A.M. Newsstand: Todd Graham to Arizona State, Turner Gill to Liberty
By Kyle Kensing
On a day when two programs with the initials A.S.U. made head coaching hires, one promised to coach his former team’s bowl game and leave on amicable terms. Gus Malzahn will appear at Arkansas State’s GoDaddy.com Bowl appearance, but per AL.com’s Tommy Hicks, will also work the Auburn offense at the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. The other ASU hire, well…
Todd Graham is Arizona State’s man, the result of an exhaustive search that certainly felt longer 21/2 weeks. Graham went 6-6 at Pittsburgh in his lone season there, making his departure from the program Graham’s second after just a single season as head coach. He bolted Rice following a bowl-bound 2006. His tendency to “job hop” is concern No. 1 on House of Sparky’s balanced look at the hire.
The addition of Graham adds an interesting element to the already heated Duel in the Desert, as he worked under new Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia, which yours truly examined further at AZ Desert Swarm.
His former teams seems none too pleased with Graham’s departure, which LostLettermen.com writes was done via text message. Wideout Devin Street was particularly public with his distaste for Graham’s leaving, per CBSSports.com’s Chip Patterson. Perhaps all this tweeting is why Bo Pelini banned his Nebraska Cornhuskers from taking to the Twits leading up to the Capital One Bowl, per HuskerCorner.com
Conversely when Turner Gill was fired from Kansas, players took to Twitter to voice their support of the former head coach. Perhaps administrators at Liberty took notice, because it didn’t take long for Gill to be on the market before the Flames snatched him up, as reported via the Kansas City Star. Gill takes over for Danny Rocco, who built Liberty football from veritable nothingness in recent seasons. Rocco is the new head coach at Richmond.
Meanwhile, the new KU coach, Charlie Weis, signed his first recruit since taking the Jayhawks’ job. Per RockChalkTalk.com, Tre Parmalee was verbally committed to Northern Illinois, but in what is almost assuredly no coincidence, Parmalee’s father Bernie was a Weis staffer at Notre Dame.
More links:
- Ryan Kalil and Robert Woods were honored as Associated Press First Team All-Americans. ReignOfTroy.com has details.
- Bill Koch on Cincinnati.com writes Zach Collaros is “optimistic” about a return for UC’s Liberty Bowl meeting with Vanderbilt. AnchorOfGold.com breaks down the Commodores and Bearcats, and why rushing Collaros back might not be so beneficial for UC.