After losing to a MAC school at home in embarrassing fashion in Week 3, Herm Edwards is reportedly out as Arizona State football coach.
This felt like a move that was a long time coming because of the off-field issues within the program such as recruiting violations and the fact that the program has been trending in the wrong direction for the past few years.
The Sun Devils did go a surprising 8-5 last season and 6-3 in the Pac-12, but the program took a massive step back this season, sitting at 1-2 through three games.
A change is coming to the desert.
Who could be the next Arizona State football coach?
There will be a number of candidates to replace Edwards but it’s not going to be easy considering there are some bigger programs looking to make hires.
Nebraska just fired Scott Frost last week and played its first game without the head coach in a few years on Saturday and now Arizona State will be moving forward with an interim coach.
Sure, there will be the obvious names thrown around that every fan wants to believe their program will land: Urban Meyer and Bob Stoops. Unfortunately, those aren’t very realistic for Arizona State football.
Here’s who I think the Sun Devils could go after.
3. Chris Petersen, former Washington HC
This might be more of a best-case scenario candidate for Arizona State. Actually, it definitely is.
Chris Petersen dominated as the head coach of Boise State before getting hired in at Washington and leading the program to three straight New Year’s Six bowls, including a playoff berth. He led the Huskies to three division titles in the Pac-12 North as well as two conference championships in a three-year stretch. He went 55-26 at Washington and 34-20 in Pac-12 play.
That sounds like something that Arizona State would kill for.
It’s been years since the Sun Devils actually competed for conference titles, In fact, the last time Arizona State won a Pac-12 title was back in 2007 and that was when it was still called the Pac-10. The program only has three Pac-12 titles all time and Petersen has two of his own. He could change the culture in a hurry.
Plus, he knows the Pac-12 and how to recruit out west.
Would he want to come out of retirement to turn around a plummeting program?
2. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon DC
Tosh Lupoi is another head coach with Pac-12 ties and he might be the biggest surprise on this list because he has no head coaching experience.
Will Arizona State take a chance and target a coach who has never been in charge? That remains to be seen but this could be one of those risks that pay off tremendously.
Lupoi is a former Cal defensive lineman from 2000-05 who turned around and became an assistant coach at his alma mater in 2008. He bounced around to Washington and Alabama before making the jump to the NFL and now he’s back at Oregon as the defensive coordinator. He’s been considered one of the best up-and-coming defensive minds in the sport and it feels like only a matter of time before he’s given the keys to his own program.
Arizona State wouldn’t be a major adjustment as he’s used to the Pac-12 and his ties out west will help out his recruiting efforts. Plus, he learned under Nick Saban so that automatically makes him more qualified than most assistants.
Oregon is hoping he stays put, but there’s a good shot he could be a hot head coaching candidate this offseason and Arizona State is a prime spot.
1. Jay Norvell, Colorado State HC
Arizona State could go back to a familiar face here. Jay Norvell was an assistant for the Sun Devils back in 2016 when he was the passing game coordinator and receivers coach.
Although he’s from Wisconsin and played at Iowa, he has made the move out west over the past few years. He spent time at UCLA back in 2007 after some time in Big Ten country with Nebraska but he has been out in Arizona with the Arizona State Sun Devils and then he took over as Nevada head coach.
Norvell became one of the top Group of Five head coaches after leading the Wolf Pack to a 33-26 record over five years. He was hired as Colorado State’s next head coach which felt like a lateral move, but Arizona State could probably poach him with ease.
Norvell is a brilliant offensive mind and that’s interesting considering he played linebacker and defensive back at Iowa and in the NFL.
The Sun Devils could make the move to bring him back to Tempe to replace Herm Edwards.