As he enters his sixth season at ASU, football coach Todd Graham still believes championships are coming, Dan Bickley writes.
Graham still having visions of titles with the Sun Devils – and beyond
Todd Graham is fired up. A bad cold and two consecutive losing seasons can’t temper his rhetoric or his optimism. To the contrary, they only make him more defiant. “I want to win a national championship, Pac-12 championships and the Rose Bowl,” the Arizona State football coach said. “My brothers and I used to watch the Rose Bowl on a 13-inch, black-and-white television. And one of these days, I want to win the Super Bowl.”
The Super Bowl? Yeah, more on that later.
Graham is entering his sixth season at ASU, identified as a Division I coach on the hot seat. He couldn't care less about that kind of speculation, or how his football team will be ranked to finish near the bottom of the Pac-12 South. He is very proud of the culture he’s built in Tempe; a program that had reached the doorstep of greatness in his first three seasons; and how he’s made many of his assistants coach very wealthy men.
Graham’s flourishing coaching tree is proof that he’s doing something right. In just 11 years in college football, he’s spawned seven current head coaches: Houston’s Major Applewhite, Kansas’ David Beaty, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, SMU’s Chad Morris, Memphis’ Mike Norvell, Nevada’s Jay Norvell and Tulsa’s Bill Blankenship.
Most of them had zero or very little experience. All of them passed Graham’s personal litmus test by showing a total dedication to football. And the best thing about being a lone wolf is not feeling compelled to give jobs to your friends.
“I wish our industry wasn’t like this, that you have to keep hiring guys all the time,” Graham said. “Football is a passion for me, and it’s really, really important. And so is hiring the right people. I don’t hire my buddies. I want diversity of talent on my staff. But we have to have one vision.”
Graham’s other trick? He has been known to speak at or attend conferences and hone in on the assistant coaches who’d rather stay in and talk football than head out in the evening for a few beers with their colleagues.
“Everybody wants to be one of the boys,” Graham said. “I want the man.”
Graham’s coaching tree is populated by those who run his offense. Graham gives his offensive coordinators freedom with restrictions. His preferred style – a physical, play-action style offense that doesn’t abandon the run and doesn’t spread the field with four wide receiver sets – has to remain constant to endure the dramatic level of turnover in college football.
“They don’t get to come in and run whatever they want,” Graham said. “These days, you’re going to be replacing people every couple of years. You lose them when you’re a winning program and you lose them when you’re not. So the style and terminology has to be in place so the kids aren’t dealing with constant change.”
In Graham’s tenure, ASU has had few problems scoring points. The issues are on the defensive side of the ball, the biggest reason why the Sun Devils are 11-14 in the last two seasons. Even worse, their much-maligned secondary will face a highly touted crop of Pac-12 quarterbacks in 2017.
Graham’s new defensive coordinator, Phil Bennett, is under a different kind of microscope. He was cleared from all culpability from the awful scandal at Baylor but is the only Bears assistant to be hired by a Power Five conference school.
“Every employee that comes to ASU is vetted in the same way,” Graham said. “We’re very comfortable with what we’re doing.”
For obvious reasons, Graham won’t go overboard gushing about Bennett, but he seems to love his newest offensive coordinator, Billy Napier. During his interview in a Dallas hotel room, Napier sat on the edge of his seat. He had a certain look in his eye. The former Alabama assistant said exactly what Graham needed to hear.
“When I read his resume, I saw that he was one of the youngest offensive coordinators in the country at Clemson, sets the record for the most points scored, comes back next year and has a subpar season, and then he gets knocked right on his can,” Graham said. “You could see it in his eyes how badly he wanted this opportunity. He said, ‘Coach, I have something to prove.’ I said, ‘You know what? You and I have something in common.’"
Graham admits that expectations will be low in 2017, and “that’s by our own doing.” He thinks his team slipped in the
discipline department last season. But he senses a great hunger and commitment from his current group. He said his players combined to miss just six classes last semester. And he unabashedly predicts “a great season” ahead.
As for the Super Bowl? Yeah, he said it.
“My goals have always been on my mirror,” Graham said. “I wanted to be a Division I coach by the age of 40. I got that at 41. I’m just 52 now, and when I get done checking all of these boxes (in college football), I’d love to go check that one, too. I’m just being honest.”
And unapologetic. You wouldn’t want him any other way.
“I want to win a national championship, Pac-12 championships and the Rose Bowl . ... And one of these days, I want to win the Super Bowl.” TODD GRAHAM ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL COACH