ESPN Pac-12 blogger: ASU coach Todd Graham has coached team up

After short, season-long stints at Rice and Pittsburgh and a three-year stop at Tulsa, Todd Graham was met with skepticism when he arrived in Tempe.

His history begot negativity from the national and local media, which frequently labeled Arizona State as another stepping stone on his path to head coaching glory.

Now in his third season at the Sun Devils’ helm, however, there seems to be a lot more trust, both from the school — which has extended his contract through 2019 — and from the media.

Graham’s Devils, now 8-1, seem poised to jump into the top six in the College Football Playoff rankings, which are set to be released Tuesday. This, of course, comes following a convincing 55-31 win over No. 10 Notre Dame on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.

On Monday, one member of the media joined the Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM to discuss Graham’s tenure at ASU, which has correlated with the program’s gradual rise back to national — perhaps unprecedented — prominence. ESPN Pac-12 blogger Ted Miller is emphatically impressed with the job done by the head coach in Tempe.

“There were a lot of questions when he was hired,” Miller explained while on air. “You had the whole Pittsburgh deal and you had a lot of nastiness from the national media about bouncing around from program to program, but even then people knew he was a good coach.”

For the uninitiated, “the whole Pittsburgh deal” referenced by Miller consisted of reports that Graham exited the Panthers’ post with only an automated text message to players. Weeks prior, a handful of Graham’s assistants left his staff to join newly-hired Rich Rodriguez at Arizona and the coach was outspoken in his criticism of their decision. Pitt players called him a liar, one popular national writer called him “The King of Liars,” and distrust abounded.

“There was a reason he bounced around from program to program,” Miller explained in Graham’s defense. “It’s because people were willing to hire him and give him better jobs. And I feel like what you’ve seen from him is that he feels that he now has a job that he views as a destination job.”

Indeed, Graham has now coached ASU to their third consecutive winning season, going 8-5 in 2012 and 10-4 in 2013. He has a bowl victory under his belt, a Pac-12 South division title and, now, one of the top teams in the country under his leadership.

Graham, Miller says, has quieted the naysayers and shown his coaching chops at his latest gig.

“I think the narrative with Todd Graham is that he’s now one of the best coaches in the country,” he continued. “And he’s built Arizona State — you know, the longtime… sleeping giant in the Pac-10/ 12, and it seems like the giant has awoken. Most of us, including me, saw UCLA as the team in the Pac-12 South to start the season and, you know, we looked really smart on Sept. 25. But since then, it’s been all ASU.

“I mean, he has coached that team up. He’s got that defense playing well with a lot of guys — you know, I don’t know how many people outside the Pac-12 can name more than one or two starters for that defense, but he’s figured out a way to get the job done. He’s firgured out a way to overcome a victory to his starting quarterback and continue to win.”

And it’s not just about this season, Miller suggested. But the future, with Graham in charge, looks bright.

“The way that Mike Bercovici played, I think (this team) will continue to win,” he said. “There are a lot of young players that are playing right now. So, the present looks damn good. And the future looks pretty darn good, too.”