ASU Football Coaching Search: Ex-NFL coach Herm Edwards to interview for ASU job

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

After a quiet 48 hours around ASU’s search for a new head football coach, an unexpected name exploded onto the scene on Tuesday afternoon.

Long-time NFL head coach Herm Edwards will interview for the Sun Devils’ job opening this weekend, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Edwards, 63, is currently an NFL analysts for ESPN. Edwards confirmed the news himself during a Wednesday morning appearance on the network’s SportsCenter.

Arizona Sports’ Paul Calvisi was first to report that Edwards, who has been the head coach of the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs in his career, is a strong candidate for the job in Tempe.

The two have a personal history as well. According to azcentral sports, Anderson was once Edwards’ agent during the latter’ coaching career. Asked why the job interested him during an interview on ESPN’s Wednesday morning SportsCenter, Edwards cited that relationship as a key reason for his sudden desire to jump back into the coaching world:

“At heart, I’m still a coach. Always a coach,” Edwards said. “It has to be the right fit. Coaching is about fits and this is a place where Ray Anderson is there, I know the man. We have the same kind of philosophies on things we want to do so I’m going to go down and have a conversation.”

Edwards’ name and resume is a polar opposite from original leading candidate and ex-Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin. Edwards has coached in the college ranks just once, when he served as the defensive backs coach at San Jose State from 1987-89 under Claude Gilbert.

In the 90’s, Edwards moved on to the NFL. He spent 10 years as an assistant in Kansas City and Tampa Bay before getting hired by the Jets in 2001. In New York, Edwards (a Fort Monmouth, New Jersey native) went 39-41 across five seasons and made the playoffs three times.

Prior to the 2006 season, Edwards’ relationship with Jets ownership soured, leading him to move on to Kansas City to take over as the Chiefs’ head coach, replacing the retired Dick Vermeil. Edwards lasted just three seasons in Kansas City, winning just 6 combined games between the 2007-08 seasons. He was fired in January 2009 and has been out of the coaching world since.

HOW WOULD HE FIT?

Though Edwards’ connection to the ASU job might come as a surprise, he seems to check a lot of the boxes ASU athletic director Ray Anderson claimed he is looking for in a head coach.

First and foremost, Edwards has the NFL background apparently coveted by Anderson, a former NFL executive and player agent himself. ESPN’s Matt Barrie, an ASU alumnus, reported on Tuesday that Anderson is targeting someone with professional experience.

Edwards would seem more likely to accept Anderson’s request and keep current Sun Devils coordinators Billy Napier and Phil Bennett too. Unlike active coaches, Edwards has no staff under him at the moment, making him the type of candidate that could be plugged straight into a program with an already-established culture.

“The next head coach that comes in here will not be your traditional thinker that says, ‘I necessarily have to come in and clean house and bring in all of my own guys,'” Anderson said on Sunday.

The biggest question mark regarding Edwards will be his ability to recruit. As noted, he has been out of the college game for nearly three decades — and out of the coaching game for almost 10 years. Though he would theoretically have a built-in, recruiting-capable staff around him in ASU’s current staff of assistants, there is little track record to prove Edwards can consistently reel in the type of 4- and 5-star recruits that Anderson thinks his program should target.

“I’ve been involved in football [since my last head coaching job],” Edwards said in his SportsCenter interview. “I sit here and talk about football, analyze football. The pro side, but also the college side when you think about the draft. I coach the Under Armour All-American game every year for 8 years. Believe it or not, that is one of the funnest weeks I have.”

On the flip side, the NFL-seasoned Edwards might fit the profile of a talent-developer and someone who knows how to groom prospects into NFL-caliber players. Anderson said during his Sunday press conference that his new coach must be able to provide “coaching [that] is not going to potentially get in (players’) way if they want to go play in the NFL.”

Edwards’ commented on Wednesday that his involvement with the All-American game is one of the reasons he has interest in a college job.

“Every year I look forward to coaching that game,” he said. “Why? It’s young talented players that come out of high school that are about to commit to go to college. I’ve dealt with these guys the last 8 years. It’s fun.”

While Edwards might fit the mold of a potential coach in Anderson’s eyes, the Sun Devils fanbase has sent mixed signs of agreement in the wake of the Edwards-to-ASU rumors.

“Herm Edwards” quickly became a top-trending Twitter topic in Phoenix as Tuesday’s news spread across the social media platform. Reactions from fans and local media was mixed.

An azcentral twitter poll that garnered over 700 responses asked “what kind of hire” would it be: 36 percent of respondents picked the “terrible hire” choice, though the next-most often selection was “fantastic hire”, which won 29 percent of the vote.

Another twitter poll conducted by azfamily.com reporter and popular “Speak of the Devils” ASU football podcast host Brad Denny revealed just 21 percent of respondents would be in favor of the move.

Ryan Tolman, a Sun Devil football season ticket holder, told cronkitesports.com on Tuesday, “I love that guy (Edwards). Just not sure he is a recruiter.”

But, it appears that Anderson is forging forward with his NFL-connected name. As the athletic director pointed out in Sunday’s press conference, any coaching decision will have to be made with the joint approval of university president Michael Crow.

But out of the nowhere, it appears Edwards has become one of the schools’ leading candidates and will have a chance to personally impress the powers that be in Tempe with an unexpected job interview this weekend.