it.
The tone changed quickly. In Edwards’ second game in 2018, Arizona State upset No. 15 Michigan State at Sun Devil Stadium, silencing a bulk of the fan base that had questioned the hire. “We didn’t just win, we won and a fantastic coach was out-coached,” school president Michael Crow later said, referring to former Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio. The Sun Devils finished 7-6 that first season, beating two ranked teams along with rival Arizona. Fans and media started to come around.
Maybe this could work after all.
One thing Edwards had in his favor: He was incredibly popular, a celebrity in the sports world. More so, however, he was a gentleman in an ego-dominated profession. Edwards’ superpower has nothing to do with football; it is kindness and sincerity.
Initially, Arizona State staffers were curious to see how this former NFL coach and ESPN personality would embrace the college game and interact with others. The early returns were very positive. Edwards didn’t just attend staff meetings, he participated. He was engaged. “He didn’t put himself on a higher pedestal than the other coaches and staff members,” a former athletic department staffer said.
Once, as Edwards left practice as a passenger in a golf cart, he noticed a player’s grandfather had fallen nearby. The elderly man had gotten help — he was fine — but Edwards hopped out and checked on him anyway.
In a top desk drawer inside his Arizona State office, Edwards kept football cards from his 10-year NFL career that fans sent requesting his autograph. Former defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales once said that he hated traveling with Edwards because people in airports always recognized and stopped the Arizona State head coach, making the rush to the gate even longer. Edwards seldom seemed to mind. “The star status of Coach Edwards is unbelievable,” Gonzales said.
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This helped a ton with recruiting.
Recruiting long had been an Arizona State problem for reasons outsiders never understood. People envision palm trees and parties and assume the nation’s top high school prospects would be crazy not to flock to such a blue-skied paradise. It’s never been that simple here.
Arizona State has solid fan support, but its home attendance generally ranks in the middle of the Pac-12. On the field, the Sun Devils struggle with consistency, having finished in the final AP poll just four times since 2000. Perhaps most importantly, it’s uncomfortably hot. Preseason camp in the desert heat can be miserable. Temperatures for September kickoffs can approach 100 degrees.
Edwards, however, mostly cleared these hurdles. After just a few months on the job, the head coach and his staff scrambled to produce the nation’s No. 36 class in 2018 per 247Sports Composite rankings, a group that included a future first-round NFL Draft pick in receiver Brandon Aiyuk, a four-year starter in linebacker Darien Butler and a five-year starter in linebacker Merlin Robertson. In 2019, the Sun Devils signed four-star quarterback Jayden Daniels, the gem of a class ranked 28th.
Pieces started to come together, even as troubling signs emerged.
Edwards’ first Arizona State staff was a mix of old and new. He kept around some Graham assistants for the sake of continuity. He brought in his own guys for familiarity. Antonio Pierce was among the newcomers. He was a force, a bulldog who loved to prove outsiders wrong, something he had done for most of his football life.
Pierce had transferred from junior college and become a star linebacker at the University of Arizona, then had gone from undrafted free agent to NFL Pro Bowl selection and Super Bowl champion. Upon his hire, Edwards put Pierce, with whom he had worked at ESPN, in charge of recruiting. Tireless and determined, Pierce helped establish a program presence in talent-rich California. He also led a push to stretch Arizona State’s brand all the way to Florida and up the Eastern Seaboard.
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Over time, Edwards started to groom Pierce as a head coach, his possible successor, something former NFL coach Tony Dungy once had done for him. In a sport short on Black head coaches, Edwards considered this his responsibility, one he took seriously. But his actions led to problems.
The timetable isn’t clear, but sources indicate that Pierce assumed considerable program power. Once elevated to associate head coach in February 2020, he had a major voice in nearly everything, including staff hires and dismissals. One former athletic department staffer referred to Pierce as Arizona State’s head coach and to Edwards as the face of the program. During a recruiting meeting, Edwards once told his staff, “What AP says, I’m saying, so listen to AP and do what he says.”
Those who objected often were told to “stay in your lane.”
After going 8-5 in Year 2 under Edwards, Arizona State was poised to contend for a Pac-12 South title in 2020. The poised Daniels was positioned for a breakout season at quarterback. He had talented running backs behind him. The defense was experienced. Then the pandemic hit, and the Pac-12 paused fall sports. On video calls with reporters, Edwards supported the move and urged everyone to take the pandemic seriously.
Not long after football resumed in November, Edwards and several Arizona State players and coaches tested positive for the virus. With a recruiting dead period in place for health reasons, the program was just trying to get through the season. The Sun Devils ultimately played four games, finishing 2-2. An exhausted Edwards announced Arizona State had removed itself from bowl consideration. This was the least of his concerns.
In the spring of 2021, an anonymous former staffer sent a package to Arizona State’s compliance office, accusing the football staff of hosting recruits and paying for their travel during the pandemic dead period. According to a Yahoo! report, the package contained receipts and screenshots of emails that might prove these allegations. Per Yahoo!, tight ends coach Adam Breneman, defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins and receivers coach Prentice Gill, as well as Regina Jackson, the mother of Daniels, had helped book or finance flights for high school recruits. (Hawkins, Gill and Jackson denied these accusations to Yahoo! Breneman declined comment.)
Former staff members have told The Athletic that Pierce directed the bulk of the alleged wrongdoing but that Edwards was involved when necessary, meeting with top prospects.
Jackson’s alleged involvement in this was bizarre. Before Daniels transferred to LSU this spring, multiple sources told The Athletic that Jackson was given uncommon access to the program, attending practice and visiting facilities, which made players and others uncomfortable.
In his first season, Edwards led Arizona State into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and beat USC 38-35. The next week, Edwards asked his video team to put together something for Candid Camera Friday. Edwards loved Candid Camera Friday. It was his way of combatting the grind of the regular season. He would have his video team find humorous moments in practice or dig up old video of his players on the internet.
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This time, Edwards wanted video of dejected USC fans leaving the Coliseum after losing to Arizona State. Then he wanted the clip from “Gladiator” of Russell Crowe standing in the arena, arms spread, yelling, “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?” Showing the final product to a visitor, Edwards laughed for what seemed like five minutes.
That seems like forever ago.
The investigation forced staff changes. Gill, Hawkins and Breneman departed before the 2021 season. Pierce and Hill left before this season. In addition, a wave of talented players entered the transfer portal. Some left for better football situations. Others left to cash in on name, image and likeness opportunities.
Daniels, who once sat with Edwards’ family at a men’s basketball game, transferred to LSU. Top receiver Ricky Pearsall left for Florida. Top defensive lineman left Jermayne Lole left for Louisville, while rising linebacker Eric Gentry left for USC. Entering Year 5, Edwards was supposed to have his program positioned to contend. Instead, conference media picked the Sun Devils to finish 10th.
This was Edwards’ final chance to make everything better. In 2021, the Sun Devils went 8-5, but they finished 128th out of 130 FBS teams in penalty yards. Many attributed the sloppiness to Edwards’ style.
Although he punished players for missing or showing up late to meetings, Edwards preferred to establish standards instead of rules. A visitor to practice last season was shocked at the program’s lack of urgency, noting that if the Sun Devils ran an unsuccessful play, Edwards seldom made them run it back. Players took advantage of the loose atmosphere. It showed up on the field.
Arizona State had only five penalties in this season’s opening-night win over Northern Arizona, but the Sun Devils committed 10 in a Sept. 10 loss at Oklahoma State. Then on Saturday night, trying to rally in the second half against Eastern Michigan, the offense kept making mistakes. A personal foul on one play, holding on the next. It looked like last season all over again.
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Edwards took longer than usual to get to the postgame news conference. Wearing a maroon polo and a black baseball cap, he arrived and answered every question, friendly as always. Signs had surfaced recently that his time at Arizona State may be short. A couple weeks ago, for example, a reporter had asked Edwards about the new transfer windows approved this summer in NCAA legislation, but Edwards didn’t seem to understand what he was asking. But this was the first time Edwards looked defeated. Perhaps he knew that Arizona State faced a tough road ahead.
Or perhaps he knew what was about to come.
(Top photo: Soobum Im / USA Today)
