ASU adds former NFL head coach Brian Billick as offensive analyst
Jan 24, 2022, 1:26 PM | Updated: 1:26 pm
Former NFL coach Brian Billick attends the Alliance of American Football game between the Arizona Hotshots and the Memphis Express at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on February 16, 2019 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/AAF/Getty Images)
(Photo by Joe Robbins/AAF/Getty Images)
The Arizona State Sun Devils named former NFL head coach Brian Billick as an offensive analyst and advisor to head coach Herm Edwards, the school announced Monday.
The current NFL Network analyst brings with him 30 years (1977-2007) of coaching experience from the NFL and college football ranks.
“I have known Brian since the 1980s and he is a person whom I completely trust,” Edwards said in a press release. “He has built one of the finest reputations the NFL has ever known, serving as a head coach, an assistant coach and as a respected television analyst.
“Brian has one of the brightest offensive minds in football today and that is especially why I hired him. He will serve as a valuable resource to our entire coaching staff, but specifically to our offensive staff.”
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It’s a reunion of sorts for ASU special advisor Marvin Lewis, who was Billick’s defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens for three seasons. The duo’s last year in Baltimore resulted in a victory over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV.
Billick, who says he’s known both Lewis and ASU vice president for university athletics Ray Anderson for almost 40 years, said he believes having experience in both coaching and broadcasting can aid the Sun Devils.
“I was working the Hula Bowl two weeks ago … and ASU reached out to me at that time,” Billick said in the release. “I really enjoyed tapping into the players there and helping them to highlight their abilities. They proposed this opportunity to me, to have another set of eyes looking at and evaluating Sun Devil football and I thought it was the right time for me to make this move.
“I love what they are doing at ASU. It’s all about structure in the NFL and hopefully that’s what I can bring to the table at ASU. My work for the last 12 years in television at Fox and the NFL Network has allowed me to take a step back and see the game from a different angle. It broadened my perspective and that is what I will bring to this position.”
ASU’s offense was sixth in the Pac-12 this past season in total yards per game (388).
While only Colorado (131.6) posted fewer passing yards per game than ASU (194.6), the Sun Devils featured a top-five rushing attack, rattling off 193.4 yards per contest.
