ASU Football: Graham looks ahead to honoring Coach Kush

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

When Frank Kush passed away in June, the ASU community lost one of its pillars. On Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium, ASU football plans to honor its late, great former coach — a moment that current head coach Todd Graham said will be “special.”

Graham started his weekly press conference on Monday by discussing the ways his team will honor Coach Kush — including a sunburst on their helmets — and emphasized the impact Kush made on the program and community.

“Obviously we’re honoring him the whole season with ‘Sun Devil Tough,’” Graham said. “Not only the greatest coach to ever coach here, but just what he meant in so many different ways to this university.”

When he was a coach at Allen High School in Texas, Graham had the opportunity to meet Coach Kush for the first time through a mutual friend. The superintendent of Graham’s school district moved to Arizona and invited Graham to visit to the ASU facilities for the first time.

That first trip to Tempe is a moment that sticks with Graham to this day.

“His reputation was being tough, but he was so gracious,” Graham said of Kush. “I remember meeting him, taking a picture with him and looking out the window and saying what an incredible place this is, not knowing that years later I’d be the head coach here.”

It took nearly 15 years for their paths to cross again. When Graham was hired at ASU in 2011 after spending time at West Virginia, Tulsa, Rice and Pittsburgh, he reconnected with Coach Kush. What he saw was a man deeply invested in the program despite being long retired.

Kush would travel to road games during Graham’s tenure, even if he dealt with health issues. He wouldn’t say much after wins or during successful years, but Graham said that he’d always make sure his voice was heard after a loss or during a down stretch.

That hard-nosed, old school attitude never faded, nor did his passion for the game or love for the ASU program.

“You didn’t have to worry about what he thought — he’d tell you,” Graham said with a laugh. “I like people like that — the world’s different today and he was a guy that was very honorable as a coach. It wasn’t warm and fuzzy stuff, but it was also encouragement.”

Graham talks often about the coaches that have influenced his philosophy over the years. Friends and mentors from Buddy Copeland to Gus Malzahn have shaped Graham’s coaching style and the way he runs his program.

Near the top of that list is Coach Kush. Graham believes that, prior to his passing, Kush was happy about the way his program was being run — how the coaches cared about the players and held them to a higher standard.

“I’m getting to do what I get to do today because of leaders and men like Coach Kush,” Graham said. “Everybody talks about it, but true discipline, true toughness, accountability and those types of things are so important in the process.

“I know he felt like we tried to do it the right way.”

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