Hagan, Cozzetto back at ASU on Edwards’ staff
Football has a funny way of pulling you back in, Derek Hagan learned quickly after his career in the NFL came to a close in 2014.
Arizona State football’s all-time leader in receiving yards had a feeling he would enjoy being part of sports media, even as he was jumping between teams. After splitting time between the Dolphins, Giants, Bills and Raiders in his first five years in the league, Hagan took an involuntary break from football.
He wasn’t able to make one of the 30 rosters in 2013 so he stepped away from the game and spent time as a football analyst for the Jason Smith Show on Fox Sports Radio.
“It was a whole lot of fun,” Hagan told foxsports.com at the time. “Who doesn’t want to get on and talk sports all day?”
He made the Tennessee Titans roster as a backup wide receiver the following season, but his interest was piqued. He knew he had to find a way into the sportsmedia business once his playing days came to an end.
It wasn’t easy. He admits that he wasn’t polished when he first got started and he would spend hours practicing his craft.
“I was trying to understand that you have to slow down and breathe and let it breathe,” Hagan said about learning the mechanics of his new profession. ”You just get so excited and get going and you’re speaking a little too fast.”
Hagan told azcentral sports last month that he would interview teammates to practice and create a reel that he eventually used to show potential employers.
“I wasn’t a good football player without putting the time and effort into it, and it’s the same thing with (broadcasting),” he said.
Hagan broke through with an opportunity in 2016 as a radio sideline reporter for the Sun Devil Sports Network carried in Phoenix on Arizona Sports 92.3 FM and 620 AM. But there was something still missing. Standing so close to the action but not being able to meaningfully affect the outcome of the game, especially while covering his Sun Devils, did not sit well.
His itch to return to football grew stronger when he helped train 2017 NFL draft prospects, such as Mike Williams, Evan Engram, O.J. Howard, Curtis Samuel and others for CAA Sports showcases.
When ASU hired Herm Edwards, Hagan conducted one of the first sit-down interviews with the new head coach, which was posted on thesundevils.com. Edwards asked Hagan to join the staff in the spring, and Hagan was excited for his opportunity to break into the coaching ranks.
He says serving as an offensive analyst for the Sun Devils gives him the perfect opportunity to learn how to be a coach, a skill that is far more complicated than it looked from a player’s perspective.
As an analyst, he isn’t allowed to interact with players on the field but his role behind the scenes could come in handy for a talented receivers room that includes standout N’Keal Harry. Hagan’s role varies week to week from charting plays to scouting game film to assisting the coaching staff however he can.
Cozzetto brings experience into third stint
Dan Cozzetto has been around the ASU program often in the past three decades, having served as an assistant under Dennis Erickson (2007-08) and Bruce Snyder (1992-1999).
But this season, he’ll have a role as a quality control assistant.
Even though he’s not able to work with players on the field, he brings a wide set of experiences having worked at three other Pac-12 programs (Cal, Oregon State, Washington) during his 39-year coaching career. He was also head coach at Phoenix College (201516).
“I’ve been at some of the most highly prestigious schools around. I’ve recruited for this school (ASU) and I’ve got recruited against this school,” Cozzetto said last month. “You’ve got to understand what the people are going to use against you. And if you can come to grips with that and sell this school you’ll turn this thing around so fast, it’ll be unbelievable.”
He recalled that after he arrived from California for his first stint with the Sun Devils in 1992, it took five years for the program to reach the Rose Bowl and one of the keys to that success was Snyder cultivating recruits from Arizona.
Cozzetto has seen that same approach from Edwards in his first offseason of recruiting.
“(Edwards) understands the importance of getting the in-state kids that can play at that level,” Cozzetto said, adding that beating out top California schools like USC for recruits from the West Coast will also be a focus for the team.
“There’s no reason why it can’t (happen) and Herm understands that.”
“Who doesn’t want to get on and talk sports all day?” Derek Hagan on his radio job