GAMBO

Lisa Love firing should come as no surprise

Mar 28, 2012, 5:00 PM | Updated: 6:09 pm

The Lisa Love firing should come as no surprise to anyone
associated with Arizona State University or anyone who is
a fan of the maroon and gold.

In her seven years as the Athletic Director, Love clearly
failed to bring ASU the athletic success it has so
desperately wanted or the funds it so desperately needed.
When your best sports program is arguably the women’s
softball team, you have issues.

And ASU has issues.

Under her watch Love saw Arizona State put on two years
probation for lack of institutional control, extended the
contract of Dirk Koetter only to fire him 11 months later
(costing the university some $2.8 million dollars), hired
Dennis Erickson — who failed to bring ASU football out of
mediocrity, and apparently hired June Jones to be the new
football coach only to have the negative backlash make ASU
go in another direction. Love’s watch also saw the ASU
baseball program hit with seven major violations, and she
extended Herb Sendek’s contract this year in the midst of
a miserable season (10-21, 6-12) which saw one player
(Keala King) dismissed from the team and two others
disciplined. After Trent Lockett transfers it will mark
the 11th player to leave the Sun Devils basketball program
with eligibility remaining since 2008.

You have to wonder now whether Sendek, extension or not,
will survive with a new regime in place led by Steve
Patterson, who has a strong basketball background.

All in all Love was a terrible hire by Michael Crow. She
failed to win over the alumni base, failed to win over the
fan base and was generally considered unapproachable.

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Lisa Love firing should come as no surprise