ASU Football: Herm Edwards proves to be the “New Leadership Model” AD Ray Anderson envisioned

(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)

After a euphoric win over the Arizona Wildcats that will be etched in ASU football lore, it’s time to face it: nearly everyone was wrong about the hiring of Herm Edwards.

Edwards was hired in December 2017 to run athletic director Ray Anderson’s and ASU President Michael Crow’s joint vision of a “New Leadership Model,” a phrase most people didn’t quite grasp.

Ten years without coaching on the sidelines at any level. Almost 30 years without college coaching experience. But as Edwards said back in December of 2017 when he was hired to lead this program, “They didn’t bring me here to play.”

Saturday, Edwards addressed the media after leading the Sun Devils to perhaps the greatest comeback in school history. The game was a summary of ASU’s whole season. Down late. Get a score. Give yourself a chance.

“This whole season, we played games like this,” Edwards said. “One score. Do the math. Every game we lost was a one-score game.”

Colorado. Oregon. Washington. San Diego State. Stanford.

All one-score games ASU could not seal the deal on.

Flashback to November of 2017 when Anderson announced that ASU would be searching for a man to lead the program. He used a very clear phrase: competitive consistency.

12 games in, no loss this season was by more than seven points.

Competitive consistency.

In fact, nearly half a season’s worth of close losses under its belt, Edwards and his team found a way to complete a 19-point comeback that appeared to be a culmination of all those close losses.

“We’re very comfortable there,” Edwards said of playing in close games. “We’re not in a panic mode.”

That starts at the top with the head coach. Edwards has shown no visible emotion this season after a number of close losses. He had his players playing for each other and their coaching staff.

“The thing I’m probably most-proud of is I’ve earned their trust,” Edwards said.

Flashback yet again to Anderson’s press conference.

“We don’t have that here,” Anderson said back in November of 2017. “You cannot have a year when none of our players get drafted to the NFL and only a kicker (Zane Gonzales) goes to the combine.”

Look down the road to a class that features Merlin Roberston, Aashari Croswell, Darien Butler and Tyler Johnson among others. Far from a sure thing, but these players produced at a high level as freshmen and certainly have potential to play at the next level.

Edwards checked most of the boxes that Anderson said he was looking for in the potential coach to lead the program. There is, however, a glaring box he did not check: Win the Pac-12 South and compete in a New Year’s Six bowl game.

Edwards knows that.

“A success? I don’t know about that,” Edwards said. “We didn’t win the Pac-12 championship.”

Sure, ASU didn’t punch its ticket to Santa Clara for a shot at the Pac-12 title. After all, that was the biggest goal. Athletic director Ray Anderson made that crystal clear when he let the previous coaching regime go.

In fact, ASU didn’t even win more games than last season, but make no mistake about it: the first season under Herm Edwards was a success.

The defense was much improved under defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales. Gonzales took on one of the of the nation’s bottom defenses over the last five years and brought them to 61 overall, playing freshmen defenders on a consistent basis.

Recruiting coordinator Antonio Pierce, thus far, has been fulfilling Anderson’s vision of recruiting high-caliber players.

The team fought and clawed every game and showed resiliency.

And Edwards, at least for the time being, has silenced the critics that voiced just a short year ago that the previous regime shouldn’t be let go.

No, ASU did not win the Pac-12 South. They will not be competing in a bowl game on New Year’s Day. But they showed drastic improvement both on the field and off the field in terms of recruiting.

That was Anderson’s vision and Edwards is fulfilling it.