Are you ready for one of the wildest rumors of the college football coaching carousel we’ve heard in a while? Herm Edwards — yes, that Herm Edwards — is reportedly a candidate for the Arizona State job.
Both Football Scoop and 98.7 FM’s Paul Calvisi reported on Tuesday that Edwards is a candidate for the ASU gig, which was vacated when Todd Graham was fired. Football Scoop even describes Edwards as a “strong candidate” for the job.
How did Edwards possibly become involved for this job despite not coaching since 2008? Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson has experience as an NFL executive. He reportedly is consulting with two former NFL coaches about the hire rather than using a search firm. 98.7 FM’s Mike Jurecki reported last week that Edwards and Tony Dungy were rumored to be the two consultants.
Rumored Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards. https://t.co/mc70CXzZOL
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) November 21, 2017
Did Edwards use the opportunity to campaign and decide he wanted to take a crack at the job? One thing working in his favor is that he reportedly would be willing to retain ASU’s offensive and defensive coordinators, which is something Anderson would want.
But making Edwards their head coach makes little sense. He is 63, has been out of coaching for nearly 10 years, and hasn’t coached in college since 1989. He was last seen going 2-14 with the Chiefs. Sure, USC saw incredible success bringing in Pete Carroll as their head coach after he only fared moderately in the NFL. UCLA also enjoyed initial success under Jim Mora, who had previous head coaching experience in the NFL. But neither of them were out of coaching the way Edwards was before assuming the reins.
Hiring Edwards would be a disaster for Arizona State and would set their program back years. They need to be able to do better than that.
