THE CURRENT STATE OF ARIZONA STATE FOOTBALL
The Arizona State Sun Devils fired head coach Herm Edwards after an embarrassing loss at home to Eastern Michigan 30-21 on September 17th. Arizona State named Shan Aguano the interim head coach the following day while Ray Anderson continues his head coach search. Herm Edwards went 26-20 in 5 seasons as the Head Coach of the Sun Devils. Edwards was never able to turn the corner with the Sun Devils after taking the program over from former head coach Todd Graham. The Sun Devils appeared in 3 bowl games, and their best record under Edwards was an 8-5 finish in 2018 and again in 2021.
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WHAT HAPPENED?
           Ray Anderson and the Arizona State Sun Devils were looking to make a big-name splash to improve the athletic program from the inside out when they chose to sign Herm Edwards. The goal in mind was to improve the recruiting and get a strong team of football minds to fill out the coaching staff. Herm and Ray went on to sign names like Marvin Lewis, Antonio Pierce, & Zak Hill giving the program a light at the end of the tunnel, and the signings rang bells across the NCAA with ASU being right back in the mix of top recruiting talks. Herm and his staff were able to improve the recruiting rank from 47th in 2018 to 23rd in 2020 according to ESPN TOP 100 Recruiting class rankings. However, the NCAA is in the middle of investigating the football program for a possible recruiting violation between the 2020 – 2021 seasons which ultimately leads us to where we are today.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR ASU?
           The Sun Devils’ next move is the burning question that everyone is asking and depending on who you are talking to everyone has many different opinions on what or whom our next move should be. The names that have been linked to Arizona State have been much of the same BIG-NAME punch as the Herm Edwards signing with the likes of Urban Myers, and Kenny Dillingham, and even a crazy Kliff Kingsbury scenario have been swirling around the net. But my honest opinion is our guy who is walking the sideline every week leading this team right now, Shaun Aguano. We tried the big-name hires after Dennis Erickson’s departure with both Todd Graham and of course former NFL head coach Herm Edwards and both didn’t get us to where this program is supposed to be, a staple in the PAC 12. The only way to improve this program is to WIN AT HOME! Now I am not talking about winning home games, I am talking about winning the recruiting battle at home!
Shaun Aguano is our guy!
Arizona State needs to win the recruiting battle starting at home in Arizona. At this moment Arizona State doesn’t have a single recruit in Arizona that ranks in the top 25 of the state for the 2023 class. To make matters worse ASU doesn’t have a committed ranking in the top 100 prospects in the western region. The state of Arizona has been improving rapidly with the talent it is putting out the state, and ASU has not been able to capitalize on what might have been the best recruiting period for Arizona High School football in the past decade, with the likes of Cristian Kirk, Spencer Rattler, Mark Andrews, and Paul Perkins to name a few. If the Sun Devils want to become powerhouses in the Pac -12 and be competitive nationally, we must win the West Region recruiting battle, especially with the likes of Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA moving up the ranks in areas we aren’t even competing in. We cannot bat 0-25 with the top-ranked prospects coming out of Arizona, we cannot bat 0-100 when attempting to recruit top talent in the Western region. Those are things that the Sun Devils and Ray Anderson must correct, and Shaun Aguano is the guy to start the change.
Who is Shaun
Shaun Aguano played Running back for the Linfield Wildcats from 1988 – 1991 before returning to Kapaa High School in Hawaii where attended school, to become the Head of the basketball team and the assistant coach of the football. Shaun became an Assistant Coach for Chandler High School here in Chandler, AZ in 2001 and served as an assistant until becoming the head coach in 2011. Shaun Aguano went on to sport an 88-19 record racking up 4 state champions in 5 years including 1 in each of his last here seasons, snapping a streak for Chandler High School that dated back to 1949. In 2019 Shaun Aguano was hired by coach Edwards to become the Running backs coach after what was rumored to be a 5-minute interview for the job. During Aguano’s tenure at Chandler High, he coached the likes of Paul Perkins, N’Keal Harry, Chase Lucas, and Brett Hundley who all went on to NFL careers. Aguano has known ties here in Arizona, from coaching current NFL players, to bringing home state championships. The local’s kids growing up know who Shaun Aguano is and I think that will give ASU the edge they have been needing to turn the corner and compete for a PAC 12 championship again.
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