RIGHT MOVE
Graham needed to go for ASU to achieve its vision
If you’re uncertain about whether Ray Anderson should have fired Todd Graham as Arizona State’s football coach, don’t be. It was the right move. Anderson, the vice president for university athletics, made it clear Sunday that he isn’t worried about anyone who thinks of him as Icarus. “They are living in the past,” he said as an answer to those who might consider his expectations unrealistic.
ASU coach Todd Graham was fired the morning after defeating Arizona in the 91st annual Territorial Cup. ROB SCHUMACHER/THE REPUBLIC
In Greek mythology, Icarus flew on wings made of wax and feathers, but he ignored warnings and tried to soar too high. Icarus got too close to the sun. The wax melted, and he fell to his doom.
Anderson won’t be limited by such thinking. Those who think recent performance has been good enough “don’t grasp the vision” that he and ASU President Michael Crow share, Anderson said. “They underestimate our potential. They’re living in the past. We’re about the future.”
Anderson wants a program that competes for a major bowl every year.
“Some folks are OK with going to the Cactus Bowl, and even the Sun Bowl, which is the fifth-ranked bowl amongst the Pac-12 contracted bowls of seven, that means you’re just the fifth-best team in the conference,” he said. “And if you’re going to the Cactus Bowl or the Las Vegas Bowl that means you’re the sixth- or seventh-best team in your own conference.”
He wants a program that sends players to the NFL every season.
“You cannot have a year,” he said, “when none of our players get drafted into the NFL and only one player, a kicker, gets drafted to the combine.”
He wants continuity.
“Competitive consistency, in my view,” he said, includes “developing and retaining assistant coaches.”
“Manny Wilkins,” Anderson said, “does not need a fourth coordinator in four years.”
Anderson hasn’t seen any of these things, and that tells us everything we need to know about why he made the decision.
It explains why he fired a coach who led his team to a winning record after being picked to finish toward the bottom of the standings.
“I don’t think there’s any coach on staff who would tell you honestly that (he would be) satisfied with being 7-5, second place in a weak Pac-12 South, very frankly, and going to a low-level bowl game,” Anderson said, “as opposed to being 9-2 and going to a major bowl game where we can really make some noise and compete at the highest level.”
It explains why Anderson fired a coach less than 24 hours after he led his team to a thrilling comeback win over its most bitter rival.
“Bringing the Territorial Cup back was terrific for all of us, and certainly a proud moment for Todd,” Anderson said. “But I can’t make any decision based on any one game, no matter how great it is, or no matter how poor it is.
“There were folks after the Arizona game last year,” in which ASU was embarrassed 56-35, “who thought I was absolutely out of my mind to not make a move then because the disappointment was so deep.”
It explains why he fired a coach who guided the program to consecutive 10-win seasons, in 2013 and 2014, for the first time in a generation.
“I’ve got four years to evaluate,” said Anderson, who was hired at ASU in 2014. “I think we’ve been average, and I’ve got to believe that better leadership … will elevate us.”
Graham, who held a press conference of his own immediately after Anderson’s, gave something of a Sunday school lesson, calling himself blessed and saying he was putting his faith in God.
“I serve a great God and really have peace about it,” he said, before quoting Proverbs. “‘Trust the Lord with all your heart and soul.’ ”
He spoke for nearly 10 minutes before taking a question.
It was heartfelt and personable, and it represented the style that has endeared him to fans.
But that approach hasn’t won enough recruiting wars, in Arizona or in California.
Graham was a net positive for the program. He improved grades, insisted on discipline, raised money, elevated the legacies of Frank Kush and Pat Tillman and emphasized the past by putting something of an ASU football museum in the team’s new facility.
But he ultimately was the right man for the job of laying a foundation, not building a top-line winner.
Anderson said he came to ASU to run the athletic department like a business, and he compared paying Graham’s $12 million buyout to eating an investment that’s not paying off.
He said funding it was his issue alone and that he’s up to the challenge. “There’s no state tax money, no student fee, no nothing that we will draw on to fix our own problem.”
He said that building a consistent winner would generate revenue by making the program worth more to sponsors, donors and fans.
“We should be top three in the Pac-12, in my opinion, every season,” he said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be, every year, top 15 nationally, if we do what we’re supposed to do.”
All eyes are now trained on the next hire. Skeptics think Anderson should have left well enough alone. It’s up to him to prove them wrong.
Given his resume as a former NFL executive and agent to Super Bowl winning coaches, I think he knows what it takes to do it.
“Bringing the Territorial Cup back was terrific for all of us . ... But I can’t make any decision based on any one game, no matter how great it is.” Ray Anderson Vice president for university athletics, Arizona State University