(Photo via Sun Devil Athletics)
Arizona State Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson resigned Monday, as first reported by Sun Devil Source. The resignation is effective immediately.
“It has been a privilege to serve as ASU’s athletic director for nearly a decade,” Anderson said in a news release Monday. “We have entered an unprecedented era where the number and magnitude of changes in the college sports landscape are astounding. As I approach my seventh decade of life, these are not matters that my leadership would be able to corral during my tenure. Continuity of leadership will be needed, and I am choosing to step aside to let the university find that leader.”
Jim Rund, ASU Senior Vice President for Educational Outreach and Student Services, will take Anderson’s place as interim athletic director.
Anderson, 69, recently came under heavy criticism with his handling of the NCAA’s investigation into the football program’s recruiting violations during the COVID-19 dead period in 2020. Anderson did not fire then-head coach Herm Edwards for cause despite there being reports that he was directly involved in the scandal. Instead, Anderson and university president Michael Crow dismissed Edwards three games into the 2022 season and reached an agreement with the fifth-year head coach to buy out half of his remaining salary, which totals roughly $4.4 million paid through 2024.
Less than a week before the start of the 2023 season, Anderson once again was scrutinized as the university announced a self-imposed bowl ban on the football team in Kenny Dillingham’s first year as head coach. Sun Devil fans and beyond blasted Anderson on social media for the timing of the announcement and questioned why the ruling wasn’t put in place ahead of the 2022 season, when Edwards still was at the helm.
The resignation ironically comes after Anderson saw the Sun Devils upset UCLA in Pasadena, with fans chanting after the game, “Ray, you suck” in front of the athletic director.
During Anderson’s near 10-year tenure, ASU expanded to 26 varsity sports, adding men’s hockey in 2014 and men’s tennis in 2016. Anderson also oversaw the naming rights deal of Mountain America Stadium in August 2023, the construction of Mullett Arena in 2022 and the baseball program’s move to Phoenix Municipal Stadium in 2015, among several other updates to ASU athletic facilities.
He recently managed the Sun Devils’ decision to depart from the Pac-12 Conference to the Big 12 Conference, as well as ASU hockey’s move to the esteemed National Collegiate Hockey Conference in 2024.
Anderson will stay at ASU as a professor of practice and senior advisor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
“Buffie and I want to give our heartfelt thanks to President Crow and the Arizona Board of Regents for giving me the opportunity to serve as a leader primarily focused on the athletics side of this New American University,” Anderson said. “Now, I look forward to continuing to serve ASU with my focus on the academic side.”
