The Arizona State Sun Devils have decided to move on from head football coach Todd Graham and a couple coaches on their radar may catch you off guard.
Arizona State athletic director Ray Anderson is reportedly looking for coaches with NFL experience which brought him to the great state of Michigan.
Anderson is also known to be intrigued by coaches with NFL ties, including Michigan passing game coordinator Pep Hamilton and Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
Teryl Austin, 52, has been the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions since the start of the 2014 season. He’s directed defenses that, at times, ranked among the better units in the league in various phases of the game.
Austin has not coached in college since he was the defensive coordinator for the Florida Gators in 2010. However, he did coach in the Copper State before as the defensive backs coach for the Arizona Cardinals from 2007-09.
Pep Hamilton, 43, signed a four-year deal last January to reunite with Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor as the Wolverines’ new passing game coordinator. However, Michigan’s aerial attack struggled mightily for much of this season, having to use three quarterbacks and finishing among one of the worst passing offenses in the Big Ten.
Despite this, Hamilton has built a reputation as a qualified offensive mind and been around the game for a while now. He previously coached in the Pac-12 from 2010-12 under Harbaugh and current Stanford head coach David Shaw as a quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, and offensive coordinator for the Cardinal.
All of this may be for naught as there have been conflicting reports on whether or not Arizona State has already made their decision on their next head coach. Early reports suggested that Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin, who is also on the hot seat in the eyes of many, is the guy moving forward for the Sun Devils.
Hearing that Kevin Sumlin will be the next Arizona State head coach. Would be surprised if a deal isn't done in very short order.
— Billy Liucci (@billyliucci) November 26, 2017
However, shortly after this, trusted college football reporter Bruce Feldman had other insight on the situation.
Am told the speculation about Kevin Sumlin to #ASU being a done deal is completely false. Source has told me there has been no contact between ASU & Sumlin or anyone who represents him.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 26, 2017
Depending on the situation, could the Lions finally lose Teryl Austin after years of speculation? What about Pep Hamilton being on the move just a year after signing his big contract with Michigan?
Should the latter happen, Michigan could explore bringing back Jedd Fisch to resume his previous role as the passing game coordinator. Fisch left to serve as the offensive coordinator at UCLA after two seasons with the Wolverines. The Bruins recently fired head coach Jim Mora and Fisch was named the interim head coach before leading UCLA to a win in their season finale on Saturday to reach bowl-eligibility.
The university, however, announced the hiring of Chip Kelly to be the next head coach on Saturday, which could lead to Fisch out of a job if Kelly opts to bring in his own assistants.
In six seasons at Arizona State, Todd Graham coached the Sun Devils to a 46-31 record, which included a pair of double-digit win seasons in 2013 and ’14 and bowl games in his first four years in Tempe. ASU finished 7-5 this year.
