Ray Anderson details Herm Edwards’ role in ASU’s new model

The vision for Arizona State’s football program going forward is clear to Vice President of University Athletics Ray Anderson, but left some with questions.

Anderson released a statement Dec. 3 explaining the new model of the Sun Devils’ football program led by new head coach Herman Edwards.

The statement explained that the program would take an NFL approach going forward, with a model similar to that of a program with a general manager. The program would now consist of both a sports and administrative division.

The sports division would focus solely on improving all aspects related to football, including the recruiting process, coach and player development, and “provide a boost in resource allocation and generation.”

The administrative division will be led by himself, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director Jean Boyd and Senior Associate Athletics Director Scottie Graham. Collectively, the trio would focus on day-to-day operations of the football program.

Anderson went into more detail on the functions of each member of the program when he joined 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf on Friday.

According to Anderson, Edwards will act as the “CEO of football operations,” adding that he will be responsible for the same tasks as that of an NFL head coach.

“In our model the head coach is to recruit, he is to coach the players and he is to coach the coaches,” Anderson said. “He is to pay attention to football performance, competitive performance.

“He won’t have to worry about evaluating every potential recruit. He will be given, essentially, a list of recruits that have been filtered, scouted and evaluated at a much higher level than we have been doing around here for the last four or five years.”

Anderson’s goal with the model is to relieve Edwards of non-essential duties, noting that the overall goal is to “shelter” him from the business side of college football.

All duties regarding players’ lives, performance outside of football and the overall logistics of the program will be handled by Graham and Boyd, with Anderson stepping in as the President when needed.

Anderson admitted that he was aware of the confusion for some regarding how the model will work. But, he remains confident in the future of the program going forward.

“One thing I know, if people are satisfied with the status quo and are not willing to try something that gets you out of the same old rut, I personally don’t understand that,” he said. “We are trying something that we believe will get us out of the same old rut.

“Time will tell but I am very confident that our new model is going to work and work very well.”

Follow @ZachAlvira