Arizona State Football: Marvin Lewis a great hire for program

Herm Edwards was looked at as a questionable hire for Arizona State football, but turned out positive, and so will the Marvin Lewis addition.

Just one year after bringing in Herm Edwards to be the next head coach of Arizona State football, the Sun Devils have added another NFL mind to the staff.

On Tuesday, Edwards hired former Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis to be a special advisor to the staff.

I’ll be the first to admit that when Edwards was hired by the Sun Devils, I thought it was a terrible move. He hadn’t coached in years and had never led a college program. He was a defensive backs coach for San Jose State from 1987-89, but that was is.

Edwards had to get used to recruiting, mentoring young kids who are nowhere near NFL-ready and basically re-adjusting everything he knew about coaching. He did just that, leading the Sun Devils to a bowl game and even landing them in the AP Top 25 within the first month of the season.

Like Edwards, though, Lewis is going to turn out to be an extremely beneficial hire because of his NFL experience. He’s not an assistant, just an advisor, but he can still help bring in recruits and it gives the Sun Devils’ staff more pure football knowledge.

Also like Edwards, Lewis hasn’t coached in the college ranks in nearly 30 years when he was a linebackers coach for Pitt.

Lewis is going to bring a ton of experience to the desert and help Edwards develop a winning program. Plus, what recruits are going to overlook a program that has decades of NFL experience on the staff? These guys know what it takes to get to the league and succeed, so why not soak up all that knowledge and commit to the Sun Devils?

Edwards made a good move here and brought on a guy who he’s familiar with to advise him on numerous football-related topics and become an integral piece of his staff.