ASU FOOTBALL

We knew Antonio Pierce, Herm Edwards cheated: What else did we learn as ASU scandal ends?

Oct 3, 2024, 4:01 PM | Updated: Oct 4, 2024, 12:07 am

Arizona State Sun Devils coach Antonio Pierce talks with Arizona State Sun Devils defensive back De...

Arizona State Sun Devils coach Antonio Pierce talks with Arizona State Sun Devils defensive back DeAndre Pierce (2) during the college football game between the Arizona State Sun Devils and the UCLA Bruins on October 02, 2021, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

(Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The headline to this story could have read: “Herm Edwards and Antonio Pierce should never touch a college program again.” But you’d probably leave a snarky reply, “no-duh,” and not read this.

We’ve known that for a while now.

We already knew through reporting on June 16, 2021, when Yahoo! Sports said — via a dozen sources — that Arizona State football staffers broke rules knowingly and without fear of repercussions. We already knew from the reporting of those like SunDevilSource.com’s Chris Karpman how much the NCAA put blame on the head coach, Edwards.

But Pierce’s part of the NCAA investigation ended Thursday with more colorful details about how much the former associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and defensive coordinator disregarded the rule of law. Those rules not only made for unfair advantages but put dozens of peoples’ health at risk during a freaking pandemic.

The admissions in the NCAA report unveiled Thursday lay out how Pierce was betrayed by his former colleagues.

Ironically, the details of it all came on the same week Pierce, the current Las Vegas Raiders head coach, had to apologize for the distractions he’d caused. Pierce said some of his players made “business decisions” at the end of a recent game that would be met with Pierce’s own business decisions. That was a distraction, he admitted.

So is his like on an Instagram post about a trade possibility involving Raiders wideout Davante Adams.

And so is this: Pierce received an eight-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA on Thursday that will keep him away from college football in the near future. Former defensive analyst Anthony Garnett received a five-year ban.

The last piece of the NCAA’s investigation into the Pierce-led recruiting scandal presumably puts everything to bed for Arizona State’s program.

The NCAA’s report included new details about the heavy involvement in the impermissible scheme by former star quarterback Jayden Daniels’ mother, Regina Jackson. And it told us a few more things we either assumed or didn’t know in great detail.

ASU assistants turned on Antonio Pierce

When then Yahoo! Sports reporter Pete Thamel broke this story in June 2021, it included nuggets from a dozen former and then-present Sun Devil staffers leaking details about Pierce’s involvement.

The NCAA report made clear that two assistants who were first to lose their jobs after the news came out, receivers coach Prentice Gill and defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins, cooperated with the investigation.

Gill said Pierce “ran the show,” and many staffers feared they would lose their jobs if they didn’t break recruiting rules as directed by their boss. Gill’s testimony said that he “recalled Edwards telling the staff that Pierce was in charge of the roster, and staff were expected to do as Pierce said.”

“To highlight this dynamic, Gill pointed to the fact that he never spoke to Edwards during his hiring process and only met him on his second day of employment at Arizona State,” the report said. “Thus, in Gill’s mind, Pierce ‘was the head coach.'”

Gill, Hawkins and tight ends coach Adam Breneman were removed from the program or stepped away in late July and early August of 2021.

Offensive coordinator Zak Hill and Pierce remained until January and February 2022, respectively.

Herm Edwards may have been lacking oversight, but he was aware of the rule-breaking

Edwards, unlike Pierce, was cooperative with the NCAA and admitted fault in the investigation. He was hammered with a show-cause penalty of three years for not running a tight ship.

Maybe the head coach wasn’t involved in hiring important assistant coaches like Gill.

But that doesn’t mean he was unaware of the rule-breaking, according to the investigation.

“Edwards made efforts to promote compliance through weekly meetings between the football and compliance staffs,” the NCAA wrote. “But Edwards’ knowing participation in some NCAA
rules violations involving contacts with prospective student-athletes demonstrates that his compliance efforts were inadequate and that he failed to lead by example.

“Edwards was unaware of many of the NCAA rules violations committed by the football staff and trusted his staff to follow NCAA rules without verifying their compliance. But Edwards also did not ask pointed questions or follow-up on red flags that should have alerted him to potential violations within the football program.”

In the NCAA’s negotiated resolution, it listed events in July, October and December 2020, plus February and April 2021, in which Edwards improperly met with recruits.

SunDevilSource.com and others reported on Feb. 23, 2022, about Edwards’ direct involvement in recruiting during the COVID-19 dead period.

That news came hours after ASU president Michael Crow explained why Edwards still had a job, even though the program had produced its worst recruiting class on record.

“Coach Edwards has done an outstanding job of upgrading our overall program. We got this (group) of people who decided to not play by the rules relative to recruiting,” Crow told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta that February day. “So we’ll be looking to how we make improvements so forth and so on, but Coach Edwards is responsible for all the actions of all of his people, but these are things he did not ask them to do.

“These are not things he was a part of. We’re looking at everything possible. He’s brought a lot of talent, energy and creativity. Now we’re dealing with people who couldn’t play by the rules and now they’re gone.”

At this point, the school had already fired Pierce and Hill.

Edwards reached a contract settlement after he was fired in September 2022. He was paid out $4.4 million, or half of his remaining salary, to not coach for the Sun Devils any longer.

Jayden Daniels’ mom was deeply involved in the scheme

The former Arizona State quarterback’s mom, Jackson, had been linked to ASU’s recruiting violations.

The original dossier that tipped the school and NCAA off about the ongoings included evidence of Jackson helping book “more than $1,100” in flights for recruits and their families.

Her name, however, appeared 31 times in the report released Thursday and involved more than a dozen recruits.

She even went with Pierce and then-defensive analyst Garnett to a “gentleman’s club” with recruits and family members.

ASU’s recruiting violations went beyond what we knew

While there were plenty of visits to the campus during a time when COVID-19 protocols were strict, the violations spanned state lines.

Garnett and Pierce visited with recruits and families around sporting events in Florida, Missouri and Iowa.

Locally, the social gatherings with Sun Devil recruits happened at bowling alleys, shooting ranges and the aforementioned club.

Over text, Arizona State staffers even attempted to contact a recruit who was at another school and not in the transfer portal.

So why did Pierce cheat?

He told investigators he was trying to keep up “with the Jones[es].”

He told his assistants he would take the fall for them and could absorb that risk of recruiting violations “due to the financial security provided by his self-proclaimed wealth.”

In June of this year, Pierce’s wife filed for bankruptcy “after car dealerships in which her husband had invested in and was listed as a guarantor of loans defaulted on judgments of about $28 million,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Pierce has fallen up, landing a job as Raiders linebackers coach before taking over an interim head coach. He was promoted away from the interim tag before the 2024 season.

He’s navigating a week for the Raiders where his star wide receiver is searching for a trade and his active thumb on Instagram is causing a distraction.

It’s now clear he’s retained little loyalty from dozens of former Arizona State coworkers at his last stop, who ultimately chose their business decisions above protecting him.

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