(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
Arizona State’s hiring of Herm Edwards to lead its football program was undoubtedly the most criticized hiring in the sport this past offseason.
There were innumerable concerns surrounding the move, but these were some of the most prominent:
- He had not been on a college coaching staff since 1989, when he was a defensive backs coach for San Jose State.
- His last official coaching job was a decade prior in 2008 when the Kansas City Chiefs fired him after a 2-14 season
- His head coaching record was 54-74 over eight NFL seasons. Are we sure this guy can build a winning program?
Nevertheless, the Sun Devils have started the new era 2-0 and crashed the rankings at No. 23, their first top 25 appearance since the 2015 preseason poll.
If you’d said prior to week one this is how ASU’s season would start, while presumably better new hires Chip Kelly (UCLA) and Kevin Sumlin (Arizona) would go 0-4 and lose by a combined 69 points (17.25/game), this is probably the look you’d get.
Let me be the first to admit I questioned and doubted this hiring as much as the next person. But is it possible our fixation on the cons blinded us to the pros? It sure seems so, as many ignored what Herm could bring to the program in favor of criticism and open mockery.
As the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20. ASU may have reached its peak this season, having yet to play a road game, or maybe this is just the beginning. But with the team’s strong start, it’s time to look at why this has and could continue to work.
First off, it’s clear Edwards has brought an NFL-level toughness to the team, starting with his insistence that they practice outside throughout the Spring and Fall practice seasons.
“Everyone told me when I got here ‘hey it’s too hot, you have to go in the bubble,’” Edwards said. “I said ‘no no no no we’ll practice outside, we play outside. And to (the players’) credit they don’t want to go in there.”
ASU’s 16-13 comeback win over then No. 15 Michigan State tested the team’s mettle. The Sun Devils were outplayed for most of the night but found the will to finish with 13 unanswered points and outlast the Spartans. Edwards foresaw that practicing in the Arizona heat as opposed to a temperature-controlled dome would benefit the team in these situations.
“It’s helped us stamina-wise and mentally. I think when you’re fatigued, there comes a point to where you have to focus, and I think their focus is sharp and it showed up in the fourth quarter,” Edwards said. “No fouls. Michigan State had five fouls.”
Edwards’s experience as an NFL defensive back seems to have expedited the process of earning the team’s trust- especially when it comes to toughness.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” senior defensive lineman and captain Renell Wren said. “Coach Herm coached and played in the (NFL), so I trust to know what he’s doing.”
In his nine years playing for the Eagles (1977-85), Edwards never missed one of the 135 games he was with the team. In the process, he amassed 33 interceptions- one shy of a tie for the franchise’s career record.
“He just focuses on the basic details,” junior starting cornerback Kobe Williams said. “You see him point out the basic details and you do it in the game it’s like ‘we work this drill all the time.’”
As demanding as Edwards and his coaching staff may be in practice, they operate with a ‘tough but fair’ attitude.
“Coach Edwards takes care of us,” senior quarterback Manny Wilkins said. “We’re not out there for three-and-a-half hours, two-and-a-half hours practicing. It’s an hour (and forty-five minutes), two hours and we’re out of there so we get our job done and get out of there.”
Furthermore, Herm’s ability to respect the personality of his players has gone a long way in the locker room. Players appear more comfortable being themselves in the new environment which so far has translated to results.
“We had a lot of set rules from last year, but now I’ve seen people in the locker room and the film room wearing earrings, wearing do-rags and everything,” Wren said. “(Edwards) just said ‘let you be you’ and do everything. If you’re doing that and you’re doing good on the field, I can’t complain.”
“(Coach Edwards) just brought that swagger that we need,” Williams said. “We’re playing loose, we’re ourselves, the personality shows and everything. You can tell we’re having fun and that’s the main thing.”
These are the kind of things that high-end recruits and their families will like to see, giving Edwards and ASU some credibility.
Plus, Edwards has coached in the Under Armour all-star game for the last 10 years. The duel features a large chunk of the nation’s top prospects out of high school which means Edwards has gained valuable experience coaching young adults and interacting with top recruits.
The seemingly ageless Herm Edwards has this point backed up what he said in his introductory press conference- you don’t forget how to coach football.
So, after this hiatus from any coaching job in football, the question is can Herm Edwards continue to lead the Sun Devils on an odds-defying season. Or will these two weeks prove to be a fluke?
Only time will tell.
