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ASU hires classless coach... Or how to botch a hiring process

buffaholic

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Not sure if this is premium content (Forde at Rivals):
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=pf-forde_graham_quits_pitt_asu_121511

My thoughts:
ASU made a good hire when they hired June Jones. At least they were going to score points. Then the alums went nuts and they called it off (WTFWT?) Botch #1. We can argue if the botch was the hiring of Jones in the first place or the non-hiring of Jones - but either way........BOTCHED!

It's debatable what kind of a "football guy" Graham is. Maybe he's a sharp guy. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

He brings to ASU, pretty much no contacts in the West for recruiting purposes.
He brings to ASU, pretty much none of his staff from Pitt, as they already jumped that ship to join RichRod at Arizona.
He brings to ASU, a reputation that he will jump at the first better offer. He has no ties to ASU.

So......ASU is betting that he is smarter than the rest. That he can get it done anywhere, no matter who he hires as assistants.
Anyone else think he left Pitt because his staff was fleeing? Dews, Simpson, and McGee announced under RichRod btw.

It's amazing to me that AD's continue to hire coaches without really asking the tough questions. Who will your staff include? What have you REALLY done. Have you done that anywhere over a period of time where the program built long-term sustainable results?

I'm a Zonie and have lots of friends down there. They are coming unglued at the ridiculousness of this hire.

Worst hire of the year.
 
Scratch ASU off the list of teams we'll need to worry about for the next few years.
 
Ya, this is such a bad deal for ASU and such a good outcome for CU recruting, I almost feel bad for their team.

Graham totally undercut a strong and upcoming Pitt team. He misused the talent on the team according to Devin Street. He was totally unable to recognize or adjust to the Big East conference, and he tried to impose a fastidious culture which the players felt was hypocritical. He also misled or even lied to a whole string of players, staff, and recruits.

ASU is going to be stained, even if Graham someone manages to avoid a lawsuit.

I predict he will have little cred with new recruits.
 
I predict he will have little cred with new recruits.


The negative recruiting that is going to take place here would make Tom Osborne blush. And every kid who even takes an OV there will be getting the exact same story from every other school he is in contact with. Ugly. Bad for them, good for us.
 
The whole "texting" your resignation to the players is just classless. That said, I'm not sure if the players are on campus or not. But there has to be a better way to do it than just sending a TM.
 
The whole "texting" your resignation to the players is just classless. That said, I'm not sure if the players are on campus or not. But there has to be a better way to do it than just sending a TM.

I fail to see how waiting another day would have made much of a difference.
 
The guy is a smooth talker though and was recruiting pretty good at Pitt. I bet he recruits good at ASU. Still the jury is out whether he's a head coach material at the BCS level.
 
The guy is a smooth talker though and was recruiting pretty good at Pitt. I bet he recruits good at ASU. Still the jury is out whether he's a head coach material at the BCS level.

Seriously Jimmy? I could maybe see why you'd make a case for Whipple, but Todd Graham?

He has no connections to the region, let alone ASU. There's zero reason to think the guy will be successful. You don't need to be a solid recruiter to have good players fall into your lap at Pitt, it's in ****ing Pittsburgh. Add in the fact that this guy has shown himself to be a carpetbagger with zero loyalty to his players. This is a disastrous hire for ASU. I'm sure ticket sales are plummeting as we speak. I mean what the **** is ASU thinking?

Best case scenario for ASU: this guy produces a few 6-6 seasons and gets shown the door. Worst case: the wheels completely come off and they set themselves back a decade..
 
Funny how CSU made a better hire than ASU. A resume like Graham's would of been a red flag anywhere else. On the surface looks like a very questionable hire.
 
Seriously Jimmy? I could maybe see why you'd make a case for Whipple, but Todd Graham?

He has no connections to the region, let alone ASU. There's zero reason to think the guy will be successful. You don't need to be a solid recruiter to have good players fall into your lap at Pitt, it's in ****ing Pittsburgh. Add in the fact that this guy has shown himself to be a carpetbagger with zero loyalty to his players. This is a disastrous hire for ASU. I'm sure ticket sales are plummeting as we speak. I mean what the **** is ASU thinking?

Best case scenario for ASU: this guy produces a few 6-6 seasons and gets shown the door. Worst case: the wheels completely come off and they set themselves back a decade..

Don't get me wrong I think the guy is a total asshat. But with his smooth talking slick rick like act, he'll get some players in there. If school administrators can buy his act 4 times, he can be certain he can sell ASU to naive 17 and 18 year olds.
 
Funny how CSU made a better hire than ASU. A resume like Graham's would of been a red flag anywhere else. On the surface looks like a very questionable hire.


Throw out his flop year at Pitt, the resume isn't terrible. CSU hired someone who has never been a head coach.
 
Don't get me wrong I think the guy is a total asshat. But with his smooth talking slick rick like act, he'll get some players in there. If school administrators can buy his act 4 times, he can be certain he can sell ASU to naive 17 and 18 year olds.

There's a big difference between Graham and Bobby Petrino: Petrino is an asshat that produces solid results. You can get away with that act if you're going to bring BCS bowls to wherever you land, and Graham isn't going to be bringing ASU any BCS bowls, that's for sure. Even Graham's cute little 'success' of a couple 9-4 seasons at Tulsa was thanks to Gus Malzahn. Pitt was mediocre in every sense of the word this year and their offense was downright bad. June Jones certainly would have had limitations but they would have been much better off with J.J. than with this douchebag. ASU will always get a handful of decent players every class, but this has got to help our chances in recruiting AZ for the next few years as they take a nosedive.
 
You have to figure the folks in Tucson are throwing a party right about now.
 
It will be interesting to see how he does in recruiting at ASU. The top recruiter on his staff at Pitt, Tony Gibson, joined Rich Rod down in Tucson.

Just further solidifies the importance of recruiting Arizona in my mind. Getting Jagne was a nice start for this staff, hope we can build on it.
 
Graham said that Rice was his "dream job" and left after a year. Then Tulsa was his "dream job" and he left after 4 years. Then Pitt was his "dream job" and he left after one year, and texted his resignation to his players.

Sacky is right here, the negative recruiting is going to be monumental. Every verbal to ASU (and Pitt for that matter) is fair game right now.
 
Graham said that Rice was his "dream job" and left after a year. Then Tulsa was his "dream job" and he left after 4 years. Then Pitt was his "dream job" and he left after one year, and texted his resignation to his players.

Sacky is right here, the negative recruiting is going to be monumental. Every verbal to ASU (and Pitt for that matter) is fair game right now.

**** him, he made his own bed....
 
I think both Arizona schools have head coaches with questionable character. It doesn't lend itself to long term, sustainable success in anything, even CFB.

You may have a slick sales pitch and can convince 17-18 year olds to join your program. But over time, that crap doesn't fly. RichRod was run out of Michigan because he was despised for the way he handled several issues. People found out he was a scammer.

ASU has repeated the error.

Kiffen is starting to look like a boy scout......
 
17 and 18 yr olds may be impressed by these guys, but moms and grandmothers won't be. I like JE's chances in the future when it comes to the at-homes visits.
 
The whole "texting" your resignation to the players is just classless. That said, I'm not sure if the players are on campus or not. But there has to be a better way to do it than just sending a TM.

you are right, he should have posted it on Facebook instead..... maybe shot a tweet....
 
I think both Arizona schools have head coaches with questionable character. It doesn't lend itself to long term, sustainable success in anything, even CFB.

You may have a slick sales pitch and can convince 17-18 year olds to join your program. But over time, that crap doesn't fly. RichRod was run out of Michigan because he was despised for the way he handled several issues. People found out he was a scammer.

ASU has repeated the error.

Kiffen is starting to look like a boy scout......

i think both AZ schools had coaches with questionable character issues. Dennis? Mike Stoops seems like a grade AAA jerk. rinse repeat with RichRod and Graham (the least proven of the 4). I generally sort of pull for Tulsa coaches (don't know why)...but Graham sounds like a dick.
 
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