According to cbssports.com, Arizona State and coach Herm Edwards decided to part ways on Sunday less than 24 hours after the Sun Devils lost 30-21 against Eastern Michigan, continuing an underwhelming 1-2 start in Edwards’ fifth season as coach. Despite holding a 26-20 record that did not include a losing season, Edwards entered the 2022 campaign with Arizona State under NCAA investigation. According to Arizona State vice president of athletics Ray Anderson, “We have made the decision to make a change in the leadership of our football program effective immediately. By mutual agreement, Coach Edwards and I have determined that he will relinquish duties as our head coach, At the core of this is doing what is best for our current team, staff and university. I understand the frustrations out there. We must do better and that starts with our decision today.” Running backs coach Shaun Aguano is serving as the interim head coach until a permanent replacement is chosen.
Edwards’ departure came after Arizona State president Michael Crow publicly criticized the state of the program with USA Today stating, “Like anything, when you’re in combat, you support your officers. And we’re in combat. But we’ll have to decide where we’re going from here and decide what the issues are and see where we’re headed.” Edwards was hired as head coach who serves as CEO overseeing what Arizona State called an NFL approach to building a college football program, designed to take the team to new heights. However, instead the Sun Devils have been mediocre on the field only finishing one game above .500 in their three full seasons with Edwards, with a 1-2 record in bowl games. The Sun Devils never finished in the final AP Top 25 under Edwards and they only secured the one victory in bowl games in 2019 in the Sun Bowl over a Florida State team that had recently fired their former coach, Willie Taggart.
Edwards had came to Arizona State following a long career as an NFL Coach and television analyst. He was 54-74 in eight total seasons with the New York Jets from 2001-2005 and the Kansas City Chiefs from 2006-2008. Anderson had hired Edwards at ASU after being his agent during his NFL coaching tenure.
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