ASU AD Ray Anderson has difficult decision to make on Todd Graham

TEMPE, Ariz. — Sun Devils Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson was mum on football coach Todd Graham’s future as Arizona State celebrated a 42-30 win over rival Arizona in the Territorial Cup game on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.

“No comment,” was all Anderson said, moments after he embraced Graham in the north end zone.

Anderson has a difficult decision ahead. On the one hand, ASU completed its third straight regular season with a mediocre record. The Sun Devils were 6-6 two seasons ago, 5-7 last season and 7-5 this year.

Both Anderson and ASU President Michael Crow made it clear at the start of the season that they needed to see progress, an elusive term, whose subjective definition may decide Graham’s fate.

On the flip side of that argument, it is hard to stare out at the shiny new Student-Athlete Facility and the three-fourths of Sun Devil Stadium that have been renovated, and ignore just how much Graham has meant to the program. He noted this week that when he first came aboard, he did “130-some speaking engagements” and that is no exaggeration.

While Graham worked tirelessly to build a program of toughness and discipline on the field, he worked tirelessly off the field to sell the program to boosters and donors and fans. That is, in great part, what got those renovations completed.

His team’s grade-point average is higher than it has ever been and his players have stayed clean and responsible off the field.

Maybe you think those are basic requirements of the head coach’s job (they are and should be), but consider the success rates of his two predecessors, Dirk Koetter and Dennis Erickson, in those areas. It may be part of the job description, but that doesn’t mean Anderson should take for granted that it will happen with a subsequent hire. It doesn’t mean he should take for granted that the next guy will connect with the base the way that Graham did — and Koetter and Erickson did not.

If it’s progress this season that you needed to see, consider what Graham has accomplished on the field beyond that overall record.

Seven regular-season wins is not the stuff that legends are made of, but the season must be viewed in context. Graham started 1-2 in non-conference play as his rebuilt coaching staff learned the strengths of its personnel, with losses to San Diego State and Texas Tech.

But he went 6-3 in Pac-12 play, finished second in the South Division and he posted wins over then No. 24 Oregon, then No. 5 Washington and a very important win over rival Arizona on Saturday.

The only loss in conference play that is hard to stomach was a 44-37 loss at UCLA two weeks ago. The other losses came to Pac-12 South champ USC and Pac-12 North champ Stanford.

“I’m really proud of our coaching staff, just how they evolved well and adapted to our guys,” Graham said. “I’m even more proud of our players, them being patient through that and everybody just pulling together. I think we’ve accomplished a lot.”

The seeds of this turnaround took root with Graham’s willingness to hand over control of his defense to Phil Bennett, a change that needed to happen, and a change Anderson subtlety requested in comments to Arizona Sports last year. It’s no small thing for a coach to hand over control of his team and his job security. That and the addition of offensive coordinator Billy Napier show just how much Graham has grown as a coach and a man from the hard lessons that the last two seasons presented.

When asked if he expects to be back next year Graham said, “yes, I do. I think we’re making progress where we need to be but tonight’s about these seniors and the Territorial Cup.”

Graham’s players came to his defense.

“He’s changed the program around. They were barely winning games,” senior running back Demario Richard said. “He means a lot to this program. I wouldn’t hire nobody else.”

There’s a strong argument to be made that Graham deserves to stay. ASU has shown progress this season. Maybe he should return without that automatic one-year extension, which would still leave three years on his contract. That would give Graham a chance to cement his place at ASU with a better season behind a senior quarterback, and it would further reduce the financial burden of a buyout that would total about $12 million this year, per reports.

It’s possible that none of this matters. Maybe Anderson has already made up his mind to make a change, as one source told Arizona Sports late Saturday. Maybe this is just a personality conflict that can’t be resolved. Maybe Anderson just wants the chance to hire his own guy in the department’s highest profile position.

If he opts to make a change, there will be lofty expectations from the boosters to go big, as Anderson has with other hires on his watch, including men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley, swimming coach Bob Bowman, wrestling coach Zeke Jones and triathlon coach Cliff English, the latter three of whom are giants in their respective sports with international and Olympic experience.

The problem with that expectation is that big-name football coaches cost a lot more money. Crow has made it clear that big spending for a football coach is not an idea he believes is in line with the university’s mission and fiscal plan.

If that’s the case and Anderson must settle for an up-and-coming coach or a second-tier veteran instead of an NFL bigwig like former client Marvin Lewis, how would he sell alumni and boosters on a hire like Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason or Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin? Texas A&M has just seven wins this season after Saturday’s loss at No. 18 LSU, Sumlin hasn’t won more than eight games since 2013, and it has been widely reported he will be fired after the LSU game.

Mason attended Phoenix Camelback High School and was an assistant for four season at Anderson’s alma mater, Stanford, but he hasn’t had a winning season in his four years at Vanderbilt.

Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson has 16 years of NFL coaching experience and three years as an ASU assistant on his resume, but the Browns have been an unmitigated disaster on his watch.

Dino Babers was a hot commodity coming out of Bowling Green, but the one-time Arizona State GA has produced back-to-back four-win seasons at Syracuse.

Michigan assistant coach and passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton has an intriguing 11 years of NFL experience and was a Stanford assistant from 2010-12, but does he have the name recognition to ignite the boosters?

Anderson won’t be shy about following his convictions. It’s not in his nature. He’s aggressive and if he makes mistakes, he’s quick to correct them, but the department’s brief flirtation with June Jones should have taught the Sun Devils that the opinions and associated checkbooks of the boosters and donors matter in the hiring process.

Graham’s future was already uncertain coming off back-to-back losing seasons when the Arizona Board of Regents, in June, declined to extend his contract by one year, after approving one-year extensions every prior year of his five-year tenure.

Graham is 46-31 in six seasons and he will go to his fifth bowl game this season. Will that be enough? Should that be enough, considering the Sun Devils haven’t played in a major bowl on Graham’s watch despite all that championship talk earlier in his tenure?

Anderson has a lot of variables to consider, but Graham liked the one the Sun Devils left on the field Saturday night against the Wildcats.

“I thought that looked pretty good,” he said.

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